What to do if a transfer from a stranger came to the card

It happens that someone really sent you money by mistake. But much more often you may encounter scammers who rely on your inattention or gullibility.

What if there was no transfer, but you are asked to return the money

If you have notifications from the banking application connected, then SMS will inform you about each receipt of money. However, there are situations when there is a message, but the money was not transferred to the card.

Therefore, it is always worth checking from which number the news of the transfer came. Previously, scammers often sent SMS copying bank messages from regular numbers. It is enough to look who the sender is, and you can immediately notice the deception.

But there is a technical possibility to use replacement numbers. And it seems to the recipient that he really received a message about the replenishment of the account from his bank.

As a rule, SMS is immediately followed by a call. And the recipient hears a story that his interlocutor accidentally entered the wrong number and sent the transfer to another phone number. As a rule, we are talking about very small amounts - about 1,000-2,000 rubles. Fraudsters hope that for the sake of such money, a person will not check whether he really received the transfer, but will take his word for it and immediately agree to send money to the caller's number. Usually the scammer very convincingly asks to do this immediately.

The first thing to do is to end the conversation and immediately check the status of the account. Especially if you hear the words "quickly, right now, immediately, urgently." scammers they often rush the future victim, force them to act on emotions, do not allow them to calm down and think. So say goodbye, click on the end call and open the bank application. It may turn out that there was no income.

Then you should contact the bank, tell them that the scammers called, and provide their phone number. You can not call, but transfer this information directly in the application - many banks have provided for this possibility.

What if the transfer was made and you are asked to return the amount received

In this case, you really receive a message about the receipt of money from your bank. You check the account and see: yes, a transfer came from an incomprehensible addressee.

Further events develop in the same way: a call from a stranger, a story about an error and a request to urgently return the money to the caller's number. Or transfer them to another number or card.

Is it possible to spend the received money

In no case. In Russian law there is the concept of "unjust enrichment". This is the appropriation by a person of property and money that does not belong to him. And it doesn't matter how he got other people's values. Civil Code of the Russian Federation claimsthat the recipient is obliged to return the property or money, even if they came to him by accident.

Therefore, if you do not know who transferred the money to you, do not touch it. Otherwise, the sender may sue you. He will easily prove that the transfer was - all information about transactions is stored in the bank. And you will have to return the entire amount, even if there is not a ruble in your account by this time. Also, pay legal fees.

What to do if you receive an erroneous transfer

If you received a transfer, and then unknown senders called you, say that you are not claiming other people's money. But you will not transfer anything for any details. Have the sender contact their bank, report the error, and formally revoke the transfer. Such an operation is quite possible.

Then call your bank immediately and report the incident. Then you should come to the bank office and write a statement stating that the money was credited to your account by mistake and you are asking the bank to return it to the owner.

Often scammers say that it takes a very long time to officially return the money, and they need the transferred amount right now. And that they will be very grateful if you forget about the formalities and help them out. Well, then the same words follow - "immediately, urgently, everything is on fire, you can save me, I beg you - transfer the money."

Do not give in to emotions - they can be a bad helper when it comes to financial security.

What can happen if you still transfer money to the specified details

This usually leads to trouble, because you can be drawn into one of the fraudulent schemes.

• You will give the received money twice. The sender will receive your return transfer. But he could already write a statement that he transferred money to you by mistake. Therefore, the bank will cancel the transaction and in a few days will return the money sent to him. As a result, he will receive double the amount.
• A deceived buyer may call you and demand the goods or money he paid for. An unexpected twist - after all, you did not deal with either the sale of goods or with customers. But your details could be indicated by scammers on a fake website of an online store. The buyer believed that paid for the purchase, waiting for delivery, but received nothing. As a result, he found out who received the transferred money, and it turned out that you were the recipient. Then there may be unpleasant proceedings, including litigation.
• You may be called from the MFI and demanded to repay the loan taken with considerable interest. It is clear that you did not take any loan. But this situation can happen if someone took a loan from an MFI, a microfinance organization, using your card number. He received payment details if, for example, you left data on some phishing site. As a result, you really received money from the MFI, and you sent it to those who pulled off this scam. They got your money, and you - the need to prove that you did not take any loans, so you will not pay interest.
• You may be accused of fraud. Let's say you received a translation from Vasily Petrovich S. But the stranger who called, who introduced himself as "Vasily Petrovich", asked to send money to another person - for example, Ivan Sergeevich M. You did it. And then it turned out that the account of the real Vasily Petrovich was hacked by scammers. They sent the money to you in order to “launder” it and get it legally, through a transfer. But it is you who may be suspected, especially if you did not report anything about the erroneous transfer.

There may be others fraudulent schemes. They arise when the victim does not want to solve the problem in an official way. Therefore, we remind you once again what to do if you received a transfer from an unknown person:

1. Advise the sender to contact their bank and cancel the transaction.
2. Contact your bank and write a statement asking you to return the erroneous transfer to the sender.

And also - always be careful when you send transfers yourself, so as not to transfer money to someone by mistake.