What You Should Do When You Transferred Your Money Wrongly To Someone Else

Cashless transactions are now an accepted (and hygienic) mode of payment within this post-pandemic world. When you really need to send or receive money quickly, bank transfers are generally fast, reliable and safe.

The advent of PayNow has also allowed individuals to transfer funds to other people by utilizing either phone or NRIC numbers. In September 2021, 2.8 million people have already registered for PayNow, as the quantity of transactions via the platform reached over 5 million in 2021. Increasingly, bank transfers and mobile transfers took over conventional methods of cash transfer such as cash or cheque deposits.

However, mistakes can occur when transferring funds. One particular common mistake would be to go into the wrong phone or account number, inducing the transfer of money to a person else instead of the intended recipient.

While the error will not be free and time-consuming to reverse, it is still easy to achieve this. You will find safeguards in position to help users from erroneous transactions including the E-Payments User Protection Guidelines by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which spell out the responsibilities and liabilities of both the user of e-payments and banking institutions that offer such facilities, such as banks and corporations with stored value facilities.

In the situation where you have transferred your hard earned money wrongly to someone else, you should go ahead and take steps below.

#1 Reach Out To The Recipient Directly

If you made a mistake inside your fund transfer with your fat finger, you should quickly check your transaction history.

If you've used PayNow using the mobile number to help make the transfer, the first thing you should do is to call the recipient directly to request for the funds to become transferred back.

#2 Contact Your Financial Institution

In the event you cannot contact the recipient or the recipient is hesitant to help you, you need to quickly contact your financial institution for help.

According towards the MAS E-Payments User Protection Guidelines, account holders should provide the following information for their banking institutions when lodging a report:

• The affected account;
• Account holder's identification information;
• The type of authentication device or access code accustomed to carry out the transaction
• Name or identity associated with a account user from the account;
• Recipient's unique identifier, such as account number, identification number or other credentials entered through the account holder;
• Date, time, amount and reason for the erroneous transaction.

According towards the guidelines, financial institutions (i.e. banks) must take reasonable effort to recuperate the sum sent erroneously. Including:

• Informing the recipient's bank from the erroneous transaction within 2 business days
• Following up with the recipient's bank for the recipient's response within 7 business days
• Alerting the account holder to new information to allow the account holder to evaluate if he needs to create a police report about the transaction.

If the recipient relies overseas, or sufficient information wasn't provided in the reason for reporting the situation, this method may take longer. As numerous people do not check their bank statements or balances, it may take some time for the recipient to become alerted and also the money to become returned.

Do note that while banking institutions will attempt their best to recover the funds for you, they're unable to turn back transactions instantly. As the financial institution is a facilitator of the transaction, they are not expected to resolve the erroneous transaction claim, and they'll need to seek the consent of the recipient of funds for the reversal to happen.

#3 Seek Legal Recourse

In an event in which the recipient will not return the cash, you might seek legal recourse by lodging a police set of the possible wrongful retention from the money.

According to the Penal Code, the retention or utilization of monies transferred erroneously, in which the receiver continues to be informed from the wrongful transaction, is definitely an offence that can attract a jail sentence, an excellent, or both.

In 2021, a personal hire driver was sentenced to jail for 3 months for misappropriation of monies that was mistakenly transferred to him. The cash, that was meant to be paid to a vendor with a ride-hailing company, was wrongly transferred to the driver who then used the amount to pay for his son's school fees, personal bills and other transactions.

What You want to do If You Received Monies Wrongly

On the other hand, if you receive money wrongly from an unknown recipient, you need to immediately speak to your bank to look for the supply of funds, and to request the funds to become returned through the bank. Knowing the person or the company that has wrongly transferred the money to you, you should refer to them as straight to turn back transaction.

One thing you should take note is the fact that regardless of how tempting it is, you shouldn't harbour the aim of keeping the cash that doesn't fit in with you.

Always Exercise Care When Transferring Monies

The best way to prevent this costly mistake would be to exercise care when creating transfers. Be sure to verify with the intended recipient the data provided. Also, double (or triple) check that you've entered the correct banking account or phone number and also the amount prior to making the transfer.