Don’t bank on it . . .

HOW safe is your bank account? I thought mine was pretty safe until a few weeks ago when checking my account on a Sunday morning I noticed two large cash withdrawals had taken place without my knowledge.

I immediately phoned, to be told the cash had been given to someone on the Thursday and Saturday at two different branches 50 miles away from where I bank.

Seriously worried, I closed my account. As the fraud department wasn’t available, I was told I’d receive a call on the Monday, but none came. When I phoned them, I was told someone had rung up and changed my phone numbers (landline and mobile).

This person had been able to answer my security questions and obtained a debit card and a driving licence. They proceeded to empty my account and I’m now unable to access any money or see what’s happening as my account is closed. My direct debits, etc, have all stopped.

After six weeks waiting for a bank investigation into this, I received a ‘final response’ with which I was far from happy. I wrote to a top executive who passed my letter down to the fraud department, which merely replied that my concerns had been ‘noted’. I wrote to the chief executive who also passed the matter on to someone else who, though sympathetic, has no answers.

After all this, I’ve discovered someone else set up a new direct debit without my authority and obtained something even though my account is supposed to be under ‘special watch’. If banking fraud is this easy, we should all be worried.

CHRIS McCARTHY, Bournemouth, Dorset.