Mum accidentally transferred £9,000 to wrong bank account – and man ‘kept it’

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mum-accidentally-transferred-9-000-121830291.html

by tyw7

29 comments

  1. This is why before the money is sent they show you all the details of the account you’re sending it to and make you press another button to confirm they’re correct

  2. My little tip: when checking the account and sort code numbers, first do it left to right as usual, then repeat it right to left. The chances of making the same mistake in two directions is greatly reduced.

    Also, if this is the first transfer and is of a significant amount, do a small test transfer first.

  3. >Anne paid Warren £300 in April 2023 when her brother intended to rent a room from him, so his bank details were saved to her app with the name “Alan”. She made two payments of £5,000 on May 24, 2023, and £4,147 the following day.

    Incredible how poor some people’s decision-making skills are when it comes to their finances and large sums of money. Tip for anyone who wants to prevent this from happening to them: don’t save a stranger’s bank details under a family member’s name.

  4. Her mistake but the guy is an arse for not giving it back

  5. This is why when sending a large amount of money, I always do a £1 test first

  6. “She also contacted her bank, Natwest, who managed to recover £730 from his account and returned it to her. Warren admitted to theft at Derby Magistrates’ Court on January 23, 2024.

    He was instructed to pay her compensation of £8,417 and received a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months. However, Anne claims he has only repaid her £520 so far.

    Court emails indicate that officers are doing “everything, within our legal powers, is being done to recover the money owed” but have not been able to secure any further payments. Anne, from Derby, Derbyshire, expressed her frustration, saying: “It’s disgusting – it just shows that crime does pay.””

    These suspended sentences are getting a little silly and it seems are now just a 100% get off Scott free.

    If you’re not paying your court mandated victim compensation then shouldn’t you have to actually go complete your sentence.

  7. some people will think her mistake excuses anything that happens to her

    You make mistakes and you do run the risk of being exploited by twats.

    But that still makes the man a complete twat.

    And her actions do not excuse him

  9. What does the fact that she is a mum have anything ro do with the story?

  10. How is it relevant that she’s a ‘mum’? Let’s see if the ‘man’ is a father too then?

  11. i have two accounts in my name every time i send money to myself it’s says its the wrong i always double check anyway.

    i think its a default setting to cover the banks ass

  12. This is why online banking stresses me sooooo much . Even when I 100% know it’s the right person I have the same worry

  13. I’m surprised by the amount of victim blaming going on. She’s 56, she’s not ancient but certainly from a generation that doesn’t necessarily have all the technical expertise we do today. She had a one off payment for her brother and months or years later saw his name and sent money, having obviously forgotten about the one off payment.

    It’s a fuck up, and I’m glad the ex-landlord has been charged, but when these people try to pay back pennies, it’s time to start seizing their assets until the full amount is repaid.

  14. Why isn’t it a criminal offence?

    If the government transfers money into your account wrongly you are required by law to pay it back.

  15. I mean your banking app will check the bank account details before you send! What an absolute divvy

  16. I thought banks can claw back money sent to wrong account now? Even if the person already spent or moved it (account essentially goes into overdraft). Is that not the case?

  18. I’m not saying this is the case here, but it immediately reminded me of a common scam it’s worth noting though it’s usually applicable to goods and services and takes the following form:

    Person sends money, asks for some or all back due to mistake, disputes the original payment and has it reversed (because the two aren’t inherently linked, except in your mind), runs off with both lots of money.

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpayment_scam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpayment_scam)

    Again, not the case here, just good to be aware of the risks of sending money back in some situations.

  19. This is my nightmare. Even when my bank had confirmed an early mortgage repayment went through, I still panicked that I’d done what this woman has when the morons in santander sent out a document that used the wrong balance of my account.

  20. Something tells me the 3 screens asking her to make sure the recipients info is correct meant nothing to her

  21. Would count as unjustified enrichment and she should be able to claim it back surely

  22. That’s why you send £1 first, if it’s to a new account, just to be sure.

  23. Well that would be theft so you report it to the police.

  24. Years ago I had someone’s salary put into my account by mistake. I went to bank and told them and it was sorted.

    I just knew it wasn’t mine and couldn’t have, in all conscience, kept it.

  25. To try to avoid doing something like this when sending large amounts of money, I usually send a test amount of £1. Only when I have confirmed that it has been received correctly do I send the rest.

  26. Always, always send £1 first. Confirm with the person they received it then send the rest. I work for a bank and give this advice to everyone.

  27. For anyone that may see this msg….

    TIP : Always transfer a small amount first (don’t tell the other person the amount) and get the other person to confirm the amount before transferring large sums of money.

  28. On a side note, why does her parental status mater, and his not?

  29. Obviously the guy has no right to keep the money permanently.

    But if someone transferred £9k to my account and then told me it was an error and they wanted it back, I would be VERY wary about it. There are various scams where money appears in your account, you pay it back, but then the original payment gets reversed. For example, if it turns out that it was paid with a stolen card or hacked bank account. That leaves you out of pocket.

    You need to take steps to avoid that happening. I’m not even sure exactly what those steps would be. But just immediately returning the money is not a great idea.

Comments are closed.