A person has been left with £17,000 price of debt and a crippled credit score rating after fraudsters, who he believes broke into his letterbox, managed to steal his id and open financial institution accounts in his title earlier than occurring a spending spree.
Jamie Cavanagh, 37, a civil engineer from East Grinstead, West Sussex, acquired a letter in January 2024 from HSBC displaying he spent greater than £12,000 on a bank card regardless of having by no means banked or handled them in his life.
He then found an HSBC present account with an overdraft of £5,000 had been opened in his title and “maxed out” – and that his credit standing had plummeted by greater than 300 factors over the previous few months.
Jamie instantly flagged the funds to HSBC as fraud and believes that somebody managed to steal his id by “busting” into his letterbox and utilizing his private info to open the accounts.
The vast majority of funds have been withdrawn in £350 chunks from financial institution accounts dotted throughout south London, whereas card funds have been additionally made to retailers, akin to Tesco, Sports activities Direct and a number of other hen retailers.
Jamie, who lives alone in a big block of flats, has been working with HSBC to attempt to shut the accounts and restore his “nigh on excellent” credit standing.
He waited 14 weeks however after being advised HSBC’s investigation was nonetheless ongoing and that the bank card account had not been closed, he determined to submit about his ordeal on X, previously referred to as Twitter, which acquired greater than 40,000 views.
“At first I believed anyone had despatched the incorrect submit, till I noticed my title and tackle on the high of it,” Jamie stated.
“In January my credit score rating was 930 out of 1,000, so nigh on excellent.
“Come February, March, it had nosedived to 620 out of 1,000.
“After I have a look at my excellent funds, it reveals that I’m in arrears for £12,820 on a bank card account with HSBC and £5,130 for an overdraft on a present account with HSBC.
“I’ve by no means banked with HSBC in my life.”
Jamie was shocked to discover a letter from HSBC in his letterbox on January 21 2024 given he banks with NatWest and Santander.
To his horror, the envelope contained a bank card assertion which confirmed he had been on a spending spree and now owned greater than £10,000.
“I noticed there have been reams and reams of money withdrawals on this bank card, so I used to be attempting to determine what had gone on,” he stated.
“I found that anyone had taken out the cardboard in my title, managed to get themselves a credit score of £13,000.
“It confirmed that they’d managed to take out £10,000 in money at numerous cashpoints throughout south London, in Catford, Croydon, Bromley, Orpington, Lewisham…”
The fraudulent purchases vary from spending just a few quid in retailers, together with Tesco, Joe and The Juice and Lazy Chef, to withdrawing a whole lot of kilos.
Jamie suspects the thieves broke into his submit field to acquire the data they wanted to open the account.
“It dawned on me that my submit field had been stiff to open for just a few months, which I simply assumed was to do with rust or the climate,” he stated.
“They’d have needed to take receivership of the bank card and the PIN code, which will get despatched individually.
“So I determine, that’s what they have been doing, busting into my submit field.”
Jamie instantly tried contacting HSBC to warn them that anyone had stolen his id and brought out a bank card in his title.
“I wanted to talk to somebody human as a result of each time I phoned their phone quantity it was asking for a checking account quantity which I didn’t have,” he stated.
“So I messaged them on Twitter they usually stated simply kind any quantity in and it’ll put you thru to somebody.”
Jamie hoped to resolve the difficulty rapidly, however was advised that he must go to his nearest department with three types of identification.
“On the time I used to be fairly distressed,” he stated.
“I used to be like, you should be having fun? How can somebody get all of that and also you’re telling me that I must attend the financial institution in particular person.”
That very same day, Jamie known as Sussex Police who suggested he file a report with Motion Fraud, the UK’s nationwide reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
He additionally registered with the Credit score Trade Fraud Avoidance System, a fraud prevention service, which positioned a marker towards his credit score report, to flag the fraud.
However when Jamie determined to test his credit score rating for himself on checkmyfile.com, he discovered there was extra too it.
“Not solely had they taken out the bank card, however they’d additionally managed to arrange a present account with a £5,000 overdraft, once more with HSBC, which they’d additionally maxed out,” he stated.
He would later study that the fraudsters had additionally checked his credit standing by creating an account on ClearScore with a special e mail tackle.
In complete, they’ve spent £12,820 on the bank card and £5,130 on the debit card, cash which on paper, Jamie now owns the financial institution.
The financial institution knowledgeable Jamie that it might take round two weeks for it to hold out an investigation.
“Two weeks go by and I’m pondering what the hell is happening right here,” he stated.
“I ultimately get by way of they usually inform me that the investigation remains to be ongoing and that it may truly take as much as seven weeks.”
Throughout this time, Jamie repeatedly acquired letters demanding he begin paying again the cash.
He was despatched a ultimate warning on the finish of March saying he wanted to start out paying again the debt or face a ultimate demand for the complete quantity and default discover.
“Clearly, I knew it wasn’t my debt, it had nothing to do with me,” he stated.
“So I requested them on the very least, are you able to get this to cease?”
But it surely by no means did.
“I’m going to finish up with bailiffs at my door – it simply baffles me,” he added.
Final Saturday, April 6 2024, 14 weeks after Jamie first reported the fraud to HSBC, he nonetheless had not acquired any information.
“I rang them myself within the morning,” he stated.
“That is what beggars perception for my part.
“In case you are doing a fraud investigation, would I not be high precedence to contact?
“Even when they think that it is likely to be me who’s doing this, wouldn’t it not make sense to name me and query me?
“Aside from sending letters demanding fee for the excellent debt, they by no means contacted me.
“I used to be fairly upset as you’ll be able to think about.”
Once more, Jamie was advised the investigation was nonetheless ongoing.
Within the area of two and a half months, Jamie’s credit score rating has plummeted from 930 to 620 out of 1,000.
“All that’s occurring is that my monetary scenario is seemingly getting worse,” he stated.
“Not solely that, however they hadn’t closed the credit score account.”
After “politely ranting down the telephone”, Jamie was capable of elevate an official grievance with the financial institution, which he was advised might take as much as 5 days to course of.
The following day, he visited his nearest department in Crawley with three types of identification, his passport, driving licence and council tax invoice.
He stated after checking the system, he was advised there was nothing they might do.
“I used to be at a whole loss with my remedy,” he stated.
Out of choices, Jamie determined to submit about what had occurred on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
Over the following 24 hours, his submit acquired 43,000 views and on Monday April 8 2024 he acquired a message from HSBC saying, “Good morning Jamie, thanks for reaching out to us, we would like to get this matter sorted as rapidly as doable. When you might be a part of me in a non-public chat by clicking the hyperlink under, I can examine this additional…”
He has since been despatched one other hyperlink and requested to add his identification, however on the time of writing, the bank card has nonetheless not been blocked and Jamie’s credit score rating stays 300 factors down.
“It took me blasting it throughout Twitter for them to truly contact me instantly, as a result of earlier than then I had not acquired any correspondence in 14 weeks,” he stated.
“Whoever has performed this, I assume doesn’t know me.
“I consider they’ve in all probability simply pot-lucked as many individuals as they’ll.”
An HSBC UK spokesperson stated: “Thanks for bringing this matter to our consideration.
“We take all allegations of fraud extraordinarily critically and this case is being seemed into.”