Is it safe to email my IBAN number?

[Fraise]

Thankyou

[Fraise]

I think I've told you most of it as far as I can remember.We just weren't too concerned when the money was taken at first because the whole thing was so obviously fraudulent that everyone said (including the Gendarmes) that the bank would refund our money in a few days after the police file was opened!!We could live without the money for a short while and believed that french justice would be applied.How wrong can you be!!Even the man in charge of the branch were the fraud occurred seemed to think at first that it would just be a matter of a few days till it was sorted!Then he started to back pedal and not return phone calls etc!!! When I first went to the bank I was told that that very morning another call had come through asking for another transfer (by now the account was in the red but would not have been if I hadn't written a whole batch of cheques just before Christmas to pay our builders!!).We were all incredulous but this incident seems to have been "forgotten" by the bank although it was in our police report- the one we haven't got access to!!!! It was the CA bank manager who told us we must go to the Gendarmerie and file the report in the first place.After that he was less helpful.People don't usually have 30,000 euros sat in a current account- how did the fraudsters know this???We didn't usually have that sort of money sitting there-it was only there to pay for our buil;ding work which had started the previous month.If I hadn't written those cheques the 2nd demand for funds to be transferred to Marorca would have gone through as well ( this was a similar amount of money!!).If we had been in UK we would have known nothing about it until our bank statement arrived weeks later.Someone had inside knowledge???????????

[John Borg]

I fully sympathise with Fraise and her husband, as it was cruel by the bank to let the matter go so far, instead of litigating out of court, though banks use their financial clout to bully the small fry.
Still, this fraud came about, without the use of an Iban. From what I can gather, it was due to some stupid bank clerk getting too familiar with a pattern which had been forming by the mode of payment vis a vis the builders etc. Having noted this pattern, the clerk simply went ahead with the transaction, even though the request was made over the phone!! If the clerk had asked for the Iban as a method of identification, then this clerk is damned ignorant or very careless, with other peoples money of coarse!
Can you imagine just a few of my previous guests phoning my bank, in a strange accent (surely not in Maltese!) and asking for money from my account?! It's just too stupid a thing to happen, though of coarse it did.
Good luck in your court battle, though I can't see you losing it.
As for the bank, if it loses, what difference will 10,000 make, (had they given in to you) or 10,000 plus maybe 20,000+ in legal costs make to it? It makes a huge difference to you, but not to them! That's their main weapon - bluffing - with other peoples money!

[alexia s.]

" in our police report- the one we haven't got access to"
Fraise, I think that you normally have access to a police report when you have initiated a criminal charge against someone - the criminal charge should be framed as being against "X" (to protect you from eventual defamation charges if you fail to prove your case).
In your place I would try to see the Procureur of the Republic who is atached to your local Tribunal: get a RV, take all the documentary evidence that you have & say that you want to press charges against "X". Normally, it is the Procureur who decides to pursue a case: ask him/her why this hasn't happened If it has happened you can become a party to the action (the "partier civile") & you will then have access to the police records.
At the very least you should write to the Procureur & denounce the bank for what is very possibly a criminal offence.
I would also contact the local paper.
These actions do work.

[mpprh]

Hi

just to point out :

I also made a statement with our local gendarmerie and they refused to give me a copy of it.

So, never make a statement without making a copy first, and ensuring that the the 2 fingered typist policeman types exactly the same thing ?

Peter

[alexia s.]

"I also made a statement with our local gendarmerie and they refused to give me a copy of it. "
Not surprising (this is "normal" behaviour).
As well as making a copy, get the police officer to rubber stamp your copy with "reçu" (received) and the date & their signature. If you don't do this there is no record that you can produce and an over-worked police officer might inadvertantly throw your plaint into the wastebasket ... by mistake.

[7 driver]

Personally I only take cheques from people known to me and I would never give my IBAN number to a stranger.

Its Paypal for me. If the enquiry is genuine, people don't mind opening an account with Paypal, plus it is a free transaction for them, and they can use their credit cards on line, which most Brits seem to like to do.

There is around a 4% charge for receiving the money, which I just add to the original tariff on the property.

Regards
Cathy Holmes
http://www.varvacance.com

[Ju]

Its Paypal for me. If the enquiry is genuine, people don't mind opening an account with Paypal,

http://www.varvacance.com

This is not always true. Paypal can be difficult if you say live in one country and have a bank account in another. I tried to get a paypal account but geave up after 3 tries.

Ju

[paolo]

Do you need to open an account to use PayPal? There can be a security check where they send you a code on your statement, but after that you can just make your credit card payments as with any online transaction. I think that's right, isn't it?

[alexia s.]

At least one property on HR gives the owner's eban details in full - several times. This is pointless, of course, but does show how different various people's attitudes to security can be.

[Highams Park Harry]

I've always been certain that sort, account and IBAN could not be used to withdraw money without incompetence, at least on the part of the bank

have to say this thread has worried me slightly as I hane it out to all and sundry on the off chance they might put some money

think I'm going to open a deposit account as others have suggested

and maybe have a short chat with the bank about them punting money out with everythign being A1

don't trust them an inch

[Highams Park Harry]

The on the ball ish chap at my bank, Smile, said no way could the info be used to access my account, impossible without my online security details

Didn't see how a deposit account would change things

I've opened a Deposit account anyway, a gnats of extra security just in case I suppose