Is it safe to accept a cash deposit direct into my bank account?

mcplums

I sell bitcoins online, via Faster Payments bank transfer. There is a dude who wishes to buy a large amount via cash deposit instead of a bank transfer- allegedly because his bank was shut down due to selling bitcoins (which I can believe, I've already lost four accounts this way).

The main risk when selling bitcoins is that the buyer will claim fraud, state that their account was hacked or whatever, and ring their bank to reverse the transaction. This has already happened to me twice.

My thinking is, that this can NOT happen with a cash deposit. Because these cannot be reversed, ever. Am I correct in this? Or am I taking a huge gamble accepting cash deposits?

mgdavid

Do you mean he's going to give you cash and then you deposit it into your account at your local branch?
Or he's going into his branch and asking to deposit it giving them your bank account details?
As I think the latter may be refused, banks are adopting a rule to require sight of the debit card for the account being deposited into. I've read on here that people have had difficulty even paying in cash & cheques to the accounts of other family members and friends.

eskbanker

Large cash deposits are seen as suspicious by many banks (the thresholds will doubtless vary) and you'd often be expected to provide some documentary evidence of the source of the funds.

If the money has come from selling bitcoins, this is also viewed with a great deal of suspicion by many banks (hence accounts being closed) so if you declare and evidence the real source then you may find this to cause problems, while falsifying anything would be fraudulent, so accepting cash for bitcoins is likely to be fraught with risk one way or another....

PRAISETHESUN

If the buyer intends to deposit cash directly into your account then I suspect you will have issues. Apart from the issues highlighted above about banks being suspicious of large cash deposits, most banks stopped allowing cash deposits into other people's accounts a while back. If they intend to give you cash in person and let you deposit it yourself then that might be a whole other story.

Assuming it wasn't flagged as suspicious however and the buyer was allowed to deposit cash into your account, then I would probably say you would be safe in that it could not be reversed unlike a faster payment since cash is cash... the bank is not likely to let someone withdraw cash from an account not in their name without prior authorisation.

18cc

My strong advice is not to let anybody deposit cash direct into your bank account i.e. don't give them your account number and sort code and say please deposit cash here

Apart from anything else you have no idea where the cash comes from - it could be marked notes which are the proceeds of an armed robbery for all you know

if you want a cash transaction then meet up and take the cash off him and deposit it yourself or use it for general spending but even then be very careful as you have no idea of the source of the cash and you could be equally responsible should it be from Criminal activities

mcplums

I am talking about the buyer depositing directly into my account- I would never see the cash. I know this is possible with my current bank (Halifax) as I have previously sold via this method before (only for smaller amounts).

So just so I'm clear- I can understand that the banks might require evidence over source of funds- but would they require evidence from me, or the guy making the deposit!? If the bank has accepted the cash and it's in my account, am I likely in the clear? If they would require evidence from me, and say they did not accept whatever evidence I was able to provide, what would happen to the deposited funds?

soulsaver

PayPal gift to family & friends?

soulsaver

Stupid question (I know nowt about bitcoins):

How does the payer ensure s/he gets the bitcoins after depositing cash (or PayPal gift)? Or how do you ensure you get paid after releasing(?) the bitcoins?

And how much are talking about?

mcplums

soulsaver wrote: »

Stupid question (I know nowt about bitcoins):

How does the payer ensure s/he gets the bitcoins after depositing cash (or PayPal gift)? Or how do you ensure you get paid after releasing(?) the bitcoins?

And how much are talking about?

I am selling on a site called localbitcoins.com. It has an escrow service- so when the trade is initiated (before anyone has paid) the bitcoin I would sell is taken out of my account and held in escrow. I cannot return this to my account unless the buyer cancels the trade. Any disputes (ie he says he's paid but I say he hasn't) and it's handed over to a third party to resolve. Also we have profiles with feedback on the site so you know who to trust, so that it never comes to a dispute in the first place.

£6k.

18cc

It is your account so the bank will ask you for the source of the funds

By this I mean they will want the name address and details of the person who paid the money in and where they got that money from

if the bank are in any way suspicious they will freeze your account while they investigate

if the serial numbers on the notes are in any way suspicious or it's counterfeit money or it's on some watchlist they will notify the police who no doubt will ask you some serious questions

JuicyJesus

One of the major issues with Bitcoin and other cryptos is that they can be bought with money that results from criminal activity, the source of them obfuscated, and then they be sold again for clean money. In other words, money laundering.

You have no idea where the cash could be coming from. You could be complicit in laundering the proceeds of crime. Ignorance is no excuse, because it'll be you that laundered the money and your account that gets locked down.

Do not do this, it's a really stupid idea. Hell just avoid Bitcoin entirely because however you sell the stupid things you'll run into the same issue.