Greater Anglia fraud department

[AdvN]

Dear Passenger,
Re: Trainline / UBER / Greater Anglia account
Following a review of your bookings, several travel irregularities were identified.
We are seeking to ascertain whether a valid ticket and railcard were held for these journeys.
We invite you to respond to this letter within 7 days by email to Fraud.Investigations@greateranglia.co.uk quoting the
reference number XXXX in the subject field.
In your response, please provide any statements or mitigations, as well as any supporting documentation, that you would
like us to consider in relation to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Siobhan Watts
Fraud and Investigations.

Background:
A few months ago, some ticket inspectors got on a train I was on at Chelmsford & I quickly bought a ticket on my phone from Chelmsford to Colchester. When the inspector checked the ticket & the time on the ticket, he asked me where I got on the train from & I said from Chelmsford. He then asked that how was I able to get through the barriers @ Chelmsford to get on the train & I said that one of the gates was open & I was able to get through with my heavy shopping bag. He took my details & I got the email above recently.

Could you please advise me on how to deal with this. Thanks.

 

[Trainman40083]

Well, you boarded a train without having a valid ticket by the sounds of it. Your wording suggests you may not have boarded at Chelmsford. "Inspectors got on a train I was on at Chelmsford". Maybe said inspectors may have known the gates were not open.

 

[z444z]

Is this the first correspondence you’ve received from them?

 

[AdvN]

Is this the first correspondence you’ve received from them?

Yes, it is.

 

[Mattplans]

Dear Passenger,
Re: Trainline / UBER / Greater Anglia account
Following a review of your bookings, several travel irregularities were identified.
We are seeking to ascertain whether a valid ticket and railcard were held for these journeys.
We invite you to respond to this letter within 7 days by email to Fraud.Investigations@greateranglia.co.uk quoting the
reference number XXXX in the subject field.
In your response, please provide any statements or mitigations, as well as any supporting documentation, that you would
like us to consider in relation to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Siobhan Watts
Fraud and Investigations.

Background:
A few months ago, some ticket inspectors got on a train I was on at Chelmsford & I quickly bought a ticket on my phone from Chelmsford to Colchester. When the inspector checked the ticket & the time on the ticket, he asked me where I got on the train from & I said from Chelmsford. He then asked that how was I able to get through the barriers @ Chelmsford to get on the train & I said that one of the gates was open & I was able to get through with my heavy shopping bag. He took my details & I got the email above recently.

Could you please advise me on how to deal with this. Thanks.

I don't think the email you have received is in connection to that specific incident at Chelmsford. Not only is this an email we see frequently on the forums following a data trawl, it doesn't mention anything to do with your incident. We have seen this specific email where an individual has never been stopped on the railway.

Usually we advise not to respond to these emails, when a person typically receives an email like this, it means the train company lacks the sufficient evidence required to bring prosecution against the person... they want you to admit to something. Usually, the railway needs to stop you while using a problematic ticket for them to pursue prosecution, but if the incident at Chelmsford is still open then this might be slightly different. You need to confirm how long ago you were stopped. You might have been given a slip from the inspectors at the time (this will include a date if you do not remember) - if you still have this please post a copy in your next message and redact any personal information.

• Can you double check the account you use for ticket purchases, do you have a railcard on any tickets? And do you own supporting railcards.
• How long ago were you stopped at Chelmsford, and have you received any correspondence regarding that incident specifically since then?
• Do you make this journey frequently? Do you usually have a lot of Chelmsford > Colchester tickets or similar to elsewhere on the GA network?
  • The railway can check to confirm whether you validated a ticket at the start of your journey, although there's no formal requirement to do so, it is blatant short-faring if you have a lot of tickets, starting from stations where the barriers are usually closed, that are never validated, especially during the 'prime' hours of the day. Do not delete your account with the ticket retailer where you buy tickets

Not sure how thorough GA are... but if you have never purchased any ticket with a railcard, and some time has elapsed since you were stopped, it's possible they forgot about your specific incident but have now picked up on it again following a data trawl.

Do you remember if the inspector collected your email address at the time you were stopped? Or did you just give them your address - that is a pretty clear indicator of what has triggered this message if you never gave them your email. Looking at another similar case, a user was flagged by GA for buying tickets just before they were used at the barriers.

 

[AdvN]

Response to Mattplans:
You need to confirm how long ago you were stopped. You might have been given a slip from the inspectors at the time (this will include a date if you do not remember) - if you still have this please post a copy in your next message and redact any personal information --- I was stopped last Sept & I wasn't given any slip.

• Can you double check the account you use for ticket purchases, do you have a railcard on any tickets? And do you own supporting railcards --- I have 4 railcards for myself & children.
• How long ago were you stopped at Chelmsford, and have you received any correspondence regarding that incident specifically since then? --- I was stopped in Sept & no correspondence since then.
• Do you make this journey frequently? Do you usually have a lot of Chelmsford > Colchester tickets or similar to elsewhere on the GA network? --- Yes, I make this journey frequently & have tickets for between Colchester & Stratford so always go past Chelmsford.
  • The railway can check to confirm whether you validated a ticket at the start of your journey, although there's no formal requirement to do so, it is blatant short-faring if you have a lot of tickets, starting from stations where the barriers are usually closed, that are never validated, especially during the 'prime' hours of the day. Do not delete your account with the ticket retailer where you buy tickets
• I didn't give them my email address but they asked for my home address.

 

[z444z]

They haven’t threatened any action if you don’t respond either. I think you’re safe to ignore this, but given that you were stopped in September, if they send further emails or letters I would suggest you come back here and show us a copy so we can make sure you’re still okay to ignore them.

 

[AdvN]

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[AdvN]

I received the email below this morning. Could you please advise me on what to do.

Good Morning,
We have not received any contact from you; you were previously contacted on XXXXXX.
At this stage we would like to offer you an opportunity to explain these irregularities on your account, and based on your response the decision will be to either offer you the opportunity to repay any funds relating to these journeys (plus our administration fee), (b) to forward your case to our prosecutions department for processing or (c) close your case (if sufficient evidence has been provided and proved).

If we do not hear from you within the next 5 working days, you will lose any opportunity to settle this case with us.

Kind regards
Revenue Protection Fraud and Investigations Team

 

[30907]

Ignore it.

There is a slight risk that the prosecutions department will come back to you about the incident at Chelmsford, but they can only prosecute successfully if they can prove that you boarded the train before you bought the ticket.

And of course always pay the correct fare and use the correct railcard discount

 

[AdvN]

Noted. Many thanks.