Threats of prosecution

[memyself and I]

Hi All,

I am after some advice having been engaged with West Midlands rail for over a month in relation to an allegation of fare dodging. An initial "threatening" email was received advising that I had been stopped for having not paid the correct fare. The allegation was that I had used a 16/17-year-old rail card to purchase a ticket. The fact is I was not stopped and I am well over 60 years of age, so it is bizarre that they should even suggest this. It transpires that several journeys have been made by someone who has apparently obtained tickets via my account. The journeys are from stations I would never use, in fact I hardly ever use trains. They keep demanding my address, citing the Fraud Act. They want me to pay a substantial amount of money to make this go away, and when I have researched the journey costs, they are £8 less than they have quoted, and they have thrown in a large admin fee. This is extremely stressful, and it seems like they are trying to make some easy money. I wondered if anyone else had encountered this, and if so what was the conclusion and is there any advice?

Thank you in advance

 

[AlterEgo]

Could you post all of the correspondence between you and WMT with your details redacted? It will be interesting to see exactly what they are alleging and why they have not yet backed down.

 

[John R]

They should have a description of the person who was stopped, which hopefully will look nothing like you.

Without seeing any of the correspondence it’s difficult to provide any detailed advice, although hopefully you changed the password to something appropriately strong to ensure that whoever was using your account can’t do so again.

 

[Vivi2010]

Have these tickets definitely been purchased from your account? Can you see them in your ticket history?

 

[memyself and I]

They should have a description of the person who was stopped, which hopefully will look nothing like you.

Without seeing any of the correspondence it’s difficult to provide any detailed advice, although hopefully you changed the password to something appropriately strong to ensure that whoever was using your account can’t do so again.

I requested the account be closed once I had been informed of the full situation.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Sep 2024 ==

Have these tickets definitely been purchased from your account? Can you see them in your ticket history?

I hardly ever use the railway, so it is not an account I would readily view, possibly once or twice a year, and yes the journey's did appear on there

 

[Dai Corner]

Think about who might be able to access your account, either by knowing your email address and password or having physical access to a device on which they are stored.

 

[Haywain]

yes the journey's did appear on there

So you must have been receiving confirmation emails? And does this mean you have been paying for them?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Sep 2024 ==

I requested the account be closed once I had been informed of the full situation.

Changing the sign in details would have been a better idea.