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Original poster

Really strange error & now mum owes thousands- help

441 replies

Helpmymum · 28/03/2021 19:18

I'll try and keep this as simple as possible, I'm just seeing if anyone has any advice or insight into how this might play out before we start contacting people tomorrow.

My elderly, widowed & (totally alone for the past year 😪) mother got a letter late Friday afternoon which was spent special delivery from a pension company. In short, it said that she took a bond out 20 years ago which was cashed in 15 years ago and her account was closed, she was no longer a customer. They then said that they are really sorry but they have just discovered during an audit that they had mistakenly used her bank account details with another bond for another customer and she has been receiving a monthly payment for the last 20 years in error. This amounts to an awful lot of money, tens of thousands of pounds. And it needs to be repaid. We have checked and she has been receiving the payment in her account.

She was widowed a long time ago and when my father died, my sister and I where both toddlers and so she employed a financial advisor to deal with the finances, obviosuly to eliviate the stress. She is not wealthy by any means, she owns a modest house (which was paid for by my dad's life insurance policy), has a small amount of savings (which is with the financial advisor invested in whatever he thinks) and collects her pension.

I can understand why she wouldn't question this money going in as she just left everything to the financial advisor, he obviously opened the bond and cashed it out and payments of this nature were expected/ perfectly normal.

After receiving the letter, my sister immediately called the financial advisor who said he had never dealt with anything like this before and was working from home, he would need to go into the office on Monday morning to have a look at the records. My sister then called the company in question, it's a large, well known company so she didn't take the number from the letter just incase it was a scam and found the number from Google. She called and a person in the company could not find any record of this or the letter having been sent out, however she did say she wasn't part of the relevant department and the person who's signature was on the letter did infact work there. It was so late on Friday afternoon, there was no one there who could help or knew anymore.

My poor mum has been in an absolute state all weekend, she's thinking she is going to have to sell her house to pay this back. I think technically she does owe the money as we can see she has recieved it. Does anyone have any idea of what might happen?

First thing tomorrow is a call to citizens advice and legal advice, obviosuly talk to the financial advisor and the company in question too.

I think I'm just asking if anyone knows what we might be in for here?

Thanks

OP posts:
Charley50 · 28/03/2021 19:23

I don't really know, but don't let her pay it back immediately, as it still sounds like a scam to me. Also, she might not be liable for any or some of it. If it's legit, it's the companies error, and they should have discovered it earlier. If she has to pay any back, I imagine it can be in instalments. Still think it's a scam though.

redcandlelight · 28/03/2021 19:23

sounds like a scam to me.
look up the original company and call their number tomorrow.
don't call the number on the letter.

Timeandtune · 28/03/2021 19:24

If you struggle to get anywhere with the company or the IFA I would contact Sally Hamilton at the Daily Telegraph. This is exactly the type of situation she specialises in. Good luck!

BeautifulBirds · 28/03/2021 19:34

Sounds very dodgy to me.

Even if it is legit, if your mother had no reasonable doubt that the money she was receiving was right, it's up to the company to fix, surely.

ArosGartref · 28/03/2021 19:35

It does sound like a scam. I wouldn't pay much mind to the fact the person's name is genuine. Letters like this are usually sent out on behalf of departmental heads and it's easy enough to find out that info from LinkedIn.

Get more detail from the company to find out if it's genuine. If it is, I would argue that your mother is not liable to repay it as it's either the company's error or the financial advisor.

If you think it is a scam, consider if scammers have access to your mother's personal information and look into checking her credit file and adding a cifas alert.

expectopelargonium · 28/03/2021 19:38

Oh my. This could so easily be a scam.

Gnomewithaview · 28/03/2021 19:42

How can it be a scam if the money is being paid into the account and no-one knows why? I’m pretty sure if you kick up a big enough fuss the company will back down, good luck

rainbowninja · 28/03/2021 19:43

Your poor mum, it does sound very odd to
me. I hope you get some answers quickly and whatever the outcome just remember that it is highly unlikely to be the worse possible case scenario that she is imagining. It's been such a tough year that I think we are all just in that frame of mind.

redcandlelight · 28/03/2021 19:44

how can it be a scam?

unexpected letter demanding money.
to a vulnerable older person.
of course a scam needs to be considered.

Insomnia5 · 28/03/2021 19:46

@Gnomewithaview

How can it be a scam if the money is being paid into the account and no-one knows why? I’m pretty sure if you kick up a big enough fuss the company will back down, good luck
I agree. Can’t understand why so many people are saying it’s a scam when she’s been given the money. No way should she be paying that straight back without a lot of legal advice though.
StephenBelafonte · 28/03/2021 19:46

Agree with everyone else. First of all find out if its genuine or not.

Insomnia5 · 28/03/2021 19:48

@redcandlelight

how can it be a scam?

unexpected letter demanding money.
to a vulnerable older person.
of course a scam needs to be considered.

An unexpected letter about her mum receiving payments when she shouldn’t have been, which the op has verified by checking her account and she’s been given tens of thousands of pounds
FlyingBurrito · 28/03/2021 19:50

@redcandlelight

how can it be a scam?

unexpected letter demanding money.
to a vulnerable older person.
of course a scam needs to be considered.

How would a scammer know the details of the amount that is being paid into the account?

Mistakes do happen. Start a discussion with the company and take it from there, it's probably won't be easy with all the covid complications and will be worrying for your DM. Best solution is that the payments stop but she doesn't have to pay anything back as she genuinely thought she was entitled to it -suggest that to them and take it from there

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 28/03/2021 19:50

I was listening to a scam programme on radio 4 where the scammers used actual names and numbers belonging to HMRC to make sure this is actually correct first.
They can't make a pensioner homeless so it would be installments if anything.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 28/03/2021 19:51

There are other options too such as paying it back with equity release and so on so explore all the avenues before freaking out.

Angrymum22 · 28/03/2021 19:52

Surely the person whose money she was receiving would have noticed years ago that they were not receiving the money they were due. I would say that this is a scam. It’s so easy to make a letter look legitimate. Also, if it was arranged by a financial advisor surely they would be informed of the mistake at the same time.

Tal45 · 28/03/2021 19:53

If it turns out to be true it might be worth talking to step change the charity, they will hopefully be able to negotiate and set up a repayment that she can afford. I've heard very good things about them and they are free as they are a government debt charity.

gottakeeponmovin · 28/03/2021 19:54

I was under the impression that the maximum time they can claim back for is 7 years. Still a lot of money though

HighlandCowbag · 28/03/2021 19:54

It could be a scam. I don't know why a financial advisor would cash a bond after only 5 years. And surely the customer it should have gone to would have noticed by now that they aren't receiving the money. Plus a financial advisor (if she's still been using him) should do fact finding, part of which is an income and expenditure and would have questioned any unexpected payments in.

If it's not a scam go straight to a solicitor who specialises in this kind of thing and get advice. Don't admit liability or anything just yet.

firedog · 28/03/2021 19:54

I think it's possibly a scam too. The bank will help trace where the money is coming from and see what that tells you

giletrouge · 28/03/2021 19:55

It could be a scam because they could derive all the info they need online and/or through hacking and cleverly hypothesising the rest. Don't panic. Your poor mum.
If by any chance it's not a scam it's THEIR MISTAKE and arguably they are liable for the bulk of their own losses.
I'm a bit Hmm about the fact it arrived late Friday special delivery thus leaving her high and dry over the weekend. As a scammer who wanted to prey on an elderly person would do.

alreadytaken · 28/03/2021 19:55

Definitely sounds like a scam. Did it include bank details to pay the money back? Was the number found on google the same as any number given in the letter? The first would tend to suggest scam, especially if they dont match any account details for the company, any difference in phone numbers suggests scam.

Even if genuine she has a plausible reason for thinking the money was hers and should fight repayment, up to the Ombudsman if necessary. www.money.co.uk/guides/can-you-keep-money-accidentally-paid-into-your-bank-account.htm If genuine the financial advisor may have notified her to expect a change of income 15 years ago but he is not required to jeep records from 15 years ago so there would be no proof if he did.

The real proof will be whether the payment stops from here on in. Worst case is probably that it does, will this cause her hardship?

LubaLuca · 28/03/2021 19:57

This is one hell of a long game if it is a scam - the mother has been receiving this monthly amount for years.

Has your mum ever tried to trace the source of the payments? Is there a reference attached to them that would make it obvious where they came from?

skeemee · 28/03/2021 19:58

I would immediately assume scam too. Would the intended recipient not have contacted the company to say they hadn’t been receiving their payments before now?? I wouldn’t be repaying anytime soon even if it is an error. Which doesn’t seem likely.

Crazycatlady83 · 28/03/2021 19:58

It could be a scam - the scammers send enough letters to enough people and hit the jackpot if the facts check out (by coincidence) on just one person.

See what the financial advisor says. If there has been a genuine error on the part of the company, go and see a lawyer. I believe debts cannot be pursued after a certain period of time has elapsed so they may not be able to claim the entire amount back.

Good luck, what a worry for your family