Have you had an unexpected deposit into your current account?

Suvv

Suvv

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Kev
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Today I noticed a £500 fast payment into my current account. Both the decription and the reference are strings of alphanumerics. I phoned my bank and they gave me the senders sort code and account number. They said that was all they could do.
Please note that I know it is not mine and I am not after speculation, I was just wondering what other people's actual experiences have been.
So, has anyone else had this happen to them and what was the outcome?
 
you can find the branch via the sort code online and maybe just try to contact them and explain the situation, worth a quick call
 
Mr Bump said:
you can find the branch via the sort code online and maybe just try to contact them and explain the situation, worth a quick call
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This is a logical suggestion.......the sending bank will not reveal much but giving them the heads up hopefully will clear the matter up in due course!
 
Watch out for scams, maybe someone wanting your bank details, or maybe it is a genuine mistake.
Only have contact with the bank in question just in case
 
Take it out and put it in a safe place
 
Suvv said:
I phoned my bank and they gave me the senders sort code and account number. They said that was all they could do.
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That is far from all they can do. Go back to the bank and insist that they confirm in writing that the money has been moved to a holding account and make sure they have put a block on the sending account to ensure money will not be taken out of your account to "repay" the transfer. This sort of thing has been seen as the first part of some scams which are either "drop and scoop" or money laundering. While it is quite possibly a simple mistake you want to make absolutely sure the bank accepts responsibility for protecting their customer: in this case you.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
That is far from all they can do. Go back to the bank and insist that they confirm in writing that the money has been moved to a holding account and make sure they have put a block on the sending account to ensure money will not be taken out of your account to "repay" the transfer. This sort of thing has been seen as the first part of some scams which are either "drop and scoop" or money laundering. While it is quite possibly a simple mistake you want to make absolutely sure the bank accepts responsibility for protecting their customer: in this case you.
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Things might have changed but can this happen?

I seem to recall some time ago cases where someone has entered an account number incorrectly and therefore made a payment to the wrong account. They were then unable to get the money back, because from the point of view of the receiving bank the payment was correctly made.

Would not the same happen in Kev's case? Someone has paid him incorrectly (either by accident or as part of some sort of 'scam') so how could they take money out from his account to 'repay' the transfer without his authorisation?

Am I missing something here?

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Am I missing something here?
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A "drop and scoop" is an attack where money is "accidentally" posted into an account from a compromised 3rd party account. The criminal then requests the money be returned and intercepts it. To work this requires an insider at the original sending bank who re-routes the return payment to a different account. If that's all that happens the recipient of the "drop" is unaffected. However: if the recipient's bank has a second insider working with the first there is a variation. In this case the money was never placed in the recipient's account (a phantom deposit) and so the "returned" money has been stolen from the recipient's account. I've not heard of this happening in the UK or Europe but it has been reported in Asia and America - so it could be tried here. Of course £500 would be a bit on the small side but might be a test to see what happens.

The money laundering is more likely as it's just a way to obfuscate the source of funds coming into a criminal's account. The problem for the original recipient is that investigators may well require the recipient to show they were not involved in the scam. Money laundering legislation effectively requires anyone thought to be involved to show that they are not. This is why you want the bank to acknowledge that you have reported the matter and asked them to place the money in their holding account. £500 is a typical money laundering transfer: big enough to be useful and small enough to slip past the bank's default checks.

Of course this particular case could well be a simple mistake on someone's part but in general you want the bank to take responsibility for identifying the sender, verifying their right to reclaim the money and ensuring the money goes to the correct recipient. They have the tools and systems and you don't.
 
If it is a genuine mistake, then the sending bank will contact your bank to ask for the money back. Your bank will then ask you. Do nothing until that all happens. If someone made a mistake with their account number and gave yours by mistake, it might be a day or two until they notice.
 
A number of years ago I had £29,000 (and change) deposited in my current account. Never knew about until 3 weeks after the event when my monthly statement came in.
I phoned my bank on seeing my statement. It took a while to convince the person I spoke to that I had played no part in the money being in my account. It then took several days before the bank got back to me and explained that the money had come from a company who arranged bridging loans and that the error was simply down to an incorrect digit being put on the credit transfer documentation. It also transpired that the company who had wrongly transferred the money to me were unaware of the event.
Not sure that I believed everything I was being told !
My bank said that I had to provide them with written authority before they could withdraw the money from my account. I sent an appropriate letter and the bank replied saying that that they were taking the money, but I would notice another deposit ......... I was entitled to the interest that accrued from the £29k.
 
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