Really weird! possibly sinister.............

O

onekeano

Guest
A friend of mine received a sterling draft for several thousand pounds in an envelope to his house in Dublin. He has absolutely no idea where this came from, there was no letter / note attached. No headed paper included..... nothing!

There was a UK stamp on the envelope but no postmark, therefore it could have been delivered by hand. However the draft was issues from a bank in Finglas which is really weird.

I suggested he go to the bank to enquire who ordered the draft but another friend tells me that the bank will probably not release such information. Another suggestion was to go to the Gardai to report it, just in case.

Any suggestions?
Roy
 
I personally would report it to the Gardai as much in an attempt to return it to its rightful owner as to deal with the possibility of anything sinister being involved.
 
Was the draft made out to "Bearer", or to a named party ?
 
Just checked with him. No it's made out to him personally via NIB. Really strange, even if it was just sent to the worng person surely for a draft that size there would normally be a note, a piece of headed paper or something. And if it was an error surely after 2 weeks someone would have come looking for it with all the traceability they are supposed to have.

Anyway I think he has now decided to go back to the bank of issue and if he doesn't get some clarification he's off to the cops.

Roy
 
Could well be conscience money - is there anything he can remember where somene might feel he owed him a favour or money for a long time ago ? Especially from someone in the UK.

No matter what - it is still strange. Why would they send a STG draft instead of EUR ?

There is of course the possibility that someone will call to his door in a few weeks time and come looking for 'their' money which got delivered by mistake earlier. They may get aggravated if their money isn't available. It could be some sort of laundering thing too.

Definitely worth talking to the bank about, but I would ring up and ask to speak to a manager and not just appear at the counter. The manager may be in a position to confirm or deny the origin without giving out any confidential information whereas somoeone on the counter may refuse to give out any information at all.

z
 
Actually Shreib / Zag you have hit on a good point that we had considered. He had a bad experience with a builder who was doing a very big job for him about a year ago. They had been on great personal terms update to teh builder deciding to go AWOL - the difficult thing is that I had introduced them initially.

We actually discussed this possibility especially because the draft came from a bank in Finglas where the builder is from - however the UK stamp threw us off as well as the lack of any note. So it could be conscience money.

The other scenario was that some of Gerry's boys might come looking for their money.... obviously in cash!

Roy
 
The other scenario was that some of Gerry's boys might come looking for their money.... obviously in cash!

But didn't Caoimhín recently say that criminals were not welcome in his gang any more? I suppose TDs say all sort of This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language under Dáil privilege. :\
 
Might be right there Clubman, if there was a more sinister element to this it probably would have been delivered in a box of Daz with an English stamp on it!

Roy
 
keep it for a year and a day and cash it? will it still be honoured?

Don't suppose it's some sort of promo that direct mail companies do with a very elaborate copy of a draft??
 
Well... don't keep us in suspense!!

dying to find out what happened... Did you find out where the mysterious money came from????
 
Re: Well... don't keep us in suspense!!

Hi,

No update as yet, he's been away and will be back at teh weekend. Should find out early next week....... as luck would have it just in time for Cheltenham :b

Roy
 
"and, any update?? "

Mary,

Stuck for a few bob after your trip to Japan?
 
The update................

He spoke with the bank and they said "was it on lower grade yellow paper? had it got a rectangular stamp on it?". It was actually a substandard paper compared with what would be normally expected for a draft and there was a stamp which was actually triangular.

The bank official in question said that it was a scam and the guards have a large file with similar ones. He asked what kind of retail my buddy was in and was surprised to find out that he is an employee as opposed to a retailer. Apparently they normally go to people who are in the business of getting drafts regularly. Apparently "they" send you the draft and some time later they call around and say "I sent you a draft for 6 grand but it should only have been for 2 grand so can I have my 4 grand back?". Sounds like it would be abrave man to refuse..... they haven't gone away you know.....

Roy
 
Re: The update................

Wow! If that's all true the it's very sinister. Has your friend reported it directly to the Gardai?
 
Re: The update................

Hasn't gone to the Gardai yet, think that's next on the list though.

Roy
 
Re: The update................

If memory serves me right the scam works along the lines you sell someone goods for say 5K. They send you a bank draft for 6K. Then ring you later to say that they made a mistake and could you send them a cheque for the balance. Meanwhile they also have the goods they "purchased". You are out of pocket the amount you gave them and the value of the goods you gave them.

Your friend should contact the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation based in Harcourt Street

C
 
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