TONY HETHERINGTON: Fraudster pocketed my BA flight refund

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. 

B.T. writes: In January last year, my wife and I were scheduled to fly to Heathrow from Newark in the US but BA cancelled our flight. 

In August, I received an email from BA about a payment to us. I’d received no such payment. I was told it had been made to my Revolut account. 

Until then, I had never even heard of Revolut. I have phoned and emailed BA, but they just reply payment has been made. I am having no success in getting them to understand. 

Tony Hetherington replies: You will have heard of the movie Snakes On A Plane. Well, you have just opened a can of worms on a plane. Armed with your signed authority, I asked BA for a copy of whatever claim it received for compensation following your cancelled flight. And I asked for the sort code and account number at Revolut that you were said to have supplied.

BA’s response was to call you to discuss ‘your claim’. The caller insisted you filed a claim last August. Your whole point, of course, was that you made no such claim. I contacted BA again, reminding the airline that I had asked for a copy of whatever claim you were supposed to have made.

Concerns: The compensation payment was made to fraudster

And this time I raised the possibility that a fraud was going on, using your name.

BA’s response was a bit of a brush-off, telling me that its customer relations team was going ahead with your payment – the same payment BA already sent months ago to Revolut!

So I pressed the airline again. I reminded BA that you had made no claim. In fact, BA had approached you last August, sparking this whole affair.

And again, I asked BA to produce the claim that you supposedly made, or to tell me if it now accepted that it had been defrauded.

The airline refused to give me details of the Revolut account to which it sent the compensation payment, citing confidentiality. And this refusal was key.

BA had your signed consent to let it hand over the bank details. The only reason to refuse would be that BA was gradually accepting the account was not, in fact, yours.

Giving me the Revolut account details would be a breach of the fraudster’s privacy!

And if this were true, then it raised an even bigger question: How did the fraudster gain access to passenger records from the cancelled flight, including enough of your personal information to allow the crook to open the account at Revolut?

Was this an inside job? Was BA hacked? Or did the entire passenger list leak from sources at the airport in the US?

BA told me its customer relations team was waiting to hear from you so it could pay you.

But you told me that the last you had heard from the airline was that it was reviewing the matter and would call you the following week, which of course it did not.

I had to remind BA that the heart of the matter was that I wanted an explanation for the payment it made to Revolut in your name – not just to make it pay all over again to the real you. After six weeks of enquiries, I told BA very bluntly that it had become clear that we were staring a fraud in the face, and that its passenger list had leaked.

Two things then happened. The first was that £1,040 landed in your bank account. This is your compensation that was already paid to the Revolut account.

And the second thing that happened was that the airline finally admitted that it had indeed been defrauded.

In a very brief statement, the airline told me: ‘This matter has been referred to the police.’

What remains to be seen now is the scale of the fraud.

Were claims made in the names of other passengers? And how did crooks get hold of the flight details? Is this a one-off or something far bigger and well organised?

One way or another, BA is in for a bumpy ride.

Cynergy lacking, er, synergy

Ms C.B. writes: Last June, I deposited £25,000 into a Cynergy Bank fixed rate bond. It matured on December 27 and I wished to transfer my money and interest to my original bank account, but apparently the company’s app is not fully functional and I was unable to do this.

Cashing out: Bank staff accepted immediately something had gone seriously wrong

Tony Hetherington replies: You told me that the bank advised you to make the transfer online, but you ran into a fresh problem with this. You telephoned Cynergy Bank but you were told you had failed security checks. You tried again and managed to pass security, but when you explained that you wanted your money, you were told to try the online transfer route again. You did and it failed again.

The bank told you there might be a problem with your stored details. You were asked to email basic information such as your date of birth, address and so on, but when you did this, you received no reply.

You complained and were told to expect a reply within eight weeks. Meanwhile, your savings had been transferred to an account earning just one per cent interest. When I contacted Cynergy Bank, staff accepted immediately something had gone seriously wrong.

The bank told me: ‘Unfortunately, Ms B experienced difficulties accessing her funds following the maturity of her fixed rate bond, compounded by communications delays. We sincerely apologise for this shortfall in service.’

Your £25,000 has now been released with £88 of backdated interest, at the 4.92 per cent your bond was earning, and a further £200 as an apology.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.