HAVE YOU BEEN THE VICTIM OF FINANCIAL ABUSE?
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HAVE YOU BEEN THE VICTIM OF FINANCIAL ABUSE?
Phoenix Solicitors recently helped a family recover a £ 94,000 refund from Lloyd’ s bank following a situation involving financial abuse of an elderly family member.
The firm was instructed by the acting Power of Attorney due an elderly and isolated family member suffering from sustained financial exploitation over a period of several years. The victim had limited mental capacity due to complex health issues and had been befriended by a neighbour who went on to commit extensive financial abuse.
The perpetrator, a know drug addict in the local area, had persuaded the victim to surrender her bank card, disclose her pin number, and issue a number of cheques to him. As his confidence grew, spending on the account escalated. The victim’ s savings depleted, and charges accrued on the account.
Not only had he engaged in financial manipulation he had also entered the victim’ s property and removed items to sell, including personal belongings, jewellery, and a television.
The victim was left with no money, had rent arrears and eviction.
In the early stages of the financial abuse the victim reported several transactions as being fraudulent which were refunded. However, a further 188 transactions followed totalling £ 111,02.62 over a period of 16 months. On some days there were over 10- 15 transactions totalling over £ 2,000- £ 3,000 followed by the same the next day. This changed when the perpetrator then switched to writing cheques every other day in the thousands of pounds.
Following the discovery of the abuse by the family, Phoenix Solicitors were instructed, and we advised the family to pursue a criminal action against the perpetrator. A police investigation commenced, and he was arrested. The
investigation is ongoing. In the meantime, Phoenix Solicitors undertook a detailed review of the financial transactions and lodged a complaint with the bank reminding them of their duty to apply additional measures to protect customers that are and / or may be vulnerable and their duty to implement measures to reduce the likelihood of such customers becoming victims of scams or fraud.
Frontline banking staff should be trained to look out for potential indicators of customers being in vulnerable circumstances which would make them more susceptible to fraud or financial abuse.
It was apparent that the bank had allowed a significant number of unusual transactions to occur, out of the ordinary, in a relatively short period of time with no intervention from the back and no warnings to alert the victim to the potential financial abuse. This lack of intervention enabled the payments to continually be made.
This is just one of a number of claims in which Phoenix Solicitors have been able to help victims recover their money. In the last 12mths we have helped victims recover over £ 1 million – money they thought they had lost forever.
If you have an elderly family member that you feel may be the victim of financial abuse, or you have fallen victim to a financial scam or fraud then get in touch with our specialists team today.
Anyone can fall victim to a financial scam / fraud, don’ t suffer in silence. We can help you recover your money.
Call Phoenix Solicitors on 0151 306 3694 or email ab @ phoenixlegalsolicitors. co. uk
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