Western Union Refund Scam

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 30 Aug 2013 Posts: 3

I have posted this in a existing thread within the love / dating scams.
Am new here and maybe this is better as a thread starter ??
Please move the post, deleted this header information, as you require.

This is my story :-

I was scammed due to bad information / advice from my bank.

I am an Artist and had a few paintings up for sale on a well known site.
An email from a guy informed me he was interested in one of my paintings, and how much it was.

I duly informed him the painting was only £250. Fine he says I will send you a banker draught. Few days later and said draught arrives made out for £975
which I queried firstly with the 'buyer'. He replied that he had included an extra £725 which I was to give to a courier when the painting was collected, as he (the buyer) lived in Africa. I started to get a bit twitchy, but thought as long as it clears (the bankers draught) no problem.

I rang my bank and specifically asked them about bankers draughts as I had no experience of them. They assured me that it is as good as cash and cannot be withdrawn or bounce.

The next day I went into my local branch, Kim - my partner at the time was with me and at my side, when I again clarified how a bankers draught works. She stated to me 'A bankers draught is as good as cash', 'it cannot be withdrawn or bounce as it has already left the buyers account and is in an holding account for a few days'. She went on to say 'It will still take about 3 -5 days to clear into your account though.

Over the next few days, I was keeping an eye on my account through online banking, and the account balance was showing as :- E.G.

Account Balance £2664.29 CR
Available Balance £1689.29 CR

The available balance being £975 less than the Account Balance.
So, the bankers draught is shown as in my account, but funds not yet
cleared.

After about 4 days I check again and : E.G.

Account Balance £2664.29 CR
Available Balance £2664.29 CR

Ok the bankers draught has cleared.

Meanwhile I get a call from the 'buyer' on my mobile, asking if things are ok, and could I send him a Western Union cheque for the balance, as the courier was now a friend of his, and he was going to collect the painting.

Seeing as the bankers draught appeared to have cleared I went into town and made out a Western Union transaction for £725 and sent it to his friend in Spain, and he was coming to collect the painting in the next few days.

Well, that night I checked my account (as I do every night online) and at the side of the bankers draught it said 'UNPAID', and the account figures were back to E.G.

Account Balance £2664.29 CR
Available Balance £1689.29 CR

Balance minus the amount of the bankers draught.
I rang my bank immediately and they said the funds had not been cleared and the draught was bad ????
So, I went nuts, reminding them of advice / information the bank had given me on two separate occasions etc. I had paid with my bank debit card and suggested they stop the payment made to Western Union - we can't help you am afraid is all I got.

After writing 3 times to the Bank HQ, I received a reply to the effect tough sh*t we are not interested, and none of our employee's would have given that advice / information regarding bankers draughts.

The financial ombudsman has now been on the case for probably a year now, and it is still ongoing. My ex girlfriend is a college lecturer, and I former Senior Manager at the Post Office. We are not liars !!

I hope someone reads this and NEVER sends a Western Union cheque to anyone for an over payment. Plus, NEVER take advice at face value from a bank either.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 02 Aug 2013 Posts: 59

Well, that sucks. I am really sorry for your loss!

I am not a lawyer, but if you havea witness, as you wrote, that the bank has given you false information about the clearing details, and when the ombudsman doesn't give you a result, I would go ahead and ask legal assistance and sue them. You did everything to ensure the money is cleared.

Apart from that, not much you can do, unfortunately.

Be sure to post you story over at scamwarners.com. That site is more dedicated to help potential victims. This site here is more for scambaiting.

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