DD has given details to a scam. What to do?

[WhenTheDragonsCame]

Hi. My 18 year old daughter received a message telling her she was due a refund for road tax (she can't even drive) and messaged me to ask what it was. Unfortunately by the time I replied she had given them all her details including national insurance number and bank details.

Luckily she has no money for them to be able to take so that shouldn't be an issue. I have advised her to contact the bank which she is doing now but is there anything else she needs to do? I'm concerned as they probably have her address and everything!

To be on the safe side contact the bank for some advice regarding the bank details.
With address details etc, you can put a notice of correction on her credit file asking that all lenders get her to confirm a password before any new accounts/credit agreements are opened. It is an obligation for companies to read NOC's, so this will stop accounts being opened fraudulently.

If she doesn't drive has she said why she thinks she'd be getting a refund?

I would call action fraud just so you have a reference should you need it and at 18, I would consider opening a new account as then the sort code/acc number cant be used in the future to try launder money through by 'accidentally crediting' her then raising a recall. That's what I would do doesn't mean it's right or wrong

Thank you.

She is trying to contact the bank but has been listening to music for the last hour. I have managed to get her their fraud number.

She has some kind of undiagnosed learning difficulty and she didn't know what it meant. She gave them her details as she said it looked like a professional government website. I have told her that in future if she doesn't know what it means she is to ask a responsible adult.

Thank you for the advice.

This is probably a Universal Credit Advance fraud.
She gives her details to someone she 'meet's on Snapchat or similar, they use her details to claim Universal Credit, adding six disabled children and inflated housing costs, and then request an advance payment.
The advance is paid into her account, probably between £1200 and £1500, and the 'scammer' then demands at least half, and in some cases I have investigated, up to 90% of it.
If this happens, she should not hand any over, she should contact DWP to see about repaying it.
This 'scam' is rife with approximately 85,000 cases pre-covid, concentrated in certain areas of the UK, but spreading. Since Covid, numbers have risen to approximately 200,000.
If this is the case, she has committed Benefit Fraud via a third party.
She needs to change who she banks with, not just her account. She has given her details to a criminal who could open an online account in her name, at her current bank, where her details are already verified. Loans and credit cards could then be taken out in her name.
She probably gave them her passport so they could 'verify' her ID online, and if they took her photo too, which often happens in these cases, there's a false passport and driving licence in the making.

“I have told her that in future if she doesn't know what it means she is to ask a responsible adult.”

Sorry but you need to give her much stronger advice than this - even if she thinks she knows, that doesn’t mean it’s wise.