Somebody has set up a direct debit from my account, £3500 per month

[QuintessentialShadows]

to a well reputed car leasing firm.

I guess you can lease a lot of cars for that amount.

The firt £3500 came out on the first of May. I did not notice till today, bank holiday monday, a very sleepy weekender was on duty.

How can this happen?

I never thought somebody could successfully set up a direct debit out of somebody elses account. Obviously it is possible, now I am worried it will happen again.

OMG!!

That is very scary! I don't even have £3500 in my account every month. I guess if someone has your card details they could in theory do this. Will you be contqacting the car firm? Maybe it was a mistake?

Is the bank going to give you back your money? Who signed the papers?

Suspect it's pretty easy - dd mandates don't ask for a great deal - though they do have to be signed, don't they? What does your bank say?

It must be a mistake by the bank. If it's fraud sorry but it's hilarious - did they think you wouldn't notice? And on a lease, no less, so can be traced completely.

Could just be a mistake on the bank's part, that they've muddled up someone else's similar account number with yours. What have they said about it?

Didn't someone successfully set up a DD from Jeremy Clarkson's account after he told readers his account no and sort code (as part of an article about how it was impossible to commit fraud with just those details)?
But a car leasing firm? That's bizarre.Any probs re getting the money back?

You're completely covered by the dd guarantee, so no risk to you.

The bank has cancelled the direct debit, it literally evaporated before my very eyes (online banking) They say the money will be back in my account by end of play tomorrow, and they will investigate.

The leasing firm was closed today. I will try to call tomorrow, just to find out what they say.

I have not signed any such papers, neither have I written out any mandates recently.

However, I suspect the recipient may not be the car leasing firm, but they could have just called it that, the money could possibly go anywhere....

I also have a missing removal van. Worried that it may be something dodgy, and that they may have gone through my boxes and found banking details....

If the leasing company is genuine the car/s will have vanished, won't they?

(Remember Califrau's DB's story though...someone used his card details to buy fitted carpets for their house!!!)

Glad you will get the money straight back, Quint - hope the van turns up soon - please keep us posted.

Anyone can set up a dd from a bank account (most types anyway). They only need your bank details! But the dd scheme means you can call and claim immediately from your bank. The co I work for used to regularly have people setting up dds to pay US from our OWN bank account until controls were put in place. Poor you, what a worry, have you just moved?

Yes, I have moved to the far north of Norway. Concerned that the van might have encountered an avalanche, or is at the bottom of a fjord, or something. Or, in a warehouse in Ukraine where gangsters are going through my stuff...