Stolen chequebook

In message , John Southern writes

Report it to the police as theft of cheque book and theft of £1500. Be sure to use the word THEFT otherwise they will try and wiggle out of it being a 'civil' matter.

Dont get side tracked by things like 'waiting 12 mins' etc., try and work with Halifax on this. They dont like the fraud as much as you do. When did your partner speak to Halifax?

She spoke to them on friday at around 1pm soon as she got the letter. They told her they will try and get a copy of the cheque that was used and will call her thiss week to let her know. I just knew this should have been reported to the police right away. Thanks for the advice.

Jon.

In message , John Southern wrote

If you don't report the theft to the Police you may not be able to claim on insurance at a later date.

Assuming that the package was correctly addressed and your partner's place of residence has her own letter box also report the theft of the mail to the Royal Mail/Post Office.

Can you report the "theft" of something which you never had in the first place? As for the money missing from the account, as far as the customer is concerned this is simply an incorrect debit, an error by the bank - if she never signed the cheque then the account should not have been debited.

ISTM the bank is the victim of the crime here, not the customer, so surely it should be the bank who take matters up with the police. The customer should of course assist the bank & police in every way possible, but in the meantime the bank should refund the amount incorrectly debited (or at least suspend charges/interest on any resulting overdraft until they establish that the customer did not sign the cheque).

Yes. You had £1500 in the bank. Now you don't have it, someone else has it. You will almost certainly be able to get it back, but at the moment, you don't have it.

"Jonathan Bryce" wrote

Isn't there something about "... to **permanently** deprive ..." in the definition of 'theft' in law?? So, if (as you say) you are "almost certainly" likely to get it back, then how does the bit about "*permanently* depriving" feature here?

Cheques stolen from books sent by banks through the post to people in Golders Green, north London were being cashed for up to £1,200 each. It would appear there's a lot of it about.

I can't see how insurance would be relevant here.

If it is determined that she didn't sign the cheque, the bank has to refund the money. If it is determined (correctly or not) that she did sign the cheque, then what insurance would pay out?

Intention to permanently deprive

They intended to keep the money permanently

Yes, but the bank is the victim of the theft, not the customer.

"Jonathan Bryce" wrote

"Jonathan Bryce" wrote

Who, the *bank* or the fraudulent cheque-writer (thief)?

When you said "you will almost certainly be able to get it back" I assumed that you were talking of the bank having taken the money from the customer, and would "almost certainly" give it back later. Or did you mean that you will "almost certainly" get the money back from the

*thief*?

Alternatively, did you mean that the bank (who debited the customer's account), "intended to keep the money permanently"??

In message , Andy Pandy writes

No, the bank were negligent in allowing the theft to occur.