Giving Bank details for a comp win

hawest543

Hi all,

I'm after a bit of advice - I'm not sure if this is the best place but as it's comp related I'll put it here!

I had a call ealier telling me I'd own a competition and they wanted bank details to pay my prize - now in this case I'm 99% sure it was a scam so wasn't going to hand anything over but it did get me thinking! What would you do if you had a call that you had won a competition, you thought it was genuine and they wanted bank details? Would you ask for a cheque instead or something?

On the call they did say they only wanted my bank name, sort code and account number - they did also already all my basic contact details (name, phone number & address) would they be able to do anything with that?

Finally I have an account I very rarely use - it's usualy sitting there with a very small amount of money in and it has no overdraft - could I safely give out those details, or is there a way they could still get more than the tiny amount in there?

Thanks in advnace for any help!

marcia_

 Not a chance i would hand those details to a random person in the phone. 

 They could pay money in or set up direct debits on your account dont think there is much else they could do 

libra10

I've given bank details for competitions by email, but don't think I would over the phone.

It's best to check with the forum first, as usually you are given good advice.

Good luck

wdywuk

While CV was going on i WON on the take a break comps but got an email first to call them.  Why dont you take some details on what comp you won it on and check if you entered it.

Even if you gave those details its not likely to hack your account and if you can hack a bank it unlikely you need details of an account.

How much did you WIN

HeyJude11

You could always get advice from your bank.

hawest543

wdywuk said:

While CV was going on i WON on the take a break comps but got an email first to call them.  Why dont you take some details on what comp you won it on and check if you entered it.

Even if you gave those details its not likely to hack your account and if you can hack a bank it unlikely you need details of an account.

How much did you WIN

I was slight dishonest for the sake of brevity, I haven't actually won anything yet (even if it is genuine which I doubt!) It was for a case of monster Energy drink and £250 - I entered it after following a link on instagram and straight away after the basic details ther was a questionaire about do you have life insurance etc so I knew it was going to generate loads of spam and decided not go any futher. Obviously they already had my details from the first page. The call was all very obvioulsy scripted, which I thought was odd for a win and they said I'd been short listed from 80000 people to 150 so hadn't definitly won yet, and I only entered yesterday - basically there were lots of red flags that means they definitly weren't getting my bank details! It just got me thinking about a hypothetical money win in the future and wondering what others have done /would do and if this rarely used account of mine would be safe.

pate-ci0

Unless anyone knows differently, I don't think it is possible to do anything to a bank account with only the name of the account, the sort code and the account number, apart from pay into it. Anything else would require additional security details, password, memorable word and perhaps one time passcode sent to your phone, and of course you should NEVER divulge those things to anyone.

ellenvan

By just giving account number , sort code and name , you are only giving someone the details that are already on a cheque, so  I can't see any harm there.
One or 2 comps like the Sun crosswords etc, warn you on entry they will need bank details to pay the prize.

Zinger549

Yes they can't take any money with Acc No/Sort code. Jeremy Clarkson printed his in his newspaper column. Someone set up a DD to a Diabetes charity but he just cancelled that. Didn't loose any money.

grannybiker

Zinger549 said:

Yes they can't take any money with Acc No/Sort code. Jeremy Clarkson printed his in his newspaper column. Someone set up a DD to a Diabetes charity but he just cancelled that. Didn't loose any money.

  It's only the same information you can get from a cheque, so very low risk

Midnighter

ellenvan said:

By just giving account number , sort code and name , you are only giving someone the details that are already on a cheque, so  I can't see any harm there.
One or 2 comps like the Sun crosswords etc, warn you on entry they will need bank details to pay the prize.

Yes, I've been lucky enough to win with the Sun. I was a bit wary about giving my details, but checked on here and found all the advice needed to reassure me. The money went through pretty quickly after I gave them the limited information they'd requested.