Dh involved in potential scam?!

[Mamaka]

After a suspicious call from my sil yesterday I did some snooping on my h's phone and found screenshots of a transfer of $5000 between 'solenco' and 'ynj corp' and my h. He then forwarded the money to 2 individuals. I have asked him about it and he said his sis asked him as a favour and he didn't ask for more info! Am I being overly suspicious or does this have scam written all over it?
I can't believe he could be so stupid as to hand out his bank details to people he doesn't know. His sis and mum have notoriously poor financial judgment and are always trying to involve my h. He usually doesn't tell me about it unless it backfires.
Feeling very suspicious and wary and a bit sick. What is the worst that could happen in this situation?

And too add proof to my posts the Guardian has an article today in which the Met is looking to have victims of online crime pay for fraud and not the banks,now I know her dh is not the victim of a crime based on the figures quoted below its obvious I am right it won't be investigated.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/24/dont-refund-online-victims-met-chief-tells-banks

"Last year it was revealed that police follow up fewer than one in 100 frauds and there were fewer than 9,000 convictions out of more than 3m frauds in 12 months."

You think this will be investigated!

When did he receive the money into his account, and when did he pay it out? If it was today he paid out, there might be a small chance bank can cancel, although it's probably gone. And sadly like others have said the money that went into the. account will be sucked back out.
Best case is that the money won't vanish and he is now part of a money laundering ring. If they just needed a uk account, his sister could have done it for her "friends".
Speak to the bank in person today, as early as possible as its bank holiday weekend, although if you're not on your husbands account they might not be able to talk to you.

Banks also have their own money laundering procedures in place to spot suspicious transactions and may well have picked up on it already. They won't tell you if they have, because they will investigate themselves and assume your husband is involved.

What a nightmare! I hope you can sort this out :(

You can report to the police, not because they are going to swoop in and "do something" but because they can then give you a crime number. My account got frauded (not money laundering, just a load of loans being taken out in my name) and I needed the crime number to help with the accounts being shut down and cleared from my record.

Bit of a diff situation, I know, but I'm just saying that you can (and should) report to the police. They won't turn up, tyres screeching, sirens blaring in a squad car and start investigating, but they will log it and give you a crime number.

Regardless of if they investigate, and for £5k they may well not, but if this is part of a much bigger operation, not reporting means the dh will be viewed as part of the illegal activity. Reporting now gives him a defence should he need it.

...also, if you do report to the police, it's not like you call 999 or anything. The bank can advise you about reporting to the police, and will give you the number of the fraud dept. You call and leave a message.

I feel a bit like this is being whipped into a frenzy when it may not need to be. This is your husband's account and your husband's problem. You have no proof of wrong doing, if his sister has business contacts in the relevant places it might not be fraud or money laundering. It might, but it might not.

I would tell him if you're to get back together he needs to never do this again, but I would not be panicking/reporting etc - it's his account not yours and you are not at risk here.

Thanks all for such helpful advice. H called me very shocked sounding and said he hadn't thought of what it could be as his sis is often "helping out friends" - and to be fair it could be entirely true. She has a lot of friends still at home (non uk) who want her to make Western union transfers etc. My h also receives money from his dad so foreign looking names may not necessarily make the bank think this is out of the ordinary. However he said he called her and demanded proof and she gave him the number of the guy who had paid in to the account (supposedly). He says he will call him after work. He also said he had spoken to bank (although again I won't know if this is true til I see his face).
I have possibly painted a picture of my sil of a successful businesswoman who dabbles in crime but actually she is quite vulnerable and her business is failing. I personally think the most likely of these scenarios is that she herself is being scammed and wants to go along with it because she gets some extra cash out of it and has roped my h into it because her own h would have a fit if he knew she was doing it. Presumably she thought she no longer needed to worry about what I thought because of the separation. And my h is blindly loyal to his family and would never question her.
I'm actually quite glad this is happening now as I feel it may have opened his eyes to the fact that he is being used by her (which I have been telling him for years but of course that didn't go down well) and he has sworn to never ever again do anything involving her and money. In fact he doesn't use his business account so I've decided to also say, as one of the many things he has to do before we think about getting back together, that he has to close it.
And if he does lose that £5000 I will be threatening my sil to take her to court until she repays it. I know it's not worth going to court over but she is naive to the point that she won't know that and will be scared.

Good luck - hopefully this will be the end of 'helping out' his sister's friends.

So he received 5000, paid out 2700 and kept the difference? Is that his payment for doing it?!

He received $5000 (so around £3500) and paid out one payment of I think £2700 and another one of £300. I assume his sister is getting the rest as she is the one "doing the favour" ha.

This all happened on 18/19 march from what I saw on the messages this morning. I also saw a text from his sister saying "these people are asking where is their money" doesn't sound hopeful that they are genuine friends does it...

The fact that your SIL is saying "these people" in that text rather than "my friends" pretty much proves what we felt all along, doesn't it.

There's a recognised scam where a money transfer is paid into an account, and then when the target of the scam sees that it's there, they pay over the previously agreed amount to the scammer It usually appeals to greed, so the target is promised a handsome fee for co-operating. Once the money has gone out, the original transfer in fails in some way to clear and the amount is debited again, leaving just the loss of the paid out cash.

Might that be possible here?

I image there's a Nigerian prince involved here somewhere.

Yeah, that £500 would be the carrot if this is the situation.

And if it is that scam? I've heard of it, how can he not have?! So then is he left to fund the missing money? Is there any way out?

If he's sent money out of his account then he has already funded it with his own money. Think of the original transfer to him as a fake one and he will now be down by £3,000. Nothing to be done if that was what happened.

It may not be that. It may be a different scam. Who knows, but he does need to educate himself about this sort of thing for the future.

Depending on which $ currency (eg. US or AU) he may have ended up behind just from the transfer.

I would go to bank/police, beg mea culpa and ask for advice.

Classic scam-

1. victim is sent a cheque in foreign currency to pay into their account.
2. When cheque shows as cleared victim instructed to send majority of money to scammer, keeping some of it for their trouble.
3. Cheque bounces & victim out of pocket for the amount scammer has received.

Foreign cheques take a lot longer to clear than sterling cheques, that's how they get away with it.

And it can be recalled for up to 90 days after looking 'cleared'

Total nightmare

A family member of mine got caught by a scam like this. The bank suspended his account because the cheque was fraudulent, they thought he had something to do with it and it was handed over to thep police. It took a lot for him to straighteni t out but in the end they believed he had been conned.
I hope you get it sorted op.

My h called the guy who had transferred the money and it turns out he does actually know my sil. Not well though, like she'd made out. H realises that it could be a scam and feels like a prick. They have this silly cultural rule where you don't ask questions. If you get asked a favour you either do it without asking questions or you don't do it and avoid that person forever. I have questioned this ridiculous cultural norm as it has impacted my family SO MANY TIMES. I don't really know how else to make him see that we must be his priority now and these stupid rules don't apply here.