Electronic transfer with wrong account number

jonesMUFCforever

You would have thought OP would have been back by now wouldn't you??

I do not believe for one minute that one digit on a sort code and account number would have resulted in the monies going to a wrong account - it would have bounced back if it happened at all.

meer53

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

You would have thought OP would have been back by now wouldn't you??

I do not believe for one minute that one digit on a sort code and account number would have resulted in the monies going to a wrong account - it would have bounced back if it happened at all.

But it hasn't bounced back. Which means the cash has found a new home !

jonesMUFCforever

meer53 wrote: »

But it hasn't bounced back. Which means the cash has found a new home !

Like I said a first time poster who has not bothered to come back to the forum so I have to ask the question did this happen at all?

I know what I think.;)

jimjames

innovate wrote: »

Try finding a valid sort code/account combination by randomly changing one or more digits in the account number. You'll probably have to at least sign up for a trial, more likely purchase the validation software since you are extremely likely to have to make a huge number of tries before you find a valid combination, if you find one at all before dying of boredom.

http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/bank-account-validation/pricing/

I've had to implement that software and do testing to ensure it worked. It was surprisingly easy to generate real bank accounts that validate by changing digits on my own account

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

You would have thought OP would have been back by now wouldn't you??

I do not believe for one minute that one digit on a sort code and account number would have resulted in the monies going to a wrong account - it would have bounced back if it happened at all.

As above, it is easy to mistype one digit and actually hit a valid account, the wrong digit could be any in the number so doesn't rely on accounts being sequential.

Goldiegirl

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Wouldn't surprise me if most agency banks didn't do so given the limited number of accounts per sort code.

The problem here is that the FPS system's checks aren't designed as a fail safe by any stretch. They can prevent some or most mistakes by consumers but they cannot prevent all of them. If an automated system is provided with incorrect information, and that information passes the rules it has to stop obvious dud information being accepted, then it's going to process it.

The key issue really is people taking insufficient care with payment instructions. It goes back to Charles Babbage's incredulity about being asked if a machine would provide the right answers if given the wrong inputs. Of course it won't. It never could. If you instruct a payment to a particular sort code and account number you shouldn't be surprised when the money goes there.

I work for an agency bank, and there is no check digit system for the accounts at all - they are just in numerical order.

So this situation with Faster Payments going into the wrong account happens with boring regularity.

Fortunately, our customers are, in the main, reasonable people, so the situation is normally sorted out, but it's something that easily happens

pmduk

I wish the OP would return and explain why with the first payment not arriving they made 2 further payments?

jimjames

pmduk wrote: »

I wish the OP would return and explain why with the first payment not arriving they made 2 further payments?

Hope that if they kept trying it might eventually get through? Like hitting something harder if it doesn't work first time.:)

jonesMUFCforever

Maybe because IMO he is a troll and the transactions never actually took place!

Anthorn

I replied to something similar in a different thread. Pure and simple, the person who kept your money has stolen it and committed a criminal offence under the Theft Act 1968.

But getting the money back may not be so simple. Your first act should be to contact the recipient's bank and ask them to return your money. If that fails report it to the police but even though an offence has been committed they may regard it as a civil matter and refer you to the recipients bank and Paypal.

The banking ombudsman may help with a "Misapplied Credit" but usually that's when a bank makes the mistake. But it comes down to the get-out, "Reasonable Care" in which you failed.

So ultimately it's the civil court.

Edit: But check your Paypal account to see if the money has gone back in there. The account you sent it to might not exist.

FireWyrm

Always, always, always....did I say always (?) send a single transaction of £1 FIRST before you send the real transaction. How many times do people need to be told this.

@jonesMUFCforever...you dont know what you are talking about. It is actually very easy to transpose numbers and to hit a relevant and open account number allocated to someone else by mistake. It happens all the time.