Friend of mine got his driveway done...poor quality bodge job, form a guy who is 'no longer working in the area'. However, he does have an address/phone number, and after much hassle the guy has agreed to refund - half now, half later.
I'm sceptical that my friend will ever see the money - it was a cash-in-hand job - but he's doing better than I thought he would simply by maintaining a conversation about it. But - and here's the question - the guy has asked for my friend's sort code and account number so he can transfer the money directly.
My advice was not to give those details - ask for a cheque, or bankers draft, or preferably cash - especially as the guy has proved himself to be untrustworthy.
However - it got me thinking - what exactly can a fraudster do with account/sort code details? I know Clarkson famously gave his out and suffered a £400 loss to charity - but does anyone in the collective know how the fraud would be perpetrated - where exactly is the risk? Or is it more a case of once you have name, bank account details and address its a marketable ID fraud? But if that's the case - cheques, bank cards etc all have account and sort codes on them - they are not exactly secret.
Any views/wisdom?
I'm sceptical that my friend will ever see the money - it was a cash-in-hand job - but he's doing better than I thought he would simply by maintaining a conversation about it. But - and here's the question - the guy has asked for my friend's sort code and account number so he can transfer the money directly.
My advice was not to give those details - ask for a cheque, or bankers draft, or preferably cash - especially as the guy has proved himself to be untrustworthy.
However - it got me thinking - what exactly can a fraudster do with account/sort code details? I know Clarkson famously gave his out and suffered a £400 loss to charity - but does anyone in the collective know how the fraud would be perpetrated - where exactly is the risk? Or is it more a case of once you have name, bank account details and address its a marketable ID fraud? But if that's the case - cheques, bank cards etc all have account and sort codes on them - they are not exactly secret.
Any views/wisdom?