Criminals changed the address on a teacher’s account, then took out a £24,000 loan in her name and stole her savings
Fraudsters can contact Barclays bank, pose as a customer, ask for that person’s account address to be changed, then take out huge loans against their name – as one Nottingham teacher has found to her deep distress. Jude Grundy was just days away from moving home when the nightmare began, with her debit card being refused at a supermarket checkout.
It later emerged that two weeks previously fraudsters had called Barclays, claimed to be her, and changed her address. They were then able to open a second linked account and apply for a new debit card. With that card the crooks were then able to obtain a £24,000 loan from Barclays and a £750 overdraft, as well as topping it off by stealing £4,000 in savings from Grundy and her husband, Andrew. She only found out about the linked account when, curiously, £2,000 was transferredinto her account. It was this which the bank’s systems blocked as suspicious.
