HI all

I will try and keep this as short as possible.

I noticed fraudulent activity on my Tesco Bank Account back in May 2019* amounting to £450.00 and as soon as I had realised what had happened, I contacted both Tesco Bank and Action Fraud to my amazement Action Fraud said that this is a common issue and logged my complaint / crime and gave me a crime reference number, I then duly rang Tesco Bank and had the card cancelled and raised a fraud case, to which their adviser told me that the money WAS clearly fraudulently taken and that the monies would be back in my account within 24 hours.

*(someone who used to live with me had used my card without my permission online, which I stupidly left at home that day, as I was not expecting to have been paid early)


For the record this person had already left my home and has not been since.....

Roll on 24 hours and the money was still not in my account, so I duly rang Tesco Bank again and to my amazement when I got through their adviser informed me that I was told the incorrect information and that the entire claim had been sent to the complex investigations department and therefore, I would have to wait for a response which had no time frame to meet. I then asked them to close all my accounts with Tesco bank and raised a complaint against them, I was very angry about the mis information.

I appreciate many of you are going to say well that was a knee jerk reaction, however being on disability benefits and universal credit to me that £450.00 was a lot of money to lose and as a result I am now in rent arrears for the first time in my 2 year tenancy, which has been sorted to some extent with a very understanding council worker who explained it was not my fault and set me up with a payment plan.

Anyway I digress, apologies.... I left it at that until 20th June 2019 and contacted them again, this time I was told that the investigation had been completed and that I was being held liable for the money stolen and as a result I would not be getting a refund. They also refused to uphold my complaint despite giving me £25.00 compensation, which seems off to me.

I have been nothing but upfront with Tesco bank and had informed them that I was living with someone at the time, and that this person had clearly stolen the money in question, this was also explained to action fraud whom have sided with me...

The person in question had used my internet (shared you see) so the bank have seen the transaction coming from the same the same IP address and ovbiously assumed the worse.... which let's be honest so would I.....

I then received a letter from my new banking provider Barclays stating that due to a review of my circumstances, they are closing my account on 1st August 2019, when I asked for an explanation, I got the standard response, “sorry we do not have to tell you anything”.

It was at this point that I was in complete meltdown and did not know where to turn to, so I did some internet research and found that this is a common issue which may mean that I have a CIFAS mark registered against my name. So I applied for information from CIFAS and then found out that Tesco bank has registered a CIFAS mark against me for first party fraud.

I therefore contacted both Tesco bank and a solicitor with my "free 1 hour legal advice" for more information and registered a complaint against Tesco bank once again appealing the CIFAS mark as this has wholly been unjustified and clearly not properly investigated and they have not listened to anything I have to say either.

I am now waiting for a final response letter form TESCO BANK stating that they disagree with all of my claim and my complaint. (I rang them to ask what was going on with my complaint you see and they told me brief contents of the letter and that it would be with me in 5 days).

I am now at a complete loss as to what to do next, I have spoken to CIFAS who are happy to mediate, but I am seriously toying with going through the courts and asking for damages as this is surely a a violation of principles 4 and 6 of the DPA.

I will therefore not only be entitled to compensation but also damages + interest under the section 13 of the DPA. I do not have a clue about any of this, only what my "free 1 hour legal advice" got me....

How much should I ask for? Is there anything I am missing, I am in a complete state and my mental health is worse than ever due to this. Add to all of that as if that was not enough, I am now without a bank account as my CIFAS marker is preventing me having even a post office account.

I am now having to have my benefits paid into my mates account until such a time as I can get this matter resolved which is clearly not ideal whatsoever.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

Jake