My Boss appears to be being scammed - can I be implicated?

[NotSayingWhatMyNameIs]

Bit of an odd one and I have changed username for this.

It's along story but I will try and summarise without drip feeding.

Essentially my boss is a lonely older chap who has been dabbling with online dating. He appears to have become involved with a lady who is very much younger than him and, based on the photos, very attractive.

Their relationship quickly moved on to whatsapp and private emails outside of the dating website and around October time he started asking me to transfer small amounts of money to her from the business account. He does not have online banking access as he is a total technophobe and doesn't understand how it all works so myself and one other colleague have access and make payments on his instructions.

The payments started off as small amounts but have gradually increased in size and frequency. Since October the total payments we have been asked to make to this woman are just over £40K.

It's not my business, it is not my problem, he is the sole director and it is down to him. My problem is that on several occasions we have not had enough money in the current account to make these payments so he has told me to make the payments from client account. The money in client account is not our money, it is client money which is held for various reasons. Essentially this is theft.

I am convinced he is caught up in a scam, I have tried to talk to him to make him realise he is being taken for a mug but he gets defensive and tells me to mind my own business - fair enough, it isn't my business but he seems to have become so embroiled by her web of deceit that he keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole.

He has been promised by this woman that she is going to repay him. I am not entirely sure what reasons she has given for needing this money or how she intends to repay it but every time she gives a date by which she will repay him, a further excuse is given and he just has to make another payment to her so she can sort it out.

To everyone else it would be obvious - he is being made a fool of. It is quite obviously a scam.

This is having a major impact on the business as aside from client money he has been using money set aside to pay salaries at month end. We very nearly were unable to pay the staff this month we just about did it.

I am beyond frustrated and part of me wants to intervene and get the police involved in what is so obviously a dating website scam.

My issue is my colleague and I are the ones that have physically made the bank transfers. I am not so concerned about the transfers from the business account - it is the client money that concerns me. We were acting on his instructions and we both told him we thought what he was doing was wrong but at the end of the day, he is the boss and we were following orders. I am seriously worried that we will be in trouble for making the payments. Every payment made was on an emailed instruction from him.

Aside from the client money - any suggestions on how I put an end to this. He will not listen and I can't see it stopping

thanks for reading

[Twowrongsdontmakearight]

It might be worth telling your bank. He sounds like a 'vulnerable customer' and transactions could be stopped there.

[tribpot]

Does the concept of 'vulnerable customer' apply to business accounts? I wouldn't have thought so.

Roussette, I think the OP felt the guy would fire her on the spot and she'd be left without enough money to pay her bills. She may have felt at the time that she had enough cover because of the emails telling her just to do it over her objections. I would hope any police attention would be focused on the director and the con artist he's corresponding with, although I agree that the OP has made mistakes.

[Roussette]

Where does it say that he would fire her on the spot and she would be left without enough money to pay her bills, have I missed something? And how could he fire her for refusing to do something that is actually illegal.

I appreciate it wouldn't be easy but it would have been better to just say no in the first place as surely clients money is not used for this sort of thing and OP knew that.

NotSayng I do hope it gets sorted, TBH I would tell anyone and everyone, if there's a problem paying the staff because of this, you need to speak out. Good luck with it.

[TheHobbitMum]

What a terrible position he's left you in! I don't blame you for going along with it, fearing my job I'd of done the same. It's time to protect yourself now so get copies of all emails and seek advice from action fraud/police etc He's absolutely being conned :( Good luck OP

[tribpot]

OP has not confirmed that fear for her job is what led her to go along with the orders to move money out of client accounts - I was speculating. I get the impression it is one of these situations where things spiral out of control and each turn of the spiral is only a bit worse than the one before until you wake up and discover you're in serious trouble and think 'how the hell did I get here?'. Important thing now is for the OP to salvage what she can, by going to the police. If one of the clients reports it, it will be far worse for her.

[TwoTonTessie]

Please report this urgently. Do not want him that he needs to stop or you will report it. You have already admitted in emails that what he is doing is theft so this makes you complicit as you have knowingly allowed it to continue. Please don't keep enabling this.

[TwoTonTessie]

Do not warn him I meant

[TheHobbitMum]

Very true, coming forward with the info first is paramount here. Especially as there doesn't barely seem to be enough in the accounts to pay wages etc

[Humble314]

Wow, he's putting you in a very difficult position.

[YoniMitchell]

You need to be on the front foot now OP and report this before it blows up and you're caught right in the middle as the person who made the transfers in the full knowledge those from client accounts were illegal.

[Humble314]

Yes, protect yourself legally. There will be other jobs, other bosses....

[peteneras]

I am with starfishmummy upthread - I smell a rat. Either your boss is a stupid old fool or he’s a champion con artist himself. Either way, he’s doing you no good and you have a priority to cover your back. Personally, I wouldn’t think too far ahead about staying long term in this company.

I would therefore, report this to the external auditors myself about the theft of clients’ money - I won’t involve my colleague the accountant because I don’t know where he stands. Request the external auditors to report to the police though they may not see it their duty to do so in which case you have to do it yourself. It’s vital you do all this in writing and keep copies of evidence that you have done this, e.g. certificate of posting, emails, etc.

[ratspeaker]

Get him to look at this site
www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13

[pluck]

Ugh. It doesn't matter so much if he's being scammed. Well, it matters, but he loses any sympathy from me by embezzling from clients and employees (the latter is very LOW).

Contact the police ASAP, or else he (and his online "date" - if she even exists, or if she is not an emotional alibi for his own crimes, as starfish suggests) will bring you down, too. He might be able to counter all your written protests with his own, documented, pleas, and a legal line that you had a "responsibility to stop him."

[DeoGratias]

I am afraid you are also in the wrong. You need to stop making the payments. In fact you could have set up the thread as later evidence to pretend your boss told you to but you were taking the money. I am not saying you have done this at all but that is how someone could view it later so you need to stop making payments from client account and require an invoice before you make payments from the business account. It does not matter if your boss told you. By the way does he own all the shares in the company and is he the only director?

Also he should have got himself on a plane to see the young lady within a week or two to check things out. People can be so silly - IF there is such a young lady. He might well just be using the money himself.