theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 Been a member for a few years on here and have bought and sold without any issues. Either by phone or message I have spoken to the other party either about the item/items,postage and arrangements,etc. About 10 day's ago I made contact with a trusted member on this site....well,let's be honest we are all trusted members I hope! He was selling an item and had reduced the price to £95 so I decided to contact him and make arrangements for payment. I offered to pay using bank transfer or paypal. He opted to ask for a bank transfer. In a private message he gave me his bank details and I asked my wife to do a bank transfer to him and checked after about half an hour to see if he had been paid. He said nothing had come through. We went out shopping and contacted him again after about an hour and a half....still nothing. I thought this was odd as I am sure in the past it has been almost straight away for a bank transfer....anyway later in the day about 4.30pm he contacted me to say it still wasn't through. I asked the wife to check the telephone banking app and sure enough it said payment cleared where earlier it had said pending. Now here is the thing,the payment had been sent to a totally different name,different bank account and sorting code! I double checked the details I had given the wife and sure enough she had entered the correct details. In fact we both seen his name and details at the start on the banking app and it was marked pending at the very start. Anyway I contacted the member and told him to double check that he had not received the money...nothing!! Anyway as most folk will know you have to contact the bank straight away....which is pretty hard on call centres and as they close at 7 we were lucky to speak to someone who froze my wife's card and told us to contact the fraud section next morning which we did.They asked loads of questions and asked about the transaction and where I was buying from. We were off on holiday for a week and heard nothing until this morning.We have been told at no time was our account hacked but that's all they can say at the moment. It was referred to as a authorised push payment scam (google that!!) I know they will refund the money and I know that the item has been sold to someone else (I told the member just to forget selling it to me because of the issues) Now...I am not saying that the member is in anyway at fault as as far as I can tell he has been a member of this forum for a very long time. The conversations we had in private about the item were spot on...I have had conversations with folk on facebook who were scammers and knew nothing and appeared not to even speak basic English!! Sorry about the length of this post but in light of the recent scam attempts on here recently does anyone think that the private message could have been hacked or had anything like this on here or elsewhere happen. I know they say that bank transfer is one if not the safest way to transfer money (within reason as long as you sent it to a trusted person and did a bit of digging) I also know folks thoughts on the pros and cons of Paypal on here and elsewhere. Any ideas folks? 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 Are the bank details that the seller gave you showing as correct (I.e what he wrote) in the PM? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 14 minutes ago, ped said: Are the bank details that the seller gave you showing as correct (I.e what he wrote) in the PM? Yes...and I confirmed again with him when the issue came up. At first I thought that the wife had put a wrong digit but it was a totally different name,sort code and bank account on the payment cleared message on telephone banking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 How does that even work, you enter a name, account number and sort code and confirm , then the money goes to a completely different person , could it be a bank error ? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 5 minutes ago, Reggaebass said: How does that even work, you enter a name, account number and sort code and confirm , then the money goes to a completely different person , could it be a bank error ? That sounds most likely - I was going to suggest it was some sort of autocomplete but it sounds like you don't recognise the recipient. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cairobill Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 As someone who had just reduced something to 95 quid I had a Kafka-eque moment there! 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 Just now, Reggaebass said: How does that even work, you enter a name, account number and sort code and confirm , then the money goes to a completely different person , could it be a bank error ? Yip....that's what I thought! I also thought that the money went straight in to the account! A wee example was selling a bass a going out to a venue that the person was playing,after checking his online facebook stuff etc and the guy paid me through bank transfer. I phoned the wife straight away and she confirmed the money was in our account..gave him the bass!.I have heard of some money transfers being reversed but not from your own bank! They tell you that in the banking instruction to make sure you do input all the correct details as if you make an derrière of it can be very difficult to get the money back. As usual I gave the the wife the blame! But all kidding aside we both checked before the money was sent and the bank has confirmed that we have sent it to the right person at the start. They won't/don't comment on where it ended up but they do know. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 1 minute ago, Cairobill said: As someone who had just reduced something to 95 quid I had a Kafka-eque moment there! Sorry I am trying to keep it a bit private and not mentioning the name of the person or item. He will be on here and can comment if he wishes but as it works both way's I am sure that me having the money issue and him still having his...item has a lot to do with it! As I said it's not his fault but we are all in the same boat! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 2 minutes ago, theplumber said: But all kidding aside we both checked before the money was sent and the bank has confirmed that we have sent it to the right person at the start Also before you send the money my bank says that it’s found a match or not, if it goes somewhere else after that then that’s something beyond your control I would have thought 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 58 minutes ago, theplumber said: Been a member for a few years on here and have bought and sold without any issues. Either by phone or message I have spoken to the other party either about the item/items,postage and arrangements,etc. About 10 day's ago I made contact with a trusted member on this site....well,let's be honest we are all trusted members I hope! He was selling an item and had reduced the price to £95 so I decided to contact him and make arrangements for payment. I offered to pay using bank transfer or paypal. He opted to ask for a bank transfer. In a private message he gave me his bank details and I asked my wife to do a bank transfer to him and checked after about half an hour to see if he had been paid. He said nothing had come through. We went out shopping and contacted him again after about an hour and a half....still nothing. I thought this was odd as I am sure in the past it has been almost straight away for a bank transfer....anyway later in the day about 4.30pm he contacted me to say it still wasn't through. I asked the wife to check the telephone banking app and sure enough it said payment cleared where earlier it had said pending. Now here is the thing,the payment had been sent to a totally different name,different bank account and sorting code! I double checked the details I had given the wife and sure enough she had entered the correct details. In fact we both seen his name and details at the start on the banking app and it was marked pending at the very start. Anyway I contacted the member and told him to double check that he had not received the money...nothing!! Anyway as most folk will know you have to contact the bank straight away....which is pretty hard on call centres and as they close at 7 we were lucky to speak to someone who froze my wife's card and told us to contact the fraud section next morning which we did.They asked loads of questions and asked about the transaction and where I was buying from. We were off on holiday for a week and heard nothing until this morning.We have been told at no time was our account hacked but that's all they can say at the moment. It was referred to as a authorised push payment scam (google that!!) I know they will refund the money and I know that the item has been sold to someone else (I told the member just to forget selling it to me because of the issues) Now...I am not saying that the member is in anyway at fault as as far as I can tell he has been a member of this forum for a very long time. The conversations we had in private about the item were spot on...I have had conversations with folk on facebook who were scammers and knew nothing and appeared not to even speak basic English!! Sorry about the length of this post but in light of the recent scam attempts on here recently does anyone think that the private message could have been hacked or had anything like this on here or elsewhere happen. I know they say that bank transfer is one if not the safest way to transfer money (within reason as long as you sent it to a trusted person and did a bit of digging) I also know folks thoughts on the pros and cons of Paypal on here and elsewhere. Any ideas folks? This is an odd one, it doesn't sound like a authorised push payment scam though? If you and your wife both verified the account details when you made the payment, and if the funds then went to a different account, whatever happened must be either an error by the bank or something to do with the recipient's account? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 8 minutes ago, Reggaebass said: Also before you send the money my bank says that it’s found a match or not, if it goes somewhere else after that then that’s something beyond your control I would have thought Yes....When we put in details that's what happened and it then went to pending showing the correct details. When it was marked as transaction complete a few hours later it showed a totally different name and other details. Very odd! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 And no, bank transfer is not the safest way to transfer money, or at least not always, which is why I tend to pay by PayPal whenever possible. Either way, hope this works out for you 👍 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 2 minutes ago, Beedster said: This is an odd one, it doesn't sound like a authorised push payment scam though? If you and your wife both verified the account details when you made the payment, and if the funds then went to a different account, whatever happened must be either an error by the bank or something to do with the recipient's account? I would say so. But I was surprised that they have put it down to an APP. We got on to them within the hour of the money being received and they told my wife that although they would ask a few questions about the transaction they can not and will not answer anything we have to ask..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 13 minutes ago, Beedster said: This is an odd one, it doesn't sound like a authorised push payment scam though? If you and your wife both verified the account details when you made the payment, and if the funds then went to a different account, whatever happened must be either an error by the bank or something to do with the recipient's account? Yes...as far as I understand the APP thing...it's not that! The bank may just say that to wrap it up. They won't tell us anything even when they do pay the money back. It happened years ago with us. Someone got £200 odd pound from our account and it showed as being spent in Argos and the opposite end of the country. They asked the usual questions....does anyone else use our bank cards etc....Then after a couple of day's the money was refunded. Never heard anything after that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gasman Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 This is very unfortunate and my sympathies go to both parties, but it does sound like a screw up by the bank. I suppose that the old fashioned cash deal and exchange in a car park is still the only certain way... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 18 minutes ago, theplumber said: a few hours later it showed a totally different name and other details. Very odd! Definitely odd , hope you get it sorted out soon mr plumber 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 18 minutes ago, Beedster said: And no, bank transfer is not the safest way to transfer money, or at least not always, which is why I tend to pay by PayPal whenever possible. Either way, hope this works out for you 👍 I offered the Paypal option and the seller said he had issues with his Paypal account. I know some folk don't like to use it for many reasons as discussed on other threads. The banks have a way of sorting this out and if everything is ok at our end and the person we sent the money to checks out then it's a refund. But again as mentioned they know what account the money really went to and there is no way that they will say how that has happened no matter what the reason is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 3 minutes ago, Gasman said: This is very unfortunate and my sympathies go to both parties, but it does sound like a screw up by the bank. I suppose that the old fashioned cash deal and exchange in a car park is still the only certain way... Do banks make mistakes?....lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 5 minutes ago, Gasman said: This is very unfortunate and my sympathies go to both parties, but it does sound like a screw up by the bank. I suppose that the old fashioned cash deal and exchange in a car park is still the only certain way... Had a conversation about buying a bass from Facebook market place and somewhere in the conversation was ''You make me the money today right away and I keep bass till morning so you come around.....'' I never paid nor went around!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gasman Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 (edited) I experienced the same coyness from my bank when my credit card details were ripped off and used by a bloke in Croydon to buy a load of exhibition stand stuff from a bona fide supplier. I managed to find out his name and address from them which I gave to the bank, so he should have been bang to rights for a fraud charge. My bank refunded the money rapidly and I changed all my login details. I asked them later if any action had been taken against roguey - they weren’t prepared to say. It left me feeling angry and violated, especially as they’d never queried the bloke’s purchases which were so far out of area and character for me, and I never had any closure on the matter. Edited September 18, 2023 by Gasman Spelling 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 32 minutes ago, Gasman said: I suppose that the old fashioned cash deal and exchange in a car park is still the only certain way... It's funny how cash with all the inherent risks is viewed through such rose-tinted glasses these days; inconvenience, risk of fake cash, haggling, even muggings! I'm very happy with PayPal thanks 👍 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 31 minutes ago, theplumber said: I offered the Paypal option and the seller said he had issues with his Paypal account. I know some folk don't like to use it for many reasons as discussed on other threads. The banks have a way of sorting this out and if everything is ok at our end and the person we sent the money to checks out then it's a refund. But again as mentioned they know what account the money really went to and there is no way that they will say how that has happened no matter what the reason is. 'Problem' with PayPal account followed by a diversion of the bank transfer, the coincidences are mounting 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 47 minutes ago, Gasman said: I experienced the same coyness from my bank when my credit card details were ripped off and used by a bloke in Croydon to buy a load of exhibition stand stuff from a bona fide supplier. I managed to find out his name and address from them which I gave to the bank, so he should have been bang to rights for a fraud charge. My bank refunded the money rapidly and I changed all my login details. I asked them later if any action had been taken against roguey - they weren’t prepared to say. It left me feeling angry and violated, especially as they’d never queried the bloke’s purchases which were so far out of area and character for me, and I never had any closure on the matter. Not surprised... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted September 18, 2023 Author Share Posted September 18, 2023 26 minutes ago, Beedster said: 'Problem' with PayPal account followed by a diversion of the bank transfer, the coincidences are mounting Trusted member on here...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo85 Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 35 minutes ago, Beedster said: 'Problem' with PayPal account followed by a diversion of the bank transfer, the coincidences are mounting My thinking would be that if somebody was able to change the bank details manually typed and doublechecked by the OP and his wife in their heavily encrypted banking apps/websites, that would mean -that they have the OP wife's phone or computer hacked, or the bank hacked -that they are very skilled, so they would probably try to sell a Fodera, not something that has been reduced to £95 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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