All’s well now – phew! – with the £50,000 back, but it’s been a scary time for pensioners Richard and Irene Hall who thought they had been scammed, they told Crusader.
It was in July Richard had withdrawn the funds – held in premium bonds with national savings bank NS&I – ahead of their moving home and purchasing a bungalow they had put an offer on.
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“The deposit was in preparation and to show our solvency to the agent and seller,” he explained.
After moving the sum into their Santander current account, a few days later when he checked to his horror he could no longer see it there.
After struggling to find out what was going on and logging a fraud complaint, the pair asked Crusader for help. And thankfully as inquiries got underway in earnest, the £50,000 appeared again back with NS&I.
Both NS&I and Santander have both logged a similar chronology of events. Withdrawals and deposits do appear to have gone back and forth, but both banks have confirmed absolutely no fraud took place, which is a huge relief.
NS&I said it had looked into Richard’s recent transactions and could confirm funds were “successfully transferred to his Santander account as per his instructions. We have been unable to identify any unusual activity having checked the transactions and our phone calls with him. We wish [them] the best for their new home.”
Santander added: “We are happy that his savings are safely back in his account. We would recommend that everyone checks the outgoings on their account regularly and if something appears irregular they contact their bank immediately so we can investigate and give advice on what to do next.”
(Richard and Irene’s names have been changed)
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