I had £800 stolen in phone fraud

I was contacted by someone on my mobile phone who was posing as an employee of my bank, Santander. This person ran through a selection of my direct debits as well as naming my Isa and a credit card and quoting my correct balances. They said they were in the midst of stopping two suspicious withdrawals and needed the partial letters of my account password and then the memorable number, which I gave them. I was on my way to a funeral and thought I must clear this before I arrived. Therefore I did not think carefully.

Please can you get back the £800 stolen in this fraud? It is a significant chunk of my monthly salary. CORINNA DEAN, LONDON.

You had had genuine calls from Santander in the past about possible fraudulent withdrawals, although no code had been asked for then. On those occasions everything had been properly resolved.

In order to pay a new beneficiary, a One Time Passcode (OTP) is sent to a Santander customer’s registered mobile telephone number. During a vulnerable time when you were not thinking straight you divulged this OTP to a fraudster who then used it to authenticate a payment. Somehow fraudsters seem to have a psychic knack of picking up on people when they are at their lowest.

Your suspicions were aroused even as this was happening and you made Santander aware of the scam at 1:37pm while the fraudsters were still on your other line. Santander immediately placed a block on your account and cancelled the mandate. My research via Santander and Barclays, the recipient bank, show Santander contacted Barclays at 2:01pm to secure any funds remaining in the recipient’s account.

However, the fraudster had transferred all the money out at 1:31pm, before you spoke to Santander. Barclays has closed the account and shared the details with fraud agencies. You are a single mother on a tight budget. I wish I could help but sadly I have not been able to alter things.

the taxi service, which said the flats were rented independently. I suggested that, armed with the crime number you acquired when you reported this matter to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, (0300 123 2040 and actionfraud.police.uk), you should urge the local police to pay a visit. It seems possible that the fraudster may soon be apprehended.