Crooks stole my identity and opened a bank account. Now HSBC says I owe £3,000
A 41YEAROLD man is being chased for more than £3,000 after a fraudster opened a current account in his name at a bank he’s never used.
Richard McCarthy says that he is now struggling to prove to the bank concerned — HSBC — that he had no part in what he describes as a clear case of identity theft.
His story raises serious questions about how easy it is for fraudsters to open bank accounts in other people’s names — and how hard it is for victims to prove they are innocent.
Richard, who is Irish, moved out of his flat in Bermondsey, South London, twoandahalf years ago in order to return to Ireland and tend to urgent family matters.
He shut down his limited company and put his career as a software developer on hold. He had always intended to return to London to work in the future.
However, his plans were thrown into chaos in July when he received a call from a man named Alfie Potter, who said he was from the Credit Security debt collection agency.
Mr Potter told Richard he was liable for £3,066.69 owed to HSBC.
Richard knew nothing about the debt and explained that he has only ever banked with Barclays.
But Mr Potter said a current account had been opened in his name, using his last address in London.
When HSBC finally stepped in to close the account in February and stop the customer going any more overdrawn, it was thousands of pounds in arrears.
When the bank could not reach the customer to request that the debt be repaid, they passed the account on to a debt collector.
Richard’s mind immediately jumped to identity theft — where criminals steal your information in order to take out mobile phone contracts, bank loans and credit cards and to open bank accounts in your name.
Last year, there were 174,523 ID theft cases — the highest annual figure ever recorded by Cifas, the fraud prevention agency, and a 125 pc increase compared with a decade ago.
Some 51,544 fraudulent bank account applications were made, making up almost 30 pc of all ID fraud.
Mr Potter told Richard that if he was a victim of fraud, he would need to report this to the police and get a crime reference number. He was told to send the details to Credit Security, along with a copy of his ID and his addresses for the past six years.
The debt collectors would then forward this to HSBC’s fraud department.
Richard followed these instructions and then tried to contact HSBC directly. But, as he is not a customer, he could not get beyond the bank’s automated service.
Richard was able to contact HSBC using its online webchat, but could only get confirmation that the account in his name was a real one and had been closed in arrears.
It meant that he was still completely in the dark over whether he was liable for the debt and if there was a black mark on his credit file.
Unable to get any more details from HSBC, he was forced to put his trust in the debt collector to do the right thing.
Richard says: ‘One minute, I was living my ordinary life — and then I was being told I apparently owed thousands of pounds. And what about my credit score? How was I going to get a phone contract if I ever moved back to London?
‘It’s kept me awake at night. These fraudsters are master manipulators. They’ve already managed to find enough of my personal information to trick the bank. How can I convince it otherwise?’ Banks are supposed to adhere to strict regulations when opening accounts for new customers. Most ask for identification, such as a passport or driving licence, and proof of address, such as a bank statement or utility bill.
Firms can carry out further checks on higherrisk customers. For example, they can crosscheck documents with credit reference agencies Equifax and Experian to validate a given address.
But experts say banks rarely do this — and every major bank has refused to tell Money Mail what its verification procedure is.
Back in June, we revealed a list of 82 accounts opened by criminals at High Street banks using fake IDs and counterfeit utility bills that had been investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
Around half of these accounts were at HSBC.
Former Metropolitan Police detective Suzanne Raftery, who is now head of investigations at Requite Solutions, a scam recovery firm, says that it is easier than you might expect for fraudsters to steal someone’s identity and open an account in their name. She says: ‘Banks just have to give the documents the onceover and check the names on the documents match. ‘There are tools available to verify this information and banks could definitely do more to spot the fakes. ‘There are bound to be countless accounts opened with forged documents, but the banks will never tell you. They just hide behind data protection.’ Richard believes that someone was able to open an account in his name using a letter sent to his old London address after he moved out. However, HSBC refused to explain how this could have been allowed to happen or why it closed the account in February. It was only after Money Mail stepped in that HSBC agreed to write off the debt and said Richard will not be contacted again. The bank has told Cifas that Richard has been the victim of impersonation, to prevent his details being misused again. However, Richard still does not know the effect this fraud will have on his credit file.
Money Mail has also reported the matter to industry regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA says that it has passed it on to the relevant department, but cannot comment on individual cases.
A spokesman says: ‘ Protecting customers against fraud is a top priority for us and the whole financial services sector. We continually review our checks and processes, amending them as appropriate to protect our customers and ourselves from fraud.’
UK Finance, the industry body, says that banks invest heavily in sophisticated technology to prevent fraudulent accounts being opened.
However, it can be difficult to detect fraudsters who use bogus information to set up an account. It says that the industry is working with law enforcement and government agencies to improve information sharing.