Sending IBAN & BIC numbers

littlewren
littlewren Posts: 1,988 Forumite
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in Budgeting & bank accounts
My brother lives in the Republic of Ireland and needs to send some money to me, of course they deal in euros. He wants my IBAN & BIC numbers so that he can pay it in to my bank account. I only correspond with him through Facebook, is it safe to send him the IBAN & BIC numbers via a private message or is there any risk?

TIA :)
Money, money, money, must be funny, in the rich man's World!

Comments

  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    It's no more risky than sending your sortcode and account number, possibly less so as it wouldn't be possible to do a Jeremy Clarkson (setting up a DD to a charity) with BIC/IBAN. How secure FB messaging is I couldn't say, but I doubt if it's any less secure than any other means of communication other than a face to face conversation.
  • Lith
    Lith Posts: 897 Forumite
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    littlewren wrote: »
    My brother lives in the Republic of Ireland and needs to send some money to me, of course they deal in euros. He wants my IBAN & BIC numbers so that he can pay it in to my bank account. I only correspond with him through Facebook, is it safe to send him the IBAN & BIC numbers via a private message or is there any risk?

    TIA :)

    Why not just text him? if he has an irish number. Facebook? wouldn't trust that !!!!!!.
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  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    Lith wrote: »
    Why not just text him? if he has an irish number. Facebook? wouldn't trust that !!!!!!.

    Lack of eloquence aside, I doubt a Facebook message is much less secure than sms.
  • Flobberchops
    Flobberchops Posts: 1,279 Forumite
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    agrinnall wrote: »
    It's no more risky than sending your sortcode and account number, possibly less so as it wouldn't be possible to do a Jeremy Clarkson (setting up a DD to a charity) with BIC/IBAN.

    Sorry to be a pedant but it's actually exactly as risky, as an IBAN number is made up of your sort code and account number preceded by some identifying characters.

    All personal financial information should be treated as sensitive, but BIC/IBAN is certainly a heck of a lot more safe than, say, disclosing your PIN or card security code.
    : )
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    Flobberchops wrote: »
    Sorry to be a pedant but it's actually exactly as risky, as an IBAN number is made up of your sort code and account number preceded by some identifying characters.

    Although not everybody knows that, which might make it slightly less risky (although I'd expect anyone with the ability to intercept and use FB messages would also know the makeup of an IBAN).
  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,570 Forumite
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    If I have to give someone my bank details I send it with **** in place of the last four characters, and a note that they will be sent separately by another means, which I do. Not totally effective if you're really being targeted of course, and perhaps not possible for the OP with the 'Facebook only' limitation.
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  • robatwork
    robatwork Posts: 7,087 Forumite
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    Plenty of paranoia on display but I would have no compunction sending my details over FB messenger.

    If you want something with a tin hat on, you could go for whatsapp instead - if you both use the latest version then that's encrypted end to end. https://www.whatsapp.com/security/ According to reports this is the app terrorists favour as it's hard to be hacked.
  • Lith
    Lith Posts: 897 Forumite
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    robatwork wrote: »
    [/url]According to reports this is the app terrorists favour as it's hard to be hacked.

    No it isn;t.... it can be hacked and has had downtime problems.... everyone knows the top #1 app for black market/terrorists is *BBM*
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  • littlewren
    littlewren Posts: 1,988 Forumite
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    Thank you everyone for your replies, to be honest I'm still none the wiser lol Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I don't think I'll take the risk. :-O
    Money, money, money, must be funny, in the rich man's World!
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