Someone’s transferred me money

[HironsBirons]

Quite a lot of money. My bank statement just says my name in the notes section . The bank can’t help, they just keep asking if I was expecting this. I literally cannot think of any reason why anyone would be sending me £800 - I’m not expecting a refund for anything that I can think of.

Any ideas?? Is this some sort of scam?!

Could be a hrmc tax rebate?

It might be a scam. I think it works like this:

The transfer is made using stolen account details. BACS/Faster Payments can be recalled with the recipient's permission. If the money isn't rightfully yours and you don't give permission, it is an offence.

In the time it takes for the first person to discover and report the fraud and the bank to trace the money, the scammers call the recipient and pretend to be the bank fraud team. The recipient is probably expecting the bank to call because they've already discovered the mystery payment, maybe even called the bank to report it. The recipient then hands out their security details to the scammers and the scammers then ask them to transfer the mystery money back to a holding account, which is of course, the scammer's account. Or they tell the recipient that their account has been hacked and they need to transfer all their money to a "safe account''.

Honestly, I would consider closing that account and starting a new one. If a scammer has potentially got your details, nip it in the bud.

The Bank can't just take money out of your account or do it over the phone. They have to write to you pointing out the error and request you give it back. If you've spent it you can arrange a payment plan to reimburse your bank who would have given the money paid in error back to the sending bank as soon as the error came to light.

@troysmammy this is not true. My mum's bank took the 10k back from me without contacting me

Giganticshark if you look up the Banking Ombudsman website under mistaken payments, if I haven't read it too quickly, the bank are in the wrong. I worked for a high street bank complaints department and we had to do what I mentioned above.

Oops sorry googling anput mistaken payments was a New Zealand website. I still say they should have contacted you unless it was the same bank sort code and they could do a reverse payment.

On my online banking, BACS payments all show the sender information in them. Pay from work has the company name. Transfers from friends have their name. There are references numbers two. And all that is additional to whatever the payer puts in the "reference" field on the web form.

I would in the first instance seek clarification from the bank - do they truly have no information about the payer?

My two pence, don't spend it and don't move it until you know where it's come from.

Especially don't make any arrangements to "return" the money that don't involve you going to the bank in person and doing nothing except authorising the bank staff to return the money.

Tax rabate?

I had a very large amount deposited into my account some years ago, and then without my permission or knowledge they removed it a few days later. I only knew about it when the paper statement arrived in the post. Hmm £57k would have helped me out!

Just seen a video from a car dealer who had someone put money into their account to buy a car (a 40k car) and it was a bounce back loan taken out in the name of the car dealer. Could it be similar?

That was quite a specific case Septic - if it was the one that was on You and Yours it was a government loan taken out to help businesses. It was quite cleverly done, but it was the fault of banks who only needed a date of birth and bank details to pay over quite a large loan.

Unless OP is running a business and has committed to sell someone something for that £800 it's unlikely.

Cashback website payout?! Unlikely you'd forget if you did that though...

I just had a tax rebate could it be that ?

I had this happen once and it turned out it was accrued interest from an ISA and I had instructed that all interest be paid into my bank account (then promptly forgot all about it). Could it be an old instruction you set up for interest payments or dividend payments?

@Honeypickle

I had this happen once and it turned out it was accrued interest from an ISA and I had instructed that all interest be paid into my bank account (then promptly forgot all about it). Could it be an old instruction you set up for interest payments or dividend payments?

That's why I suggested some sort of savings too, I've had this before when I've done a savings transfer, I even puzzled myself once for the same reason, it took me a couple of days to remember what it was, not as large as the OP's amount but same principle

@HooNoes

Even if the bank rings you, tell them you'll call them back. Then get their name, dept. tel number and then ring your bank back on the number they have on their website. Maybe someone just got generous!

But ring from a different phone if you can. I've heard of scams where the scammer doesn't hang up and when the scammee rings their bank there is still a live connection to the scammer. Trust no-one.

If it was a tax rebate would I not get a letter about it before the money was in my account? Still no further forward to where it’s come from

Yes, I’ve just had a tax rebate and received a letter from HMRC
I filled a form online and was sent a text to my mobile number with a reference number to quote for confirmation.
They would not simply credit your account without this

@Nanasueathome

Yes, I’ve just had a tax rebate and received a letter from HMRC I filled a form online and was sent a text to my mobile number with a reference number to quote for confirmation. They would not simply credit your account without this

I thought as much! I’ll ring the bank again on Monday. Surely someone must be able to tell me why this has happened?!

I've had a tax rebate recently, had a letter how to claim online. If I didn't I would have been sent a cheque at a later date. I did it online.

Placemarking because I'm curious