Travel Fraud Investigation

[PRXCEY]

Hello all, I received an email from the Digital Fraud Team for West Midlands Railway informing me I had committed short journey fraud after being stopped at snow hill last month with an invalid ticket as I had purchased one from jewellery quarter when my home station is further away.

I sent an apologetic email back and have received this email today -



Thank you for your response.



On further investigation into your account, we have identified several transactions that have been flagged for possible fraudulent activity.



We can see 17 transactions from Jewellery Quarter to Birmingham Snow Hill, can you please provide any evidence to support not being short journey fraud?



We do wish to settle this matter out of court.



Can you please provide the following evidence so we can full assess your case and remove any legitimate tickets from our investigation:

• Proof of your home address via documentation dated in the last 3 months.
• Evidence of owning the 16-25 Railcard used between 02/09/2024 and 14/04/2025.

Please provide all relevant evidence within the next 7 days.


Obviously I have made this journey a number of times with an invalid ticket and am looking at seeing how to reply to the email in the best way to not incriminate myself further.

Additionally my rail card was a Santander one that I have subsequently lost and can’t seem to find any proof of having one through emails etc

Any help would be massively appreciated, if any further information is required please let me know.

Many thanks

 

[jfollows]

Hello and welcome!

Presumably when you were originally stopped you were given some paperwork, can you please show it to us with personal details obscured? Plus the email which was subsequently sent to you.

If it’s an MG11 notice then they’ve probably got you over a barrel, as it were, because an out of court settlement will be on their terms, including payment for earlier invalid journeys.

But let’s see a few details before leaping to conclusions, please. Please see https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/please-read-before-posting-in-disputes-prosecutions.77759/

 

[WesternLancer]

Hello all, I received an email from the Digital Fraud Team for West Midlands Railway informing me I had committed short journey fraud after being stopped at snow hill last month with an invalid ticket as I had purchased one from jewellery quarter when my home station is further away.

I sent an apologetic email back and have received this email today -



Thank you for your response.



On further investigation into your account, we have identified several transactions that have been flagged for possible fraudulent activity.



We can see 17 transactions from Jewellery Quarter to Birmingham Snow Hill, can you please provide any evidence to support not being short journey fraud?



We do wish to settle this matter out of court.



Can you please provide the following evidence so we can full assess your case and remove any legitimate tickets from our investigation:

• Proof of your home address via documentation dated in the last 3 months.
• Evidence of owning the 16-25 Railcard used between 02/09/2024 and 14/04/2025.

Please provide all relevant evidence within the next 7 days.


Obviously I have made this journey a number of times with an invalid ticket and am looking at seeing how to reply to the email in the best way to not incriminate myself further.

Additionally my rail card was a Santander one that I have subsequently lost and can’t seem to find any proof of having one through emails etc

Any help would be massively appreciated, if any further information is required please let me know.

Many thanks

with regard to the lost Santander railcard

does this help at all?

Santander 16-25 Railcard FAQs - 16-25 Railcard

A 16-25 Railcard costs just �30 and it'll save you 1/3 on rail fares throughout Great Britain for a whole year.

www.16-25railcard.co.uk

If not you will simply have to tell them you had the Railcard, have lost it, and unfortunately can not locate any proof you possessed it to provide to them.

Ref their other question they are lookin for you to supply some information that any of the other journeys may in fact have been legitimate. If you can't provide that - such as an address near Jewellery Quarter for example - (and if they were also short fares) they will be making the sum that they ask for for an out of court settlement a sum that includes the fares evaded from the actual station you boarded at - ie the fare you should have paid - usually calculated at the peak 'Anytime Single' rate for each journey.

So the way to respond is to co-operate with them, admit where you boarded and state that you have may have travelled on other occasions without a ticket for all of your journey but you are keen to accept their offer to settle out of court and are prepared to pay for any fares that they believe you owe.
You can ask them to break this down in to a list for you to check if you wish.

Have a go at drafting a reply to them and post it up here for people to check for you before you send it.

If you don't do this they can escalate this to court prosecution for the occasion where they caught you red handed where you would almost certainly be found guilty, receive a court fine and have a criminal record for a fare evasion offence.

 

[PRXCEY]

with regard to the lost Santander railcard

does this help at all?

Santander 16-25 Railcard FAQs - 16-25 Railcard

A 16-25 Railcard costs just �30 and it'll save you 1/3 on rail fares throughout Great Britain for a whole year.

www.16-25railcard.co.uk

If not you will simply have to tell them you had the Railcard, have lost it, and unfortunately can not locate any proof you possessed it to provide to them.

Ref their other question they are lookin for you to supply some information that any of the other journeys may in fact have been legitimate. If you can't provide that - such as an address near Jewellery Quarter for example - (and if they were also short fares) they will be making the sum that they ask for for an out of court settlement a sum that includes the fares evaded from the actual station you boarded at - ie the fare you should have paid - usually calculated at the peak 'Anytime Single' rate for each journey.

So the way to respond is to co-operate with them, admit where you boarded and state that you have may have travelled on other occasions without a ticket for all of your journey but you are keen to accept their offer to settle out of court and are prepared to pay for any fares that they believe you owe.
You can ask them to break this down in to a list for you to check if you wish.

Have a go at drafting a reply to them and post it up here for people to check for you before you send it.

If you don't do this they can escalate this to court prosecution for the occasion where they caught you red handed where you would almost certainly be found guilty, receive a court fine and have a criminal record for a fare evasion offence.

This is something AI has written me, obviously I will change to make it less Ai’y but just so I could get a gist of how to word it.

Still a bit conscious of the paragraph under bullet point 2 being me admitting it which could lead to an escalated outcome, subject to people’s thoughts.

-

Thank you for your email and for giving me the opportunity to provide further information in support of resolving this matter.

I understand the seriousness of the concerns raised and I am fully committed to cooperating with your investigation.

Please find below the requested evidence:

1. Proof of Address – I have attached a recent document dated within the last three months confirming my home address.
2. 16-25 Railcard Evidence – I have also attached evidence of ownership of the 16-25 Railcard used between 2nd September 2024 and 14th April 2025.

Regarding the journeys between Jewellery Quarter and Birmingham Snow Hill, I accept that my travel pattern during this time may not have been appropriate, and I regret any errors or misjudgements in the way I used the rail service. I take full responsibility for my actions and am committed to resolving this matter in full.

Once again, I sincerely apologise for the situation and am grateful for the opportunity to resolve this outside of court. Please let me know if you require anything further from me.

Kind regards,

 

[WesternLancer]

This is something AI has written me, obviously I will change to make it less Ai’y but just so I could get a gist of how to word it.

Still a bit conscious of the paragraph under bullet point 2 being me admitting it which could lead to an escalated outcome, subject to people’s thoughts.

-

Thank you for your email and for giving me the opportunity to provide further information in support of resolving this matter.

I understand the seriousness of the concerns raised and I am fully committed to cooperating with your investigation.

Please find below the requested evidence:

1. Proof of Address – I have attached a recent document dated within the last three months confirming my home address.
2. 16-25 Railcard Evidence – I have also attached evidence of ownership of the 16-25 Railcard used between 2nd September 2024 and 14th April 2025.

Regarding the journeys between Jewellery Quarter and Birmingham Snow Hill, I accept that my travel pattern during this time may not have been appropriate, and I regret any errors or misjudgements in the way I used the rail service. I take full responsibility for my actions and am committed to resolving this matter in full.

Once again, I sincerely apologise for the situation and am grateful for the opportunity to resolve this outside of court. Please let me know if you require anything further from me.

Kind regards,

I expect they already have what they need to escalate the outcome if they want to - you being caught without a valid ticket and probably admitting it to the inspector at the time - that's enough for them to secure a guilty sentence in court (unless you refused to answer any questions at all apart from your name and address when stopped?)

The gist is OK but it needs work:

This para is pretty weak and needs re writing

Regarding the journeys between Jewellery Quarter and Birmingham Snow Hill, I accept that my travel pattern during this time may not have been appropriate, and I regret any errors or misjudgements in the way I used the rail service. I take full responsibility for my actions and am committed to resolving this matter in full.

Think about it from their point of view - at a basic level you have cheated them out of money you owe / stolen from them - so it's not your "travel pattern" that's inappropriate - it's that you didn't have a valid ticket that wasn't just inappropriate - it's a criminal offence - so just use plain English -eg "I sincerely apologise for not having a valid ticket for the journey concerned when I was questioned by a member of staff. This was a serious error of judgment on my part and I now understand the serious consequences of my action."

Then you need to address the issue about other occasions when you also have done this (which have your digital finger prints on them which is why they believe the time they caught you was not the first time ) - because they are asking you about 17 occasions. You could perhaps say eg 'I regret that I have done this on other occasions'

You have researched your travel pattern so presumably you know if 17 occasion is plausible or not (you don't need to state that here)

Once again, I sincerely apologise for the situation and am grateful for the opportunity to resolve this outside of court. Please let me know if you require anything further from me.

and this para needs something adding to make a clear offer to pay the fare / any fares that you owe.

1. I have also attached evidence of ownership of the 16-25 Railcard used between 2nd September 2024 and 14th April 2025.

So have you found some evidence now to support that? If so that's good but if not this is AI generating exactly the opposite of the truth...which you don't want.

You need to prepare of the sum they would expect to offer to settle out of court based on the correct fare from your origin to destination at the Anytime Single price plus an admin fee of c£175. You need to have that money available to pay in full promptly if they extend that offer to you (though West Mids Trains have been known to consider payment plans)

 

[PRXCEY]

I expect they already have what they need to escalate the outcome if they want to - you being caught without a valid ticket and probably admitting it to the inspector at the time - that's enough for them to secure a guilty sentence in court (unless you refused to answer any questions at all apart from your name and address when stopped?)

The gist is OK but it needs work:

This para is pretty weak and needs totally re writing

Think about it from their point of view - at a basic level you have cheated them out of money you owe / stolen from them - so it's not your "travel pattern" that's inappropriate - it's that you didn't have a valid ticket that wasn't just inappropriate - it's a criminal offence - so just use plain English -eg "I sincerely apologise for not having a valid ticket for the journey concerned when I was questioned by a member of staff. This was a serious error of judgment on my part and I now understand the serious consequences of my action."

Then you need to address the issue about other occasions when you also have done this (which have your digital finger prints on them which is why they believe the time they caught you was not the first time ) - because they are asking you about 17 occasions.


and this para needs something adding to make a clear offer to pay the fare / any fares that you owe.


So have you found some evidence now to support that? If so that's good but if not this is AI generating exactly the opposite of the truth...which you don't want.

Thanks for your feedback, like I said it’s an initial AI prompt to get an idea for layout so I’ll take your feedback on board and reply with a new version.

Will look for my railcard when I get home but all I can see on my emails is confirmation from Santander to say I’ve ordered one. Have honestly had one this entire time have just lost at some point and not thought to get a new one. I know it’s valid until August.

Them saying they ‘ do wish to settle this matter out of court.’ Is surely a positive, especially if I am again very remorseful in my response?

My only thought is how to best address the other 17 journeys as surely any wording is me admitting to it which could cause problems which I definitely don’t want, I know it was stupid of me and have since bought the correct tickets since and am keen to put this behind me.

 

[AlterEgo]

My only thought is how to best address the other 17 journeys as surely any wording is me admitting to it which could cause problems which I definitely don’t want, I know it was stupid of me and have since bought the correct tickets since and am keen to put this behind me.

Well you have to confront it and admit it, because they know what you’ve been up to and you don’t have any way of refuting the allegation. Because it’s true.

 

[WesternLancer]

Will look for my railcard when I get home but all I can see on my emails is confirmation from Santander to say I’ve ordered one. Have honestly had one this entire time have just lost at some point and not thought to get a new one. I know it’s valid until August.

It will certainly help if you can locate it / replace it (I mean get a replacement that shows it is still valid and runs until August rather than buy a new one starting now - tho you may wish to do that if you can not locate proof of this one to help you going forwards) because it might possibly reduce the sum they ask for for all those journeys as part of the settlement offer, if the Railcard was valid for use on the trains concerned

Them saying they ‘ do wish to settle this matter out of court.’ Is surely a positive, especially if I am again very remorseful in my response?

Yes, you are correct

My only thought is how to best address the other 17 journeys as surely any wording is me admitting to it which could cause problems which I definitely don’t want,

Maybe my suggested wording works. But the key thing is you must not deny them if you took them because that could unravel and risks potentially them withdrawing a settlement offer and moving to prosecution. It's unlikely if they prosecuted that they would form part of the prosecution because it's more difficult for them to prove in court that you actually took the train trips concerned.

EDIT - I see @AlterEgo has addressed the point clearly....

I know it was stupid of me and have since bought the correct tickets since and am keen to put this behind me.

Are you buying those without a Railcard discount - because if you can't show the Railcard on demand or prove you had it it would bring them into he frame too

 

[Egg Centric]

Them saying they ‘ do wish to settle this matter out of court.’ Is surely a positive, especially if I am again very remorseful in my response?

My only thought is how to best address the other 17 journeys as surely any wording is me admitting to it which could cause problems which I definitely don’t want, I know it was stupid of me and have since bought the correct tickets since and am keen to put this behind me.

In the situation you're in don't worry about this. It's in their interests to settle with you because that means they get to keep the money, and we've seen far more serious cases than that settled.

 

[Amata Lux]

until August

Earlier or in the middle? or what date? If it's late, there's plenty of time available. At this time, you might wanna pay a visit to japan and this visit could make you choose a japanese name for yourself (maybe as a nickname).

 

[PRXCEY]

It will certainly help if you can locate it / replace it because it might possibly reduce the sum they ask for for all those journeys as part of the settlement offer, if the Railcard was valid for use on the trains concerned


Yes, you are correct


Maybe my suggested wording works. But the key thing is you must not deny them if you took them because that could unravel and risks potentially them withdrawing a settlement offer and moving to prosecution. It's unlikely if they prosecuted that they would form part of the prosecution because it's more difficult for them to prove in court that you actually took the train trips concerned.

EDIT - I see @AlterEgo has addressed the point clearly....


Are you buying those without a Railcard discount - because if you can't show the Railcard on demand or prove you had it it would bring them into he frame too

It will certainly help if you can locate it / replace it (I mean get a replacement that shows it is still valid and runs until August rather than buy a new one starting now - tho you may wish to do that if you can not locate proof of this one to help you going forwards) because it might possibly reduce the sum they ask for for all those journeys as part of the settlement offer, if the Railcard was valid for use on the trains concerned


Yes, you are correct


Maybe my suggested wording works. But the key thing is you must not deny them if you took them because that could unravel and risks potentially them withdrawing a settlement offer and moving to prosecution. It's unlikely if they prosecuted that they would form part of the prosecution because it's more difficult for them to prove in court that you actually took the train trips concerned.

EDIT - I see @AlterEgo has addressed the point clearly....


Are you buying those without a Railcard discount - because if you can't show the Railcard on demand or prove you had it it would bring them into he frame too

Yeah so I took the railcard off my Trainline as soon as the incident happened just to be sure.

Obviously won’t say this on an email but the railcard was part of signing up to Santander undergraduate account when I started uni which many of my friends also did and have confirmed it expires in August 2025. I will just have to try my hardest to find it.

The first email they sent me asked for evidence to support claim and I just said I apologise for travelling with an invalid ticket (obviously beefed up in the email) thinking to do similar to your suggestion and what I said in first email. Not explicitly admit to doing it but not deny it just be completely apologetic to everything and saying I am keen to pay and fine.

 

[WesternLancer]

The key thing is they are prepared to settle and to do that they just want the money they think you owe them in evaded fares, but they will play fair from what we see on here so if you did not actually evade fares on some of the occasion they think you did they want you to give some evidence to support that.

Another way to address the question is to ask them for a list of occasions - eg "with regard to the 17 other incidences you mention, if you are able to give me a list of these I will check my records of travel in order to co-operate with your enquiry"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 May 2025 ==

Earlier or in the middle? or what date?

if this Railcard expiry date is in August 2025 then the exact date doesn't really matter as it's in the future - what matters is the ability to poove you had a Railcard that was valid on the dates listed in the message the OP has received from the train operator.

 

[PRXCEY]

The key thing is they are prepared to settle and to do that they just want the money they think you owe them in evaded fares, but they will play fair from what we see on here so if you did not actually evade fares on some of the occasion they think you did they want you to give some evidence to support that.

Another way to address the question is to ask them for a list of occasions - eg "with regard to the 17 other incidences you mention, if you are able to give me a list of these I will check my records of travel in order to co-operate with your enquiry"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 May 2025 ==


if this Railcard expiry date is in August 2025 then the exact date doesn't really matter as it's in the future - what matters is the ability to poove you had a Railcard that was valid on the dates listed in the message the OP has received from the train operator.

What do we think of this

Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to respond further. Please find attached the requested evidence:

1. Proof of Address (attached)
2. 16–25 Railcard – I have attached a photo of my recently issued replacement Railcard. This Railcard is a continuation of my original. While I had misplaced the physical card during part of that period, I was still the registered holder of a valid Railcard.

I sincerely regret my actions and have taken full responsibility for them. I am extremely remorseful and grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter without court proceedings. I remain fully willing to pay any outstanding fares and administrative costs.

 

[AlterEgo]

What do we think of this

Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to respond further. Please find attached the requested evidence:

1. Proof of Address (attached)
2. 16–25 Railcard – I have attached a photo of my recently issued replacement Railcard. This Railcard is a continuation of my original. While I had misplaced the physical card during part of that period, I was still the registered holder of a valid Railcard.

I sincerely regret my actions and have taken full responsibility for them. I am extremely remorseful and grateful for the opportunity to settle this matter without court proceedings. I remain fully willing to pay any outstanding fares and administrative costs.

You need to address the 17 journeys they are questioning which are fraudulent. This reply does not do this.

How have you taken "full responsibility for your actions"?

 

[WesternLancer]

You need to address the 17 journeys they are questioning which are fraudulent. This reply does not do this.

How have you taken "full responsibility for your actions"?

I agree with this comment.

The op needs to add something in. It won’t make anything worse to do so.

‘I would like to take full responsibility for my actions and pay the fares I owe’ might be better.

 

[AlterEgo]

I agree with this comment.

The op needs to add something in. It won’t make anything worse to do so.

‘I would like to take full responsibility for my actions and pay the fares I owe’ might be better.

No, they need to actually talk about the 17 times specifically alleged. It’s a specific allegation. Either they accept they owe the fares or they don’t. They can either:

- deny liability for them all
- accept all 17 occasions
- accept some of the occasions and evidence the ones which were legitimate.

They actually need to take responsibility and the first part of that is admitting or contesting a specific allegation.

 

[enyoueffsea]

WMT are much more likely to cooperate with an out of court settlement if you respond honestly to the allegation of the 17 other journeys.

If you ignore it or do not provide any evidence they were legitimate, you’ll possibly find your case being thrown onto the prosecution pile.