EE debiting our church account but we have nothing from EE

Earlier this year our church treasurer saw a £50 credit come into our (RBS) account from EE. We have nothing EE, broadband and office landline are Plusnet, there are no mobiles owned by the church.

Contacting RBS they couldn't give him any details. They claimed to have contacted EE but nothing resulted. A little later a pending DD to the benefit of EE for c.£60 was spotted and stopped.

I've just been speaking to the treasurer and he's seen a c.£560 debit to the benefit of EE taken from our account yesterday.

He's been trying to contact EE to find out what's going on but as he isn't an EE customer, and their automated system requires the input of an EE number, he can't get in touch.

He rang the local EE shop but they weren't too helpful, albeit over the phone.

It looks as if someone has set up some sort of irregular DD with our account number, the account name is incomplete - just says "Church Council" with no church name. Presumably the sort code is correct.

I have a horrible feeling that GDPR is going to be used to make life difficult for us. There's no need for it to be so, we're not interested in who has set this up, only interested in getting it away from our account.

Is there any way he (or he & I) can contact EE to resolve this without being in any way an EE customer?

Any thoughts?

I think the bank should be helping you here, what about the Direct Debit Guarantee, an incorrect or unknown payment can be reversed. If the DD is showing in the account it can be deleted. I don't think you will get any joy from EE.

I've just heard that our treasurer rang EE and used the "I want to become a customer (or whatever)" option to get to speak to a real human being. From there he was able to get to someone more appropriate. They've confirmed that one DD wasn't set up by one of the 4 authorised signatories. It's been referred to their fraus department.

He also managed to get through to RBS and they have agreed to reverse the transaction within 24 hours. It's also gone to their fraud department. They've deleted the DD but, of course, EE could set it up again

Until collectively they sort it our treasurer will need to be especially alert for this.

It reminds me of this. I hope everything gets sorted out quickly.

Our treasurer will need to be especially alert

With great respect he should be especially alert to anything & everything at all times, that's his job.

At least a spreadsheet showing anticipated income & expenditure day by day to compare with actual income & expenditure.

NJSS