Safe to put account details on eBay?

Wrong - they can also set up a standing order against your account and siphon money off without you knowing anything about it until you either:

(a) receive your monthly statement; or

(b) try to cash out at an ATM and there is no money left, or;

(c) they've set several relatively small standing orders up to go on consecutive days. When one eventually bounces you get a letter from the bank saying you had insufficient funds in your account and they charge you £30 for the pleasure of bounding the SO. You contact the bank to discover all your money is gone plus £30 for the bounced payment.

You can't get your money back because the person who received you money has since closed their account (set up under a false name/address) and scarped.

Banks don't check the signatures on Standing Orders that closely, so its very easy to set fraudulent ones up.

But they could get the same information if they had one of your cheques.

cd

Of course you can get your money back.

If the bank pays a standing order (or any other form of payment) that the account holder didn't authorise, then the bank must reimburse the customer. Unless the customer acted negligently, and giving out your account details is hardly negligent as anyone you give a cheque to has your full account details (plus a specimen of your signature).

I'm not denying that - and I suspect that method has probably been used before.

You send a cheque to one person. Publishing the details gives the information to hundreds of people. On ebay, once a buyer has been found, you can email the account details to them or request that they send a cheque to you.

Only the recipient of the cheque sees the cheque, (perhaps a few others). If you put your details on the www, (i.e. ebay), every man and his dog can see them.

Wow - reading dogs now! ;-)

They don't just read, they post too. You'll have heard that old chestnut: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog".

That is complete rubbish.

If you try and set one up at a branch, they'll require ID.

If you try and set one up over the net you'll need the internet banking sign on details.

If you try and set one up over the phone, they'll ask you personal questions. Some typical examples include "What was the date and amount of your last cashpoint withdrawal". They'll also ask for combinations of your DOB, mothers maiden name etc.

Your assertion that they don't check is inaccurate - the bank will be held responsible for any payments NOT authorised by the account holder so they do check!

Remember - your bank account and sort code are printed on your debit card and on every cheque you write. This information is NOT confidental.

Regards, Zen

Utility companies, credit card companies etc publish their account details, on statements and the www, so people can make electronic payments to them.

And on the hundreds of thousands of bills they send out =)

Regards, Zen

Isn't it a bit tricky to do this given the money laundering requirements when opening an account ? ie the requirement for recent utility bills and photographic ID.

Yes - is much harder to do this now than it used to be.

Regards, Zen

Are the losses not then covered by the party who didn't check the signatures closely enough?

ed2003