Fraudulent Ticket

[firigiri]

On Friday I have received an email from the avanti fraud team regarding an issue with a fraudulent ticket.
I had the audacity to modify one ticket which was part of the journey. I had a ticket for the first leg of the journey and then altered a second ticket for the rest.

I did not know it was fraud; I thought worst case scenario would be that I would get a penalty. I saw him scanning, but I am very curious by nature and let him scan it instead of admitting I do not have a ticket.

At the time I was not IDed, I was just asked by the person who done the check to take a picture of the edited ticket. Also, the same person asked to buy a ticket which I did.

In the email I was offered to pay full price of the ticket + a fine.
(I have also tried to pay, but I was unable to see my notice on their website as the Surname did not match). It could be that they do not have my name correctly or not at all.


Is it OK to email back and ask for more information or what do you guys suggest that I do?
To be honest, I believe it's only fair that I pay the amount and be happy that they have given me this opportunity.

 

[notmyrealname]

Hi.

Could you show us their email please? Don't include your personal details or their reference number.

 

[firigiri]

Thank you for answering
This is the email. It does not have any personal details other than the reference number, the date and the fine amounts.

Dear Customer,

This Office acts as the prosecuting authority for Avanti West Coast.
We write following your conversation on XXXX with a Train Manager onboard one of our Avanti Services for a journey from XXX to XXX. We understand the ticket presented for travel was fraudulently altered. We must advise that Avanti West Coast takes fraudulent travel seriously and will pursue any further action that we deem appropriate if we feel any actions are intentional, deliberate, or persistent.
On this occasion, we are going to give you the opportunity to settle this matter by way of an out of court settlement.
We look to recover the cost of a Standard Anytime Single ticket at XXX plus XXX. The total being sort XXX.

If this compensation of XXX is repaid, then we will acknowledge this as full and final settlement and cease any further investigation that could lead to criminal proceedings against you.

By Credit or debit card at XXXXXXXXXX

If you do not wish to pay the compensation, then please provide an explanation setting out the reasons for non-payment and provide any evidence that refutes our claim. We will then use this information to assist our decision-making process as to whether to continue our investigation and/or begin criminal proceedings against you or not.

If you wish to pay the compensation but you are unable to repay immediately, please indicate this in your response and we may consider allowing time to pay. Your response can be sent via email to the above address.

If payment of the compensation, or an explanation letter setting out why it is not going to be repaid, is not received within 14 days of the date of this letter then please be aware that additional administration costs may be incurred and further we reserve the right to instigate criminal proceedings against you.  In those circumstances, you should seek legal advice (s.1 and 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 apply).

 

[island]

Is it OK to email back and ask for more information

What kind of "more information" do you propose to request?

or what do you guys suggest that I do?

My suggestion would be to pay the suggested amount promptly before Avanti change their mind and prosecute you. If the only payment method isn't accepting your details for whatever reason, you could contact them to let them know and ask for an alternative such as a bank account to pay into or an address to which to send a cheque/postal order.

 

[AlterEgo]

Incredible you're thinking of delaying over this. That's stonewall fraud, couldn't be a clearer case - a serious offence triable either way.

Pay the money and wise up quickly.

 

[Lewisham2221]

You are extremely fortunate that Avanti have offered you an out of court settlement in the initial communication. They could, and arguably should, seek prosecution for such a blatant and deliberate attempt to evade the correct fare. If their is an issue with their payment system you need to contact them ASAP so that the issue can be resolved or you can be given an alternative payment option.

 

[furlong]

Also, the same person asked to buy a ticket which I did.

What ticket? Do you mean the person sold you a ticket? Or asked you to buy one on your own app and you showed you'd done this and it was scanned - or not?
Did the person writing that letter know this? (Could it be you've already settled the matter?)

 

[spotify95]

I don't normally chime in on these but given Avanti have clearly specified this falls under the Fraud Act 2006, you could be in a right world of bother if you don't pay up. No one wants a criminal conviction for fraud on their record, it's much more serious than a Bylaws or RoRA conviction. Thankfully Avanti have been generous enough to offer an out of court settlement, so pay it and get the whole situation dealt with.
If it's not letting you pay, you need to contact Avanti and let them know ASAP.

 

[gray1404]

You need to contact Avanti and tell them that you are happy to happy their out of court settlement but are having issues with the payment system.

You can provide them with a copy of the ticket purchased on board stating that the fare element was paid at the time. Hopefully they will just ask for the administration fee.

How much are they asking for?

 

[dkalm2437]

Can I ask how long it took after for avanti to contact you after you got caught?

 

[Hadders]

I agree with forum members who are saying to pay up which will make the matter go away. Altering a ticket is a very serious issue and Avanti are within their rights to prosecute you for fraud if they wanted to.

Can I ask how long it took after for avanti to contact you after you got caught?

If you have a similar issue then please start your own thread and we will be happy to assist. We only want to discuss one case in each thread to avoid confusion because experience has taught us that no two cases are ever quite the same, even though they might appear to be similar at first.

 

[swt_passenger]

If you have a similar issue then please start your own thread and we will be happy to assist. We only want to discuss one case in each thread to avoid confusion because experience has taught us that no two cases are ever quite the same, even though they might appear to be similar at first.

There is a thread here, it’s also about ‘editing’:

Told I’d be reported but details not taken

I edited an old ticket i had bought and tried scanning through gate. Inspector at gate scanned with his phone and told me its a criminal offense to edit a ticket. He didn’t take my details but said he will be reporting it. It was my first time trying to dodge the fare. Will I receive a court...

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