Bank transfer to the wrong account!

Bank transfer to the wrong account!

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fivesixseven8

Original Poster:

6,146 posts

233 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
Asking for some info on behalf of a colleague.

He has transferred some money to the wrong account, he had entered the account details into his online banking system previously, but cannot recall who they belong to.
When making the transfer, he has selected these details by mistake and thus the money has gone with no idea who to ask if he can have it back! (Not a smart move!!)

Is there anything that can be done? I've suggested asking his bank if they can tell when he created the transfer entry to see if this can help identify who owns the account. I thought I'd turn to PH to see if there are any other ideas I can pass on to him.

I've told him that it may well be lost though. Not nice. It was £10k!

The Riddler

6,565 posts

203 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
  • Checks Bank* Nope, wasnt to me!
Not a clue what to do, hope you he gets it sorted frown

ETA - Was it sent on a faster payment type thing? I dont think there is any comeback to this type of transfer, but i would be racking my brains as to who the details belong to.

Edited by The Riddler on Thursday 18th February 16:54

anonymous-user

60 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
there was a case in the papers recently where the same thing happened to a a women. She transfered the money, but didn't know who it was.

She contacted her bank, who knew the bank that it was transfered to, but the receiving bank used the data protection act to say that they couldn't give the receiving customers details and would not help in the matter. The last I read the women lost her money.

If i was your friend i would suggest not going down this line and being creative in who was responsible for the transfer , not being a cock up and get the bank to sort it out...




fivesixseven8

Original Poster:

6,146 posts

233 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
Thanks. I can promise you it wasn't me, the wife would have killed me by now if it was!

The 'creative' option is a good idea but he has already raised the issue with his bank.

I struggled not to call him a moron tbh. How anyone can make a mistake like that is beyond me.

Soovy

35,829 posts

277 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all


What a dufus!!

Tell him to call the bank, but since they have carried out his instructions, and he would have been asked to confirm it before it went, the Bank have done nothign wrong!


Was he pissed?

Soovy

35,829 posts

277 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
The Loose Goose said:
there was a case in the papers recently where the same thing happened to a a women. She transfered the money, but didn't know who it was.

She contacted her bank, who knew the bank that it was transfered to, but the receiving bank used the data protection act to say that they couldn't give the receiving customers details and would not help in the matter. The last I read the women lost her money.

If i was your friend i would suggest not going down this line and being creative in who was responsible for the transfer , not being a cock up and get the bank to sort it out...
Yeah, fraud.

That's a great idea.


anonymous-user

60 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
Soovy said:
The Loose Goose said:
there was a case in the papers recently where the same thing happened to a a women. She transfered the money, but didn't know who it was.

She contacted her bank, who knew the bank that it was transfered to, but the receiving bank used the data protection act to say that they couldn't give the receiving customers details and would not help in the matter. The last I read the women lost her money.

If i was your friend i would suggest not going down this line and being creative in who was responsible for the transfer , not being a cock up and get the bank to sort it out...
Yeah, fraud.

That's a great idea.
I don't know how that would be classed as fraud as who are you defrauding??? The bank? the other bank? the person the money went to??

Creative as in maybe the website crashed when the person was transferring money etc.. Not lying.. using the internet can cause a lot of problems...




Gareth79

7,963 posts

252 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
If it's BACS or Faster Payments then it can be reversed by the bank, they don't even need to tell the mistaken recipient about it and I think there isn't even a trace left on their statement.

fivesixseven8

Original Poster:

6,146 posts

233 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
Soovy said:
What a dufus!!

Tell him to call the bank, but since they have carried out his instructions, and he would have been asked to confirm it before it went, the Bank have done nothign wrong!


Was he pissed?
He doesn't even drink! hehe

It was made a few days ago now so will have cleared in the other account too.

v15ben

15,886 posts

247 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
Gareth79 said:
If it's BACS or Faster Payments then it can be reversed by the bank, they don't even need to tell the mistaken recipient about it and I think there isn't even a trace left on their statement.
This happened to my dad recently when someone randomly put £3k into his current account which subsequently vanished within a few hours. The bank told him it was an error from the sender!

skeeterm5

3,568 posts

194 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
on the basis you have to confirm a 3rd party transaction at least twice then it seems he was determined to be parted from his cash.

Why not get him to simply look at his statement tomorrow and this may show him where the money was sent?

Alternatively, contact everyone on his 3rd party list it shouldnt be that long and ask them?

S

FraserLFA

5,083 posts

180 months

Thursday 18th February 2010
quotequote all
Soovy said:
Was he pissed?
I would be! biggrin

Ribol

11,507 posts

264 months

Friday 19th February 2010
quotequote all
I would have thought your mate would get more help from the bank by just telling the truth. He fluked up and wants to know how to put it right. As daft as I think he has been, having made similar transfers myself several times I can see how a mistake COULD be made.

I would have thought this is one that could be put right if jumped on quickly - as in before the non home owning potless windfall recipient takes the £10k out and goes on holiday with it wink

bogwoppit

705 posts

187 months

Friday 19th February 2010
quotequote all
The bank are correct about data protection, they can't give out the recipient's name. What they might be able to do is cancel the transfer and get the cash back, and if not they can definitely contact the recipient on his behalf.

What kind of crap internet banking setup doesn't show a name next to saved account details?

hss111

233 posts

189 months

Friday 19th February 2010
quotequote all
This exact same thing happened to me! I was meant to transfer 40 into some ones account and didn’t realise I put 400. Called my bank up they said nothing could be done and they couldn’t get my money back. I got screwed.

mrmr96

13,736 posts

210 months

Friday 19th February 2010
quotequote all
I know the horse has bolted, but he could have helped himself by:
1 - Saving the names of the recipients along with their account numbers and sort codes on the online banking system, so it's easy to see who you are about to pay or have paid.
2 - Regularly delete the details of 'randoms' from your list of recipients. (I often pay a couple of mates to settle up after nights out etc, but I also made payments to people when I've bought things online. By deleting the details of the random people, at lease any fudge up will be for a payment to a good friend who would do the right thing and return the money.)

In terms of what he can do now, however:
1 - Use the online banking system to get his statements for the last couple of years and scan down them looking for the last time payment was made to this account - it may help him work out who it was as then he'd know the date and value for the last transaction.
2 - Contact the bank and ask them to do the above on his behalf.
3 - Use the sort code to work out which bank the recipient account is with, then contact them and ask them to give you the name, or at least pass a message to them on your behalf.

In all cases I think he will be reliant on the recipient co-operating and giving the money back.

So basically the first step is to identify, the seccond is to contact and persuade.
I think the lady in the news couldn't identify. However I'm not sure what would happen if you identified the recipient and they refused to co-operate, i.e. I don't know whether you could take them to court to get the money back.

fivesixseven8

Original Poster:

6,146 posts

233 months

Friday 19th February 2010
quotequote all
Update!

The jammy git is in the process of getting it back! He tracked the details down to an account owned by a company he had used previously. After getting in contact with them they have identified the payment and are going to return it minus a £50 admin charge!

I told him that he should go and buy a lottery ticket for tonight.

anonymous-user

60 months

Friday 19th February 2010
quotequote all
fivesixseven8 said:
Update!

The jammy git is in the process of getting it back! He tracked the details down to an account owned by a company he had used previously. After getting in contact with them they have identified the payment and are going to return it minus a £50 admin charge!

I told him that he should go and buy a lottery ticket for tonight.
Good on him, at least he didn't have to go through the data protection act that the banks love to hide behind...

PistonReg

339 posts

199 months

Saturday 20th February 2010
quotequote all
fivesixseven8 said:
Asking for some info on behalf of a colleague.

He has transferred some money to the wrong account, he had entered the account details into his online banking system previously, but cannot recall who they belong to.
When making the transfer, he has selected these details by mistake and thus the money has gone with no idea who to ask if he can have it back! (Not a smart move!!)

Is there anything that can be done? I've suggested asking his bank if they can tell when he created the transfer entry to see if this can help identify who owns the account. I thought I'd turn to PH to see if there are any other ideas I can pass on to him.

I've told him that it may well be lost though. Not nice. It was £10k!
10k into the wrong account. You... sorry, he should surely be in contact with his bank ASAP and certainly before asking his mates to post on teh web for advice.

Tiggsy

10,261 posts

258 months

Saturday 20th February 2010
quotequote all
As above...how much do you have to mislay before asking a mate is no longer your first port of call?