Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Have I been involved in fraud ?!

243 replies

cakeslenon6 · 22/04/2026 23:43

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 ?!

OP posts:
LIZS · Yesterday 12:07

cakeslenon6 · Yesterday 11:44

I did speak to my friend which told me it wasn’t them but are they just saying that because they knew it was fraud or because they genuinely knew it wasn’t them I don’t know what to believe anymore

They were hardly going to admit to it, even if they in turn were being scammed or had been previously rather tha party to it.

Monty36 · Yesterday 12:23

At least you now realise not to make a payment from your account on behalf of someone you do not know.
Nor accept any pleas from someone to deal in payments for a person who you do not know.
Tell whoever it is ‘no’. And mean it.

Ormally · Yesterday 12:43

This isn't relevant to the specifics in the sequence of online money movement here, which is dodgy, but just in case it comes up in another context: a savings company will probably request more details from you if you pay in money only occasionally to a savings account like an ISA, rather than more regular contributions, before they accept a deposit. They will check where the £ came from, if it is yours, not a gift or (e.g) combined set of donations, and other things relevant to tax circumstances.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

BlackRowan · Yesterday 12:52

It has been flagged as money laundering by bank’s systems.
generally receiving money from someone else and paying on their behalf can be part of money laundering scheme, yes

why someone needs to spend 1300 at Moonpig?? That’s odd explanation

BlackRowan · Yesterday 12:56

Oh I See it’s Moonpay so crypto so even higher risk of money laundering 😂

honestly do people not think before doing things like that?? Even if you weren’t scammed your friend could have been using you as a front for illegal activities/money laundering . Maybe they actually are and are just now lying that it wasn’t them to cover themselves

Kimura · Yesterday 13:29

cakeslenon6 · Yesterday 11:44

I did speak to my friend which told me it wasn’t them but are they just saying that because they knew it was fraud or because they genuinely knew it wasn’t them I don’t know what to believe anymore

Did they call you from their usual number?

Keepoffmyartichokes · Yesterday 13:31

Curlybrunette · Yesterday 09:30

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

If it's a CIFAS marker it might only last 3 years as was under 21 at the time but it depends on what the marker is for. He can contact CIFAS and ask for. DSAR this will tell him the detail. If he is innocent it is worth doing as he can then ask for it to be removed and they will investigate. If he is deemed to be innocent and it was added in error it will be removed immediately

Silvers11 · Yesterday 13:31

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Silvers11 · Yesterday 13:31

cakeslenon6 · Yesterday 11:44

I did speak to my friend which told me it wasn’t them but are they just saying that because they knew it was fraud or because they genuinely knew it wasn’t them I don’t know what to believe anymore

Seriously @cakeslenon6 No Scammer in their right mind, would contact a friend deliberately to pull them into a scam. Scammers work due to the 'Anonymity' they have. They pretend to be other people all the time, and this whole scenario had red flags all over it from the start, screaming 'SCAM'. Scammers keep scamming, because some people will still get taken in and they still get away with it.

But the methods they use are getting even more complex, because more and more people can recognise red flags when they appear, and the use of AI means people can even clone voices of other people. You sound quite vulnerable to these kind of scams, so it might be helpful for you to read up on the kind of things that happen and also read up about ways to avoid being scammed for the future

Click here and it will take you to a Google Search Page - or just Google Scams 2026

Silvers11 · Yesterday 13:33

DUPLICATE POST

busyd4y · Yesterday 14:20

cakeslenon6 · Yesterday 11:44

I did speak to my friend which told me it wasn’t them but are they just saying that because they knew it was fraud or because they genuinely knew it wasn’t them I don’t know what to believe anymore

Of course he's denying it, as a pp above said AI voice cloning isn't going to be happening for small scale crimes like this, that would be way too much sophistication imo

Keepoffmyartichokes · Yesterday 15:08

busyd4y · Yesterday 14:20

Of course he's denying it, as a pp above said AI voice cloning isn't going to be happening for small scale crimes like this, that would be way too much sophistication imo

AI voice cloning is happening for smaller scams like this. It takes only a few seconds of audio and then less than 5 minutes to create a clone.

DomesticArchaeologist · Yesterday 15:44

Keepoffmyartichokes · Yesterday 15:08

AI voice cloning is happening for smaller scams like this. It takes only a few seconds of audio and then less than 5 minutes to create a clone.

Edited

I think a lot of people feel that a clone couldn't be good enough quality to fool anyone.

IMO the main factor is that if you see someone's number on your screen and answer it, you're not listening out for anything strange. You expect it to be them. So unless it's very obviously NOT them, a lot of us would just assume it was.

So many people here are insisting they would never be so stupid and this and that. The problem is that these scams DO work sometimes, not only on 'stupid' (or simply uninformed) people but on people who are distracted at the time. Then, due to shame, they don't report it or don't talk about it.

Shaming people, as quite a few have done here, just helps the scammers as people don't want to talk to anyone about their experiences.

ETA: the other factor is that these are often not small operations. It's not a one-off by the person/people behind this. They've probably got hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds/dollars/euros on the go with this sort of thing.

DomesticArchaeologist · Yesterday 15:48

Silvers11 · Yesterday 13:31

Seriously @cakeslenon6 No Scammer in their right mind, would contact a friend deliberately to pull them into a scam. Scammers work due to the 'Anonymity' they have. They pretend to be other people all the time, and this whole scenario had red flags all over it from the start, screaming 'SCAM'. Scammers keep scamming, because some people will still get taken in and they still get away with it.

But the methods they use are getting even more complex, because more and more people can recognise red flags when they appear, and the use of AI means people can even clone voices of other people. You sound quite vulnerable to these kind of scams, so it might be helpful for you to read up on the kind of things that happen and also read up about ways to avoid being scammed for the future

Click here and it will take you to a Google Search Page - or just Google Scams 2026

Also very true - if I was going to scam someone (I'm not!), I wouldn't just call a friend to rip them off. I mean they would instantly know it was me and within 48 hours I'd be speaking to the police no doubt.

BlackRowan · Yesterday 16:01

Curlybrunette · Yesterday 09:30

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

There are new “de-banking” laws coming into force on 28th April. Banks will have to provide longer notices and explanations and there is a right to appeal.

BlackRowan · Yesterday 16:07

Geminispark · Yesterday 09:55

You probably wouldn’t unless you’ve have AML training, but it’s something that is always emphasised

A person like OP does not have obligation not to tip off under AML laws. Tipping off offence in this case applies to the financial institution; meaning bank itself will not be permitted to tip off that they suspect money laundering and that they filed a suspicious activity report.

please don’t spread misinformation

Charlize43 · Yesterday 16:18

CandidLurker · Yesterday 11:10

I think “Tipping off” is a specific offence for those working in regulated sectors like banks. Still the op should not have any further contact with this so called friend.

Tipping off? Isn't that a sexual thing? I'm sure someone said it was a sexual thing where the mattress is pulled up really fast during orgasm.

Friendlygingercat · Yesterday 17:01

BOTTOM LINE - If a friend or relative contacts you from abroad with a "tale" about having no money for some reason dont take it as gospel. First find another way to contact them and check if it really was the person it appears to be.
If it really is a friend/relative destitute in a foreign country they can contact the embassy for help. Or you can send them cash to pick up locally via W Union or MoneyGram. They will have to show verifiable photo ID to pick it up. Dont ever risk your bank account.

DomesticArchaeologist · Yesterday 17:24

Charlize43 · Yesterday 16:18

Tipping off? Isn't that a sexual thing? I'm sure someone said it was a sexual thing where the mattress is pulled up really fast during orgasm.

you're thinking of "whipping off".

PhaedraTwo · Yesterday 18:07

BlackRowan · Yesterday 16:07

A person like OP does not have obligation not to tip off under AML laws. Tipping off offence in this case applies to the financial institution; meaning bank itself will not be permitted to tip off that they suspect money laundering and that they filed a suspicious activity report.

please don’t spread misinformation

Edited

Yes, tipping off rules only apply to anyone in a regulated sector but as the OP only has her friend's word that he was impersonated she would be wise, to protect her own position of wide eyed naivety, not to discuss this with him.

TheRealMagic · Yesterday 18:13

Silvers11 · Yesterday 13:31

Seriously @cakeslenon6 No Scammer in their right mind, would contact a friend deliberately to pull them into a scam. Scammers work due to the 'Anonymity' they have. They pretend to be other people all the time, and this whole scenario had red flags all over it from the start, screaming 'SCAM'. Scammers keep scamming, because some people will still get taken in and they still get away with it.

But the methods they use are getting even more complex, because more and more people can recognise red flags when they appear, and the use of AI means people can even clone voices of other people. You sound quite vulnerable to these kind of scams, so it might be helpful for you to read up on the kind of things that happen and also read up about ways to avoid being scammed for the future

Click here and it will take you to a Google Search Page - or just Google Scams 2026

I don't know what happened here - none of us, including OP, do - but it simply isn't true that scammers don't involve friends and acquaintances. They do. It might be much nicer to think that a mysterious shadowy stranger pretended to be the friend than that someone might genuinely be happy to put their friend at risk (he obviously didn't expect her to be caught, as then the scam didn't work, but would have known it was a risk) for their own profit, but that doesn't mean it's actually the most likely option.

TheRealMagic · Yesterday 18:15

DomesticArchaeologist · Yesterday 15:48

Also very true - if I was going to scam someone (I'm not!), I wouldn't just call a friend to rip them off. I mean they would instantly know it was me and within 48 hours I'd be speaking to the police no doubt.

This has only come out because OP's bank blocked the transaction. If it hadn't then she would have continued merrily on (and the 'friend' would probably have asked her to keep transferring money for him, more and more regularly, having identified a useful money mule).

FriendshipDynamic · Yesterday 18:21

DomesticArchaeologist · Yesterday 15:44

I think a lot of people feel that a clone couldn't be good enough quality to fool anyone.

IMO the main factor is that if you see someone's number on your screen and answer it, you're not listening out for anything strange. You expect it to be them. So unless it's very obviously NOT them, a lot of us would just assume it was.

So many people here are insisting they would never be so stupid and this and that. The problem is that these scams DO work sometimes, not only on 'stupid' (or simply uninformed) people but on people who are distracted at the time. Then, due to shame, they don't report it or don't talk about it.

Shaming people, as quite a few have done here, just helps the scammers as people don't want to talk to anyone about their experiences.

ETA: the other factor is that these are often not small operations. It's not a one-off by the person/people behind this. They've probably got hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds/dollars/euros on the go with this sort of thing.

Edited

I think there’s a spectrum of what is and isn’t plausible, and when you are and aren’t a genuine victim.

I absolutely believe that there is a scam out there for everyone and that no-one is infallible, and I am someone who is suspicious of everthing which sounds a bit out of the ordinary.

But it’s easy to see how someone could e.g. fall for the “we weren’t able to deliver your parcel” scam for instance, especially if you’ve been expecting a delivery for instance.

But equally there are scams out there which are either so implausible, or so well-known that nobody should be falling for them.

And let’s be honest, some of those are based around greed not genuine gullibility or innocence. And some absolutely are based around stupidity.

So e.g. “I am a Nigerian prince, and I need to escape from my country so will you help me push my millions through your bank account and I’ll give you millions in return.”

Total scam and nobody should be falling for it.

Similarly giving money to someone you’ve never met making up some stupid life and excuse. It might start with loneliness, but anyone who believes that they’re giving money to Brad Pitt who is desperately in love with them, or that they’re dating someone who has been detained in a Turkish prison on their way to make their future with you is an idiot, and the banks are becoming less and less sympathetic to it.

Similarly the gift card scams. The police often become involved now, and if the person refuses to acknowledge they’re being scammed they can have their accounts closed.

In the OP’s case I don’t imagine she’s as innocent as she claims. That’s not to say that I think she’s involved in money laundering, but she was almost certainly offered something in return for pushing this money through to moonpay to buy digital currency, and the reason why she fell for it is because of how much she will have been offered to do it. And now having tipped off the scammer or part of the scam ring, i.e. her friend, she’s made herself look even more complicit.

These scams absolutely aren’t being done by AI at the moment. While it’s possible to create a voice profile of someone, the vocal process isn’t yet developed enough to be plausible. Equally you would need to know a lot about someone’s relationships to be able to do a plausible impersonation enough to get them to agree to launder money for them.

While we need to acknowledge that AI does play a part in many scams, we also need to not lose sight of the fact that humans are very much still involved, and willing to participate and run these scams, because to lose sight of that means that more people will get away with it. “My friend would never….” Etc.

OP’s friend is clearly a crook who has likely been sucked into this through greed of his own. It’s almost like a pyramid selling thing, and now he’s involved the OP as well. And the more people become involved, the more of the little people such as the OP become the scapegoats while the people further up the chain carry on getting away with it.

OP needs to cooperate with the bank.

She needs to give them all her friend’s details, and then she needs to block him and have nothing more to do with him. The friendship needs to be over.

He’s dragged her into this, let him pay the price for it.

Laurmolonlabe · Yesterday 18:36

Yes of course you have been involved in fraud- a bank cannot restrict or close your account without solid evidence fraud has been committed.
you need to fully cooperate including giving details of your "friend"- TBH you will not be prosecuted, probably but this will follow you around for years, you will struggle to buy financial products get accounts, or credit- even if you fully convince the investigators you were just naive.

Keepoffmyartichokes · Yesterday 18:40

FriendshipDynamic · Yesterday 18:21

I think there’s a spectrum of what is and isn’t plausible, and when you are and aren’t a genuine victim.

I absolutely believe that there is a scam out there for everyone and that no-one is infallible, and I am someone who is suspicious of everthing which sounds a bit out of the ordinary.

But it’s easy to see how someone could e.g. fall for the “we weren’t able to deliver your parcel” scam for instance, especially if you’ve been expecting a delivery for instance.

But equally there are scams out there which are either so implausible, or so well-known that nobody should be falling for them.

And let’s be honest, some of those are based around greed not genuine gullibility or innocence. And some absolutely are based around stupidity.

So e.g. “I am a Nigerian prince, and I need to escape from my country so will you help me push my millions through your bank account and I’ll give you millions in return.”

Total scam and nobody should be falling for it.

Similarly giving money to someone you’ve never met making up some stupid life and excuse. It might start with loneliness, but anyone who believes that they’re giving money to Brad Pitt who is desperately in love with them, or that they’re dating someone who has been detained in a Turkish prison on their way to make their future with you is an idiot, and the banks are becoming less and less sympathetic to it.

Similarly the gift card scams. The police often become involved now, and if the person refuses to acknowledge they’re being scammed they can have their accounts closed.

In the OP’s case I don’t imagine she’s as innocent as she claims. That’s not to say that I think she’s involved in money laundering, but she was almost certainly offered something in return for pushing this money through to moonpay to buy digital currency, and the reason why she fell for it is because of how much she will have been offered to do it. And now having tipped off the scammer or part of the scam ring, i.e. her friend, she’s made herself look even more complicit.

These scams absolutely aren’t being done by AI at the moment. While it’s possible to create a voice profile of someone, the vocal process isn’t yet developed enough to be plausible. Equally you would need to know a lot about someone’s relationships to be able to do a plausible impersonation enough to get them to agree to launder money for them.

While we need to acknowledge that AI does play a part in many scams, we also need to not lose sight of the fact that humans are very much still involved, and willing to participate and run these scams, because to lose sight of that means that more people will get away with it. “My friend would never….” Etc.

OP’s friend is clearly a crook who has likely been sucked into this through greed of his own. It’s almost like a pyramid selling thing, and now he’s involved the OP as well. And the more people become involved, the more of the little people such as the OP become the scapegoats while the people further up the chain carry on getting away with it.

OP needs to cooperate with the bank.

She needs to give them all her friend’s details, and then she needs to block him and have nothing more to do with him. The friendship needs to be over.

He’s dragged her into this, let him pay the price for it.

This is nonsense AI is being used to scam via fake voices. They need only a few seconds of a voice and about 5 minutes on the right app and they can replicate a voice. It's easy to get the voice, you upload a video to social media, or you get a call from someone doing a survey...both just examples how they can get your voice.

Swipe left for the next trending thread