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Fraudsters had hacked into the estate agent’s email system, and had seen enough to be able to create a fake email from his lawyer, telling him where to send the £45,000.

So rather than sending the money to his solicitor’s account, it instead went into an HSBC business account that had been fraudulently set up in Kilburn, north London.

The £45,000 deposit for our first home was stolen and the banks did nothing | Money | The Guardian:

So: either HSBC did KYC, so they know who the fraudster is and the police can arrest them. Or HSBC didn’t do KYC, in which case the police can arrest HSBC’s head of compliance and HSBC will compensate the defrauded party. Quite simple.

But it is?

What if the fraudster who opened the destination account was actually a friend of the defrauded party?

Oh wait.

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HSBC has also denied any liability.

The £45,000 deposit for our first home was stolen and the banks did nothing | Money | The Guardian:

Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they. Oh, hold on...

The Metropolitan police have investigated a number of suspicious account openings at HSBC’s Kilburn branch.

The £45,000 deposit for our first home was stolen and the banks did nothing | Money | The Guardian:

 

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