My £18,000 vanished on the way to South Africa: Bank moves to reimburse missing money to reader

Doreen Robertson can breathe a deep sigh of relief after Raw Deal helped her retrieve £18,000 which went missing en route to a relative overseas.

The 62-year-old, from Brechin, Angus, was left in a cold sweat when the large sum appeared to vanish after she had authorised a money transfer from her account with the TSB to South Africa in April.

“I was transferring it to a Forex sterling account and it was to be sent in British pounds from the TSB in Arbroath,” Doreen said. “It was for my husband’s daughter, to help her move back to Scotland. The money came from family members and is an awful lot of cash to us.”

Doreen said she was at first baffled when the money – minus almost £1,000 in fees – was returned to her TSB account within a fortnight – before it then disappeared again.

“Somewhere down the line the money had been changed to South African rand by one of the TSB’s international partner banks and a big fee was deducted for this,” she said. “This was not what I had requested. I had asked for the cash to be transferred in pounds.

© SYSTEM

“Just over £17,000 appeared back in my account in Scotland and I had no idea why this had happened as the money was supposed to be with my husband’s daughter in South Africa.

“I couldn’t understand what was going on – and then the money suddenly disappeared back out of my account again with no explanation and still nothing had been received at the other end.

“The stress of all this was unreal. I was frantic with worry that the money had gone for good.”

Doreen said she called the TSB about the issue every other day for weeks but could not get a satisfactory answer about where her money was. She also chased up the international partner banks involved, with no joy.

“At one point I was told the mix-up had happened because I had missed out a digit when I sent the money to the account in South Africa in the first place.”

At the end of her tether, Doreen turned to Raw Deal for help. We contacted the TSB and asked the bank to investigate.

The good news is that it wasn’t long before Doreen had her £18,000 back. The bank decided to reimburse her directly while it sorted out the issue with its international partners.

TSB said: “The customer requested a transfer to an account in South Africa. As we are a UK-only retail bank, we rely on partner banks to complete these types of transactions.

“We have fully refunded the customer while we retrieve the funds from the other banks involved who have delayed the process.”

Doreen said she was both delighted and relieved. “Thank you, Raw Deal,” she said. “This has taken a huge weight off my mind.

“We have decided not to take any further chances by trying to send the money to South Africa again. It is now safely in a savings account here for my husband’s daughter when she arrives back in Scotland.”