Help dealing with unexpected money in my account

aHumanError

So this is kind of a long story but here goes...

I bank with Santander, and back in December (Around the 28th) I happen to be looking at my transactions when I seen an unexpected payment into my account from a male I didn't recognise of £220. I looked back to the beginning of the month to see if there was any other transactions from this person. Since I didn't see any I assumed a mistake so called up the bank to explain it to them. They put me through to a guy in the fraud department who asked a bunch of questions. "Was I sure I didn't know this person.. did anybody owe me money.. have I sold anything.. have I give out my bank details.." etc... I must have been on the phone about half an hour while this guy asked questions and typed it all up. He told me he would submit it to someone else (Can't remember what department/company).

A few hours later a woman called me back basically asking me the same questions, but concerningly (to me) had open access to my account. She told me that this person had put close to £700 in my account and had been doing so since October. I was shocked since I didn't even know about any of this since I don't really go into my account transactions too often. I know what my outgoings are and go by my account balance more than anything; in fact the only reason I checked my transactions in December was that I was expecting a small payment from the National Lottery. She explained that she would take the money that had gone in in December (£220), which I kind of expected, but couldn't take any more because there wasn't enough currently in my account for the rest. I didn't like some of the things this person was saying, like that I had spent the money fraudulently almost implying that it was somehow my fault, which I found a little unfair; It's not like I did it on purpose, and I was the one bringing it up.

She explained the money that had been going into my account was from a TSB account and the transactions was in dribs and drabs, and had a note of "phone" on the transaction. I couldn't understand how this person was putting money into the wrong account since October and nobody noticed, I mean I didn't notice the payments, but it's not like I check my account for unexpected payments every month, if you was due a payment I'm pretty sure you'd check. She told me she'd be contacting this individual, and sending the money back to his account. She also noted that when sending money to another account it's something you have to confirm, and hoops you have to jump through. After the 40 minute call I was frustrated but at least it was getting sorted.

I've been checking my account since then, the £220 had come out on the 5th of December (the day I made the call) but unbelievably he's put another £100 into my account on the 26th of January - 2 weeks after I called about it.

This has got me so frustrated, what's the best move to put an end to this because I have no idea what this guy is doing but surely someone must have been in contact with him by now and explained the situation. I feel like I'm having to take all the action to try and put a stop to it. Is this person actually entitled to his money back? Can I somehow get his account blocked from sending me more?

I'm really not that clued up on this kind of thing, any hep would be appreciated.

MikeJXE

So if Santander contacted him and refunded his £220 on the 5th December it hasn't stopped him putting more money in so it doesn't seem like a mistake.

Thats if the person in question is telling the truth 

i would have a word with Santander fraud department, they are very clued up and reasonable. I missed 5 direct debits go out of my account over 5 months that were unrecognised and they refunded me 

HampshireH

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

MikeJXE

HampshireH said:

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

No neither do I thats why I said if the person in question is telling the truth 

It's not unheard of to hear of  bank staff with fingers in the till

When I spoke to their fraud line they seemed very professional 

SiliconChip

MikeJXE said:

HampshireH said:

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

It's not unheard of to hear of  bank staff with fingers in the till

While this is true only the most stupid person would do it for a few hundred pounds when the outcome on discovery (which is almost certain) is dismissal, barring from working in any financial position for life, and quite likely a criminal record, with the possibility of jail time. What is more likely is that the OP has misunderstood what is being done, I expect that the money that has been taken back from the account has been returned to TSB along with the account details of the person who sent it for them to sort out the credit.

It sounds to me like the person sending the money has inadvertantly entered the OP's account details and through bad luck got a valid account number. I don't know how TSB has implemented account identification, it should have prevented a mismatch of account names if the sender thought the money was going to someone else, but it may have been possible for them to bypass the check.

For the OP it is very likely that you will need to repay the money so don't spend any more that comes in and start saving up to get to the total that has already been spent. And use this as a kick up the behind to check your accounts more often, you say you rely on the account balance but this is clearly not working as the balance would have been higher than expected after every incoming payment and you blithely went ahead and spent the money anyway.

The_Unready

Sorry, but the irony in this from the Op made me chuckle:

"I couldn't understand how this person was putting money into the wrong account since October and nobody noticed, I mean I didn't notice the payments, but it's not like I check my account for unexpected payments every month, if you was due a payment I'm pretty sure you'd check."

wmb194

MikeJXE said:

HampshireH said:

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

No neither do I thats why I said if the person in question is telling the truth 

It's not unheard of to hear of  bank staff with fingers in the till

When I spoke to their fraud line they seemed very professional 

Santander will be able to see the account number and sort code so it's trivial to know that the deposit came from TSB.

MikeJXE

wmb194 said:

MikeJXE said:

HampshireH said:

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

No neither do I thats why I said if the person in question is telling the truth 

It's not unheard of to hear of  bank staff with fingers in the till

When I spoke to their fraud line they seemed very professional 

Santander will be able to see the account number and sort code so it's trivial to know that the deposit came from TSB.

I agree so I assume Santander would send the money back to TSB who would obviously know the name on the account

Why does the account continue to send money ? Is someone asleep on the job ? 

Alex9384

wmb194 said:

Santander will be able to see the account number and sort code so it's trivial to know that the deposit came from TSB.

OK, I'll go a little off topic, but I think customers should be able to see the bank and at least a portion of account number too. Monzo used to show you sort code and full account number for incoming payments but later withdrawn it. I asked them why and they cited GDPR reasons. But why not to show at least the last 3-4 digits of the account number? If a "friend" or someone else sends money to your account and then contacts you, telling you it was a mistake and you need to send it "back", they can actually give you different account number, so you become a money mule. If you were able to see at least the last few digits if the account it was sent from, you would also see they are giving you a different account, so you are not sending it back, but somewhere else.

wmb194

MikeJXE said:

wmb194 said:

MikeJXE said:

HampshireH said:

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

No neither do I thats why I said if the person in question is telling the truth 

It's not unheard of to hear of  bank staff with fingers in the till

When I spoke to their fraud line they seemed very professional 

Santander will be able to see the account number and sort code so it's trivial to know that the deposit came from TSB.

I agree so I assume Santander would send the money back to TSB who would obviously know the name on the account

Why does the account continue to send money ? Is someone asleep on the job ? 

The OP probably knows the name on the account as this usually appears with the credit on the statement.

I imagine that Santander simply sent the money back and that's where it ended. The person who's asleep is the person who's sending the money to the wrong account.

MikeJXE

wmb194 said:

MikeJXE said:

wmb194 said:

MikeJXE said:

HampshireH said:

So the other person must be a Santander customer for them to be able to contact them because how else would Santander have their contact details?

Edit just read you said a tsb account. I don't see how Santander would have details for this person

Sounds like they have a saved details (incorrectly) and haven't updated them IF Santander have actually been in touch with them.

I would call again and repeat the process but ask for confirmation it was dealt with last time. If it happens after that I would put a written complaint in / ask them to block transfers from that account 

No neither do I thats why I said if the person in question is telling the truth 

It's not unheard of to hear of  bank staff with fingers in the till

When I spoke to their fraud line they seemed very professional 

Santander will be able to see the account number and sort code so it's trivial to know that the deposit came from TSB.

I agree so I assume Santander would send the money back to TSB who would obviously know the name on the account

Why does the account continue to send money ? Is someone asleep on the job ? 

The OP probably knows the name on the account as this usually appears with the credit on the statement.

I imagine that Santander simply sent the money back and that's where it ended. The person who's asleep is the person who's sending the money to the wrong account.

Yes also true but where is the money now ?