Accidentally sent money to the wrong account, what now?

ChiefGrasscutter

OK, Found it……(see my earlier post)

1996 Theft Amendment Act – Section 2, which inserted a new clause 24A into the original Theft Act of 1968.

As follows:

Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit…………
A person is guilty of an offense if----
a) a wrongful credit has been made to an account kept by him or in respect of which he has any right or interest;
b) he knows or believes that the credit is wrongful; and
c) he dishonestly fails to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to secure that the credit is cancelled.

See:
http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?ActiveTextDocId=1204238

Scroll down to find the clause to check for youself
Looks like that has settled the discussion about transfers made in error once and for all. You contact the receiving bank/person and demand that the credited amount is returned. Failure to do so is an offense – max 10 years I believe.
It seems not to matter the method by which the error occurred (ie wrong digit entered when setting up payment or wrong payee selected from an existing list) or who made it -bank employee or bank account holder. It’s simple – the receiver has to return it.

end of story

tuggy12

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

It’s simple – the receiver has to return it.

end of story

Not quite !

In this case the receiver's whereabouts are unknown and he probably doesn't even know the cash is in his account.

If the receiver can be found and then refuses to return the cash, knowing it's not rightfully his, then ,yes, he may be committing an offence.

pmduk

Check the recipient bank account details here If the account details are invalid the money will have bounced back to Nationwide.

ChiefGrasscutter

tuggy12 wrote: »

Not quite !

In this case the receiver's whereabouts are unknown and he probably doesn't even know the cash is in his account.

If the receiver can be found and then refuses to return the cash, knowing it's not rightfully his, then ,yes, he may be committing an offence.

Yes, you are correct.
That's why I put in my reply that one option would be to contact the receiving bank rather than the account holder as indeed one might well not know where the money has gone if you had missed keyed in the account number rather than simply paid the wrong person from your existing lists.
Presumably (I'm not a lawyer) the receiving bank is acting as an agent in facillitating these transfers into an account and would be equally guilty if they fail to return it when asked once they have been made aware that the transfer was in error....bit like receiving and passing on stolen goods I suppose.

[Deleted User]

hope it goes well
faster payments normally cannot be refunded sadly

noh

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

OK, Found it……(see my earlier post)

1996 Theft Amendment Act – Section 2, which inserted a new clause 24A into the original Theft Act of 1968.

As follows:

Dishonestly retaining a wrongful credit…………
A person is guilty of an offense if----
a) a wrongful credit has been made to an account kept by him or in respect of which he has any right or interest;
b) he knows or believes that the credit is wrongful; and
c) he dishonestly fails to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to secure that the credit is cancelled.

See:
http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?ActiveTextDocId=1204238

Scroll down to find the clause to check for youself
Looks like that has settled the discussion about transfers made in error once and for all. You contact the receiving bank/person and demand that the credited amount is returned. Failure to do so is an offense – max 10 years I believe.
It seems not to matter the method by which the error occurred (ie wrong digit entered when setting up payment or wrong payee selected from an existing list) or who made it -bank employee or bank account holder. It’s simple – the receiver has to return it.

end of story

No not the end of the story.
Check the definition of "wrongful credit"
from your link following the paragraph (24) you quote above.
http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?ActiveTextDocId=1204238

"(2A) A credit to an account is wrongful to the extent that it derives from—
(a)
theft;

(b)
blackmail;

(c)
fraud (contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006); or

(d)
stolen goods."


The credit in question is not a "wrongful credit" as defined above.
So no offence has been commited by the person receiving it or the bank acting as their agent.

Wasteofspace

From what I understand you will need to contact your bank, who will contact their bank, who will write to the account holder asking him to confirm that the credit was not expected. They will then recover and return the money with his permission.

Basically, as others have said, he has to return the money.