BARCLAY'S SCAM "VICTIM’S STORY"

When Guardian Money first highlighted the HomeAway scam in April 2013, the victim Diana Cinamon, who lost over £2,600, had paid the money into a Barclays account. After running our story on the most recent victims last month, we were contacted by several more victims. Geoff Cosson, who lives in Cyprus, told how his family had almost fallen for the scam but realised just in time. Having corresponded at some length with the fraudsters, his family had all the details including the Barclays account the money was to be paid into. “When we realised, we contacted Barclays, Action Fraud and Trading Standards. My experience with all three was pretty dismal. We had an address in Acton of a named person, a bank account number and a branch address, all of which I sent direct to Barclays. I got no response at all. Presumably, the conmen must have opened accounts, and shut them pretty quickly, all on a regular basis. Is there no method of flagging up this type of unusual account activity? Maybe, if Barclays was held liable, it would be a bit more proactive,” he says.

The campaign group says several victims have pursued the bank through the courts and have been reimbursed as a result, albeit without an admission of liability, and, in some cases, the victim has been made to sign a gagging order. Last year a group of Australian tourists decided to take out a class action against Barclays after paying thousands of dollars into accounts for bookings that didn’t exist. In the end, only two complainants pursued the bank. Each was refunded, according to legal firm Edwin Coe that represented the victims.

Culled from Guardian