Good Samaritan finds man's wallet... & gets in touch with him via four 1p bank transfers - MSE News 15 October 2019 at 9:51AM edited 15 October 2019 at 10:12AM in Budgeting & Bank Accounts 27 replies 2.5K views

Former_MSE_Callum

A Good Samaritan who found a wallet in the road in central London has returned it to its owner – after getting in touch with him via four separate 1p bank transfers, each containing information on how he could be contacted...

Read the full story:
'Good Samaritan finds man's wallet... and gets in touch with him via four 1p bank transfers'

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

PRAISETHESUN

I wonder if the owner ever paid back the 4p...

Paul_Herring

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

I wonder if the owner ever paid back the 4p...

You could have read the whole article, and found out.

PositiveBalance

Ingenious idea!


Just wondering if it would have left the Good Samaritan's bank details in the wallet owners account, though...

Chino

PositiveBalance wrote: »

Just wondering if it would have left the Good Samaritan's bank details in the wallet owners account, though...

and why would that be a problem?

Paul_Herring

Chino wrote: »

and why would that be a problem?

Probably something to do with giving out names, sort codes and account numbers...

EarthBoy

This wouldn't have worked if the owner of the wallet banked with Nationwide. They don't show references for payments or transfers, they just show the payee's name. If the transfer comes from another Nationwide account you don't even get the name; you just get the sort code and account number.

Paul_Herring

EarthBoy wrote: »

This wouldn't have worked if the owner of the wallet banked with Nationwide. They don't show references for payments or transfers, they just show the payee's name. If the transfer comes from another Nationwide account you don't even get the name; you just get the sort code and account number.

Given the length of the messages, and the fact they're spread over 4 of them, I rather suspect that the sender was using the payment reference field, which should appear in the destination account.

Comments under the article itself suggest the owner banks with Monzo.

alphalux

I have been receiving this type of low value credits into my bank account for years, accompanied by an unsolicited message.

They are rather odd as I have not lost my bank card, wallet etc, so was wondering where they obtained my bank details from. Perhaps someone with a photographic memory has obtained them from my bank card in the part, or perhaps its from payment I made by cheque years ago? Who knows?

Unfortunately, I did make the error of calling the number advised on the first occassion, resulting in me being spammed by numerous calls and texts that I had no option but to change my mobile number.

Now I just report the unrecognised credits to my bank and let their fraud investigators sort out the scammers. Apparently they trace the account from which the deposits were made, and usually have them shut down if they are from the UK.

Paul_Herring

so was wondering where they obtained my bank details from.

Probably a random number generator. Sort codes aren't secret, account numbers are likely sequential, and banks don't bother checking (yet!) that the name on any transfer actually matches the destination account.

They're counting on the inquisitive among any valid recipients to reply to them, as you appear to have unfortunately done.

EarthBoy

EarthBoy wrote: »

This wouldn't have worked if the owner of the wallet banked with Nationwide. They don't show references for payments or transfers, they just show the payee's name. If the transfer comes from another Nationwide account you don't even get the name; you just get the sort code and account number.

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Given the length of the messages, and the fact they're spread over 4 of them, I rather suspect that the sender was using the payment reference field, which should appear in the destination account.

With every other bank it probably does, but not if the destination account is Nationwide, it doesn't. They let you input a payment reference when sending a payment, but they don't show them for payments received. I've been with Nationwide for 30 years, and it's my biggest bugbear with them.