10 reasons to hire a solicitor if you’ve been accused of banking fraud
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If you’ve been accused of banking or financial fraud, you need to act fast and, in this article, we’ll share the reasons why you should hire a good solicitor right away.
Being accused of a banking or financial crime, is extremely serious and should be treated as such. We all know that hiring a good solicitor can be expensive, and when accused of a crime, many people are tempted to save money by taking advantage of the services of a duty solicitor.
However, this is almost always a mistake. Defending a banking or financial fraud case is complex and requires the best full attention of a solicitor who can help you in this area of law.
Here are some very real reasons why you should always hire a good solicitor to fight your corner…
What is banking fraud?
There are a number of different kinds of banking fraud including:
- Skimming – The act of duplicating the information contained on the magnetic strip on a debit or credit card
- Bank card theft – Intercepting a new card which has been sent to a person and using it to make contactless purchases
- Phone fraud – Making calls in order to convince somebody to divulge their financial information
- Online banking fraud – This includes phishing, malware attacks and cloning of websites
- CEO fraud – Emails purporting to be from a company’s senior management, requesting urgent transfers of funds to an account
- Card identity fraud – Using somebody’s legitimate account to gain cash and personal benefits
What are the consequences of being accused of banking fraud?
When a person is accused of banking fraud, there will usually be an internal investigation and if enough evidence is found, this will then be reported to Action Fraud and subsequently, to the police.
If found guilty of banking fraud, you can face up to five years in prison and will be blacklisted and unable to gain credit or a mortgage for the foreseeable future.
10 reasons to hire a solicitor if you’ve been accused of fraud
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1. Fast response to your case
As we’ve mentioned, speed is of the essence when you’ve been accused of a financial crime. Often, there will be delays when using a duty solicitor due to the sheer volume of cases that they need to take on.
2. Specialist experience
In many instances, when you use a duty solicitor, it’s a case of ‘you get what you’re given’ which means that the solicitor assigned to your case may not necessarily have specialist banking fraud experience.
3. Dedicated attention
When you’re paying for the services of a solicitor, you’re paying to have a professional who will often be working exclusively on your case. A duty solicitor could be dealing with many cases all at once.
4. Solicitors come with extra support
When you hire a solicitor, you will gain the benefit of an entire team on your case, including paralegals and specialists. You can be assured that the solicitor will have the support of a whole team behind them.
5. Added contacts and resources
A specialist solicitor will have access to contacts across a wide range of industries, meaning that they will access to resources that a duty solicitor may not have at all that could help your case.
6. Investment in the verdict
Specialist solicitors gain new customers through reputation, which means that they will be very much invested in getting the right result for you. In short, success for you means success for them, so they will do everything possible to get the right result.
7. Reputation with the judge
A good solicitor with a great reputation will usually hold more sway with a judge than a non-specialist duty solicitor.
8. More likely to preserve your good name
A banking fraud solicitor’s first and main job is to ensure that you are not convicted of the crime that you are accused of. However, a good solicitor will also ensure that your reputation is not damaged by the accusation.
9. Perception of innocence
When you go to the trouble and expense of hiring a specialist solicitor to defend your case, the perception is that you’re doing so through confidence in your innocence, which will very much help your case.
10. Improved chance of success
Last, but certainly not least, when you have a professional, specialist solicitor in your corner, you stand a much better chance of being cleared of the offence and, in many instances, having your case dismissed before it goes to court.
Make the right choice if you’re ever accused of banking fraud…
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Being accused of any kind of crime can be extremely stressful and expensive and can have long reaching effects on your life. Banking and financial fraud accusations in particular can be devastating as a guilty verdict may mean that you are unable to secure loans or a mortgage in the future.
If, however, you are found to be not guilty of the crime, your credit rating should not be affected, and it is possible to restore your reputation. Because of this, it is essential that you secure the services of a specialist solicitor to help you to fight your case.
While a duty solicitor will defend you against the accusations, it is unlikely that they will have the necessary specialist knowledge required to gain a not guilty verdict. A specialist solicitor, on the other hand, has the qualifications and experience as well as the benefit of teams of specialists and experts to give you the best possible chance of success.
While the cost of a specialist solicitor may be daunting, this is absolutely an investment in your future as, losing your case, may mean a considerable fine, harm to your credit rating. In some cases, it could even mean a prison sentence, all of which will be much more costly than your solicitor’s fees.
