Received a random e-transfer almost 3 months ago, what should I do?

[childfreechristianaggie]

I got a random e transfer at like 2am about 3 months ago for 780 bucks. I have it so it automatically deposits when I receive one. Only shows a name and the email it was sent from. I've tried contacting the email but no response. I haven't contacted the bank and haven't spend the money. At this point is it a win for me or will I get punished if I use it?

Thanks

 

[blinddog]

@childfreechristianaggie If the sender has not reached out, it is most likely a scam. This is common for a scammer to send money from a compromised account and ask for you to send it back to them. The funds get sent to the email address and deposited into a different account not the account it was sent from.

Months later the banks finished their fraud investigation and remove the funds from your account for the original transfer as the account was compromised. You are now out your real money with no way to recover.

Honestly, speak with your bank regarding this and time limits. If it has only been 3 months I would still wait. Put it in a savings account or something easily accessible in case they recover the funds. Do NOT send it back to the sender. If it was a legitimate error, the sender should contact their bank on how to recover the funds.

 

[childfreechristianaggie]

@blinddog Thank you

 

[trungnguyen85]

@childfreechristianaggie Wait until it has been there a year.

Then you can go out and celebrate.

 

[childfreechristianaggie]

@trungnguyen85 Countdown is on

 

[flakblas]

@childfreechristianaggie Earn interest on it but have it liquid for when they ask for it

 

[nakoscanner]

@childfreechristianaggie Contact the bank and tell them about it.

Turn off autodeposit unless you like people being able to drop scams into your account at any time.

 

[weavermount]

@nakoscanner Exactly! There was a similar post made, and someone tried to explain why Auto deposit was safer than the password settings. They kept trying to explain it over and over, and they were just speaking rubbish. I counted how many replies they made to otheres on that one thread and gave up counting after 30.

 

[nakoscanner]

@weavermount Urgh, yeah. Autodeposit isn't just dangerous for the person who has it on, making them vulnerable to this kind of thing. It also raises the risk for all users, because if someone has it turned on and then eg they're domain squatting, or a sender just mistypes the address they want to send to, the sender can lose money more easily without the required password confirmation it's going to the right place. I can't believe it's even allowed never mind that people still have it on.

 

[kriiisten]

@bsanders46 Yeah but the onus is on them to contact you, they have your info

 

[melindap]

@bsanders46 You won’t get in trouble for spending it but one day you could wake up and be -780 because the bank finally sorted it out and returned it to the person who’s bank was compromised

 

[jennifer1990]

@childfreechristianaggie https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6918818

This was in the news where the account was frozen for fraud investigation.

"I can share that if there is a suspicious transaction on an account, it may be flagged as potential fraud and out of an abundance of caution and protection for the customer, there may be a temporary hold placed on the account for review," said Ashleigh Murphy, the senior manager of corporate and public affairs at the bank.

I personally would inform the bank and probably move some money out to a different account in case shit happens

 

[hansoftarsus]

@childfreechristianaggie A few months ago my account was hacked and they sent my tax guy like $2,500 at 2am. The bank told me the scammers can somehow intercept the e-transfer, but missed it. I didn’t ask for the technical details, but if what they said is true it’s scary