4.2 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
A High Street bank has refunded £145,000 to a man in his eighties after Money Box intervened. Alan was persuaded by thieves to transfer tens of thousands of pounds into what he thought were investments. The money was moved through his account at Metrobank which for many years had seen little activity. But the bank failed to notice large sums being transferred in from his savings and investments and out again almost at once. When a different bank finally blocked the scam, Metrobank only recovered a small proportion of the stolen money before closing the case. Then Money Box intervened and won back for Alan the full amount. We hear from Alan's wife Elizabeth. And from Morven Lean of the Alzheimers Society on how to work with banks to protect relatives with dementia from theft. Plus Kate Frankish of PayUK reveals new ways they're developing to try to cut authorised push payment fraud in future.
Also - Dave, who got in touch with Money Box , describes the "black hole" he entered when the Department of Work and Pensions told him part of his salary could be taken to pay off a £1,000 benefits debt. The problem was - he'd never claimed the benefit, didn't owe the money and wasn't told which part of government was poised to take it from him. A year after problems like these were first raised by the programme, Stephen Timms, chair of the Work and Pensions select committee, assesses how well the DWP is fixing them.
Plus - Would you borrow half the deposit you needed to buy a home if it meant losing half the profit when you sell it?
Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Paul Waters Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researcher: Drew Miller Hyndman Editor: Emma Rippon
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0:00.0 | On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation. |
0:07.0 | It was an extraordinary news story. |
0:09.0 | The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny, |
0:14.0 | mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared. |
0:18.0 | One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for |
0:21.7 | Lucan. It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime. I'm Alex Fontunzelman. |
0:27.4 | This is The Lucan Obsession. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
0:36.5 | Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. |
0:39.2 | One listener is told part of his salary could be taken to pay off a £1,000 universal |
0:44.7 | credit debt. |
0:46.0 | The problem is, he's never claimed the benefit and doesn't owe the money. |
0:50.6 | And would you borrow half the deposit you needed to buy a home if it meant losing half the profit when you sell it? |
0:57.6 | But first, the High Street Bankers refunded nearly £145,000 to a man in his 80s |
1:03.7 | after Moneybox intervened. |
1:06.0 | Alan already had some shares in a mining company, |
1:08.3 | and that was how thieves made contact and persuaded him to |
1:11.7 | transfer nearly £200,000 into what he thought were other investments abroad. The money was moved |
1:18.8 | from his account at Metro Bank, which for many years had seen little activity. But in 2018, |
1:24.4 | the bank failed to notice large sums were being transferred in from his savings and |
1:28.8 | investments and out again, almost at once, to a variety of payees. |
1:33.8 | His wife Elizabeth told me that Alan's ability to make decisions was impaired by his developing |
1:39.0 | dementia. |
... |
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