Have I been involved in fraud ?!

[cakeslenon6]

Hey everyone, I need some advice because I’m panicking right now.

I received a call from a friend I trust who said their account wasn’t working and they needed to make a payment for something. They asked if someone could send money to my account and then I forward it to my Revolut account so they could complete a payment through a Moonpig page. I agreed and didn’t really think anything of it at the time.

I received a transfer of £1,306 and followed their instructions. A few hours later, I tried to send the money on, but my account was suddenly restricted.

I checked my banking messages and they’re now asking for additional information about where the money came from, whether I know the person, and to provide any supporting evidence.

I’ve responded explaining what my friend told me and I’ve also sent a screenshot of the Moonpig request they mentioned. However, the conversation originally happened over the phone, so I don’t have any text messages or written proof of them asking me to do this.

I’m now really worried because I feel like I may have unknowingly been involved in fraud, and I don’t know what this means for me or what I should do next.

I have a holiday coming up next month and I’ve never experienced this before will the police get involved or would I have my account closed down what’s going to happen ?!

Apologies if a pp has mentioned this but I’m sure that banks do intervene when sums of money over a certain amount are being transferred…….something to do with money laundering prevention.

It's not your friend. Call the friend from a different phone and ask him, I'd bet he knows nothing about this. It's a very common scam.

@cakeslenon6 your so called friend has correctly identified you as likely to be susceptible to a fraud / scam. Have no further contact with him, don't fall for any other sob story or follow any of his instructions no matter how plausible the excuse is. Communicate only with the bank (and police if necessary), they should have a fraud dept which you can call yourself. If you now start getting calls from the bank, hang up and call them yourself from another phone. Don't reply or click on any links from emails. If you can log onto your account there may be a secure message system you can use. Be vary aware you are vulnerable to another scam and be cautious.

I’ve been a victim of actual and attempted frauds and the police did absolutely fuck all. I think you’ve been daft but I can’t imagine much will come of it.

Have you spoken to your friend OP since this happened??? I highly doubt this is some sophisticated scam where the OP's friend's voice and phone number have been cloned, to trick her into accepting the money. Your so-called 'friend' is up to his neck in money laundering, and has used your trust/friendship to trick you into helping him.

You need to speak to your bank. I don't believe Revolut have physical branches, as they are an online bank. You need to explain what's happened, and provide any evidence you have eg. Screen shots of messages sent to you etc. Your friend has been crafty, because he's made sure that the request to you was a call rather than messages.

Unfortunately, no one knows where this situation will leave you. If you're lucky the bank will believe you aren't involved, and allow you to keep your bank account. The bank will tell you if you should call the police or if they do this. Regards, you need to be fully transparent and cooperate. Yes, you are likely to have to pass your 'friends' details on, because he is 100% involved. He's not a friend, and you need to have no further contact with him.

It's still very much like someone asking you to take something on a plane for them.

It was from a third party account not “friend's”. It may be that this account was already under scrutiny so set off concerns at the bank and the amount unusual for op to receive and transfer on. Op, have you been asked to do similar previously and look out for any other possible scam messages arriving in your inbox or phone as you may have been “marked” as a target.

Moonpig do all kinds of stuff. Hampers, perfume, those expensive experiences things it's not just cards.

I really don't think this is money laundering op, my bank stopped a payment of 1k to my dc. I had them on the phone checking I wasnt being scammed despite dc being on my regular payees, it is standard checks and procedure though seems ott for such amounts.

The whole story does sound really stupid OP. Did you not ask who this person who was sending the money was? How was your friend proposing to make the payment from your Revolut ?

Nothing to do with Moonpig. The OP corrected herself further up the thread. It's Moonpay an online 'bank' that specialises in 'alternative online currency'!! Something that should have rang big red alarm bells!

Ok sorry I should rtft. Just so many people think moonpig only sell cards

My question exactly. That's how you know it's a fraud.

I can't believe how many people are 'sure' this is not fraud/nothing to worry about/just the bank and their fussy money laundering checks! It is so obviously money laundering. Never let anyone use your bank account - it doesn't matter who they are, how long you've known them or how trustworthy you think they are. If they have a temporary problem with their account or need money quickly for whatever reason that is up to them to take up with their bank. Don't get involved!

If the OP is lucky she will be allowed to keep her bank accounts. If not, they could shut her account and refuse to discuss it any further. Hopefully they will believe her naivety, if not then there could be a massive financial headache coming unfortunately.

Friends can be dodgy, though. Criminals don't only have other criminals as friends!

My son (then 18) did something very similiar, almost the same story, a 'good' friend said his friend was having trouble, could he transfer the money to DS and he send it on to someone else.

DS was silly stupid enough to do it, and a week later his bank was shut down as it was deemed fraudulent activity. One of the issues was that his bank sent him a cheque when they closed his bank with the remaining balance, the problem was he couldn't another bank account so had no way of cashing the cheque. Luckily it was the end of the month so it was a very small cheque!

There was no police involvement but it means he now cannot get a UK bank account.

DS had a Revolut account which he used for his holiday money. he started using that as his bank which has been fine, except Revolut are changing to an official UK bank soon and we're worried that when that happens he'll flag up and his account will be closed. That was 2 years so I don't know if that counts for anything, 2 years of normal banking with no issues?

We googled it and it said the bank ban could last 7 years, I daren't even think of whether this would affect his abilitiy to get a mortgage in the future.

Anyway sorry OP, I know how stressful this is, I hope you get sorted

I think you have more to worry about than your upcoming holiday OP. If your bank decides to freeze your bank account, that could potentially mean you can't withdraw cash, payments won't be made from your bank account and no payments to your account will be accepted. That means no bills being paid, no access to cash and no salary being paid into your account. You need to speak to your bank urgently.

Almost certainly fraud. Agree with others contact your bank on a number you know is correct eg on your card. Then report to local police and the action for fraud website for Met police.

I have never heard of 'tipping off', but if my friend had contacted me to do this, the first thing I would have done would have been to check wtf was going on

Not that I would agree to anything going through my bank account but that is because I was born suspicious.

How old are you OP? I can only assume extremely young…this sort of convoluted ‘money issue’ can only be a scam! Anyone with half a brain would have heard clanging alarm bells at the sheer ludicrously of the instructions!! FML 🤦‍♀️

This isn't 100% true, the bank may freeze the account but if money has been paid in that's is clearly salary or benefits and isn't under scrutiny the bank will transfer it to another account of the OP's if requested to. They don't block payments coming in in all cases.
Edited to say in all cases as it is case dependent

You’ve never heard of ‘tipping off’? Come on now…😂🤦‍♀️

Criminals get ‘tipped off’ all the time, so they can attempt their escape! The person ‘tipping them off’ is just as much a criminal as ‘the criminal’.

Via conversation amongst friends? Revolut are a disrupter/new-ish bank. As of 2024 it has had a restricted UK banking licence. Before then it operated only as a Electronic Money Institution. This is why it tends to be someone's secondary account used for specific things.

I know you’re not the op, but your son will have a cifas marker on his credit score which will be the thing stopping him from getting a UK bank account. He can apply to have it removed, or he’ll be stuck using an ‘e-bank’ which are usually not very well regulated

Your bank might just be refusing to process without additional evidence because it's a large amount to a previously unpaid provider. My aunt (dad's sister and executor) and I have been moving some large amounts around recently and there have been addition checks sometimes. However other things about this do sound like a scam.

As I said I have never heard of a crime called Tipping off. Perhaps you move in different circles to me. 🙄