not my money

Option 1 - Take it all out and run away to Brazil.

Option 2 - Do nothing and hope that by the time the bank see it there will be a ton of interest that they will forget to take back (uklikely they will forget).

Option 3 - Call the bank and ask them if they give rewards for honesty.

a) It is not your money so legally you cannot keep it. b) Someone has just lost a large amount of money and is very worried, by telling the bank quickly you will (probably) save them some stress and be rewarded in heaven.

You also need to decide if its a scam of some sort and someone has your account details. How much money do you call "large"? Have you checked all your relatives to see if anyone has paid money into it?

Just report it to your bank, if they do nothing, go the police about it.

It could have been a simple human error

Let's face it, there are plenty of simple humans about.

If it were me, I'd transfer it to a high-interest account and hope the bank doesn't notice it's gone missing until you've earned some nice interest on it. But it is indeed not your money, so the chances are that when someone notices it's gone missing, you'll have to give it back.

Adam

Abbey (National) kindly desposited over 10K into my bank last year. I never said anything about it, and just left it there. It then disappeared about 3 weeks later, without even a letter or phone call from Abbey (National) to say there had been 'an error' and they were taking it back. I knew it was there, because I log on quite regularly, but when I got my paper bank statement, the deposit and the withdrawl did not show at all, and then the transactions on my online statement changed and failed to show the money going in/coming out.. Very strange - like they were covering their tracks because afterall, banks *don't* make mistakes.

"Anyone who has ever been tempted to keep quiet about a bank error in their favour may think again after a woman who spent £24,000 which had been wrongly transferred to her account was sent to prison for six months.

If you receive money you know you are not entitled to, then you have to tell the bank and give it back. Otherwise you could face legal action."

near the bottom of the page on the link below:

If anyone wants to give me a lot of money as part of a scam please let me know.

If you decide to keep it then I'd advice you to really KEEP it and not spend it for a long time.

If the money is not yours you have a legal obligation to inform the bank, however if like me and Icici bank they answer your emails and do absolutely nothing to correct the situation leave it there and as the interest accruses transfer that out of the account! What you must not do is to withdraw the funds and spend it....as Miss Toes suggests in Brazil!

I suppose it could be a phishing scam - these need an account to transfer the money to before wiring it abroad or getting it withdrawn in cash. Usually they'll con someone into doing this beforehand using some bullshit story or job advert for "payment processor" etc.

But I guess if they happen to have someone's account details and contact details (perhaps through a cheque they've written with name and address on back), they might just transfer the money and then contact the person to apologise, asking for the money back but could they transfer it using Western Union... and as compensation for the inconvenience they have keep 10%!

"biggirlsblouse" wrote

Under what law do you have to do that?

Fair enough to leave it there for them to sort out, but why should you have extra work to do because of their mistake?

I'd ask them to deal with the problem by way of a reversal of the original transaction. I wouldn't take the risk of losing out by keeping my bank out of the loop.

Theft Act 1968

Reasonableness.

Indeed, I was wondering where I could sign up for that scam as well.

"Peter Saxton" wrote

Where does the Theft Act say that you need to tell someone that they've made a mistake?

It's not theft (" *taking* with the intent to permanently deprive"), when you didn't **take** anything! [Someone else put it there...]

I'm not saying you can use it - just that you shouldn't need to waste your own time telling them they've made a mistake.

You wouldn't but a lot might.

Would you fall for a boiler room scam?

Tim

I get about 3 such opportunities per week in my email, I can forward them if you want...

Wash your mouth out! This is New Britain, where everyone's looking for a free lunch.

I would suggest the OP rings Claims Direct and sues the bank for emotional distress and the time wasted having to post here debating the issue.

Andrew McP