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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to have not let her use my bank account?

42 replies

BetsyBigNose · 17/08/2018 01:35

Or was someone trying to scam me?

DD1 has a friend from her class, who she's only really been close to for the last few months, so I've never needed to have his Mum's phone number, but she did add me on Facebook a couple of months ago and we've exchanged a few messages on FB Messenger about the kids meeting up on their own. This Mum, I'll call her 'Jane', works FT, so doesn't do the school run which means I've never actually met her.

This evening, I received a FB private message from Jane asking if I had online banking and if so, if I could do her a small favour. I replied "I do, what's up?", immediately thinking it sounded a bit dodgy, but giving her the benefit of the doubt in case she had a question about how online banking worked or something.

She went on to ask me if she could transfer the funds from her ISA into my bank account, as she was in the middle of changing bank accounts, then I would move the money into her new account once it was sorted.

I replied that I wasn't comfortable with it and that I hoped she managed to get it sorted. I didn't get any response - I would have expected something along the lines of "No worries, enjoy the rest of the holidays!" or something similar. To have had no response makes me think that either:

A) I have been unreasonable in not allowing her to use my account and she's pissed off with me.

B) It's not her, but someone has hacked her account and tried to scam me. (She has nearly 200 FB friends, surely if she was going to ask someone for such a personal favour she'd go with someone she'd actually met!) Has anyone heard of scammers trying this? How would they benefit by transferring funds into my account?

So the other AIBU bit is; would IBU to speak to a mutual friend tomorrow to find out if this isn't out of character for Jane, or if she possibly got the same messages and ultimately, whether I should contact her via mobile (the mutual friend will have her number) to check if it was her and to warn her she may have been scammed? I suppose it's possible she's going through some sort of personal drama - like a marriage break up where she's closed the joint account, needs access to her savings quickly, but doesn't want any of her close family or friends knowing about it so has asked me instead - the mutual friend might know if there's something going on.

I don't want to make Jane feel uncomfortable, it's just a really odd situation. Would any of you have let her use your account? Should I follow up with a text via mobile tomorrow saying something like "I'm sorry I couldn't help you last night, I hope you managed to get it sorted", so if she was hacked she'll come back with "Huh?" and if she wasn't, it may smooth the waters between us if I was BU.

OP posts:

Whoisalanbrazil · 17/08/2018 08:21

It's money muling. Usually they'll tell you to keep some of the money for your trouble.

Firesuit · 17/08/2018 08:39

If this is a scam, shouldn't OP by contacting her urgently so she can tell her 200 facebook friends not to respond to similar messages?

Whoisalanbrazil · 17/08/2018 08:43

Yes. It's a criminal offence if anyone gets caught helping.

Fluffyears · 17/08/2018 08:54

Sounds like a scam why would you ask anyone to hold your money? They might not give it back.

Firesuit · 17/08/2018 08:58

To make it as simple as possible, we'll say my account balance was zero (with no overdraft facility and set with the bank so that I can not go overdrawn

YABU (probably) to think a British bank won't let your account go negative just because you haven't arranged an overdraft. They'll assume that you really want an unauthorised overdraft, which the small print allows them to give you, and charge you a fortune for in fees and interest.

I think it should be the law that payments fail when your account hits zero, or you agreed overdraft limit, but apparently banking in the UK has never worked like that.

Original poster

BetsyBigNose · 17/08/2018 08:59

Right, I've texted our mutual friend, explaining that Jane had been hacked and asking the friend to either pass on my phone number and ask Jane to contact me, or to let me have Jane's number.

I've changed my FB password and have double-checked my security settings and all is well with my account.

I'll update once there's any news...

OP posts:

Original poster

BetsyBigNose · 17/08/2018 09:13

@Firesuit I used to have this facility on my Lloyds bank account here in the UK. I was terrible with money (not much better bow to be honest!) in my late teens and early twenties and was forever exceeding my agreed overdraft limit, which cost me a fortune in fees and interest charges. I went in and had a meeting with an Account Manager and she suggested setting it up so that if I tried to make any payment beyond the funds available or agreed overdraft limit of my account, it would be declined.

OP posts:

hannnnnnnxo · 17/08/2018 09:22

Sorry haven’t read all previous replies but it could be a scam in various ways. It’s actually very common, especially with young/naive people that don’t know any better

So of course it could be a part of money laundering, but chances are that the funds that are transferred to your account would end up in dispute. EG person A’s bank account was hacked, their funds transferred to your account by the scammers, then you transfer the money to the scammer’s account. Then Person A’s bank would reverse the transaction, leaving your bank account in the negative and you liable for the cost. Your defence of the fb messages wouldn’t help you at all, in fact you’d probably be considered as one of the scammers. Your bank account/details will be placed on the fraud register making it impossible for you to get credit in the future. I’m probably explaining this awfully but essentially you would be considered the hacker and you will be financially liable

hannnnnnnxo · 17/08/2018 09:24

Also your bank refusing to allow you to be overdrawn wouldn’t be relevant in this situation at all. AT ALL. A fraudulent transaction can still be reversed even if it puts you in the negative, and you would be liable to pay it

ApolloandDaphne · 17/08/2018 09:25

I hope Jane gets this sorted out and her bank account hasn't been emptied!

Original poster

BetsyBigNose · 17/08/2018 09:30

I've now got 'Jane's' mobile number. Our mutual friend confirmed that she also received a similar message last night but didn't read it properly as it was late and she was already in bed and had planned on looking at it this morning but hadn't got round to it yet. She also confirmed that this sort of request would be very out of character for Jane.

I have texted Jane. I said that I suspected she already knew (what with her FB account vanishing and her messages being replaced by text saying FB are investigating) but that it looked like her FB account had been hacked. I let her know that I received a message from 'her' on FB Messenger, asking if she could transfer the funds from her ISA into my bank account as she was in the process of switching accounts and once that was sorted, I was to transfer the money into her new account.

I explained that I had thought it was probably a hacker and that I had found out this morning that our mutual friend had also received a similar message so it's fairly likely that others will have received them too. I told her that I had been advised to check my privacy settings and change my password and said it might be worth mentioning to anyone else who has had one of these messages.

I said I was sorry that this had happened, that I hoped it had been obvious to people that it wasn't something Jane would ask, so hopefully no one would have handed over their bank details and that if there is anything I can do to help, to please let me know. I'd hate it if this happened to me and although I can't think of anything I can do to help at the moment, I know I would appreciate the sentiment.

I'll let you know if I hear back from Jane or if there are any developments from the FB investigation - I'm going to contact them now (luckily I took screenshots on my phone of the messages before they were deleted), I figure the more info they have the better.

Thanks for all your advice, I appreciate it.

OP posts:

MUjunkie · 17/08/2018 09:34

My friend told me yesterday about something similar, had been asked by a friend if she would accept a transaction for him on PayPal, £600, then transfer him the money to his bank. She said fine, accepted the amount, withdrew it to her bank and transferred it to him!

Then she recieved paypal notifications that the transactions had been reversed, she rang her friend...he knew nothing about it, he had been hacked!

So not only had £600 gone from her bank, paypal now want the same back aswel! She's spoke to PayPal, the bank and police, but as she made the payment willingly there is nothing they can do!

WildFlower2018 · 17/08/2018 09:38

I'm pretty certain that's a scam, I've heard of similar on FB messenger before. I'd definitely text her and tell her about it.

WildFlower2018 · 17/08/2018 09:40

Oops just read the updates!

arranfan · 17/08/2018 09:58

Congratulations for spotting this was a scam!

Goth237 · 17/08/2018 23:32

There's another possibility here... She may be trying to hide funds from some company in order to get benefits. I'd be very wary. I think you did the right thing, OP.

hungryhippo90 · 18/08/2018 00:55

One of the mums in DDs school had a boyfriend ask for similar, problem with his account, he was due to receive money from a cousin, could he transfer to her account, could she then transfer on to him? He asked a second and third time. She trusted him, couldn’t see a problem with it as she wasn’t out of pocket.

She didn’t know anything was bad until the police turned up to arrest her.
She ended up in prison, was fraid I believe.

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