You paid the money into the wrong account

[Lucky Fish]

Ebrahim Mohamed, from Newcastle,  advertised a very nice Bianchi road bike on Junkmail.  I decided to buy the bike and asked for his banking details which he sent by e-mail.  I paid the money into the account and arranged for the collection.  Close the the collection date I was told that the money does not reflect in his account.  I then sent him proof of payment only to be told I did not pay the money into his account.  He denies the e-mail contents.

 

He then forwarded a fake screenshot from his phone with different banking details.

 

(Interestingly the 2 accounts are both from Newcastle Standard Bank and both have very similar sounding names.  Standard Bank did their usual nothing to reverse the transaction.)

 

I have laid a charge of fraud.

 

Johan Vermeulen.

[mon-goose]

sorry to hear that 

[Pure Savage]

Thats a new one... Gotta be so careful.

[Veebee]

junkmail and gumtree is a no go in this day and age... with things getting worse in SA, people will try even harder to hit you down for your hard earned $$$.

[Dirkitech]

Apparent scammers are getting smarter and trying new tricks. I hope you can find justice OP, if justice is due.

[DieselnDust]

if you have the email with his account details then your bank's insurance should cover you. May take a while but you should get your money back.

[quintonb]

Sorry to hear about this OP.

 

Surely the reason we all have FICA (Banking) and RICA (Cellphones) in place is to avoid this or at very least give tractability when fraudulent transactions happen, like this one?

 

Maybe someone in the industry can clarify, in layman's terms, what these financial and communications regulations mean and how they are meant to protect Joe Public, because im not seeing the benefit of them if there is no recourse. 

[Skylark]

That's a new scam, can the bank confirm that the 2 accounts are legit or is it obvious the guy is just pulling a fast one?

[Lucky Fish]

The bank may not divulge customer information directly to me.  SAPS is getting a court order to have access to the accounts involved.  Fortunately I made copies of every bit of communication I had with the scammer; e-mail, whatsapp and voice mail recordings. 

 

I am confident that he will have his day in court.  The main purpose of my post was to remind everyone that this is just one more way thieves try to part you with your money.

 

From Junkmail their response to block the account and all his adverts as well as giving goods advice:  'Never part with your money unless you see the goods!'

[Mokgaga'a mmakubela!]

Ebrahim Mohamed pay back the money! It is the right thing to do. Ask that man from Nkaaaaaandla   

[scotty]

Bank accounts work on an algorithm so it would be near impossible (kinda like winning the lotto) to make an error and pay it to the wrong account by switching digits and it not rejecting. You can request your bank to trace the money and have confirmation it reached its destination. 

[LeoKnight]

But what the alleged scammer could do, is contact the person in whose account the money were paid in, and tell them that is was an incorrect deposit, and if they could transfer it back to "their" account.  Not sure if that would work, especially if they say for the inconvenience they can keep a R1000 for themselves.

[Skylark]

Bank accounts work on an algorithm so it would be near impossible (kinda like winning the lotto) to make an error and pay it to the wrong account by switching digits and it not rejecting. You can request your bank to trace the money and have confirmation it reached its destination.

How does that work, FNB uses an 11-digit account number, what degree of error can the algorithm prevent?

[LeoKnight]

How does that work, FNB uses an 11-digit account number, what degree of error can the algorithm prevent?

the last number is normally a check-digit, which needs to match a specific algorithm or the preceding numbers, so any mistyping of the previous numbers will result in a "error" 

[Vetplant]

Theory: Ebrahim Mohamed had to pay a friend or family member an amount of money, noticed that it is very similar to his account number and can easily be excused as a typo or something similar. Ebrahim tells friend/family member to play along and alas, a syndicate is born....

 

PS. Oversimplification of a syndicate but pretty sure he didn't act alone...

[scotty]

How does that work, FNB uses an 11-digit account number, what degree of error can the algorithm prevent?

This, i swopped 2 digits and it rejected. The chances of making an error and it been accepted is virtually impossible You could sit and play with swapping digits until you do get a valid response but you have no way of knowing whether its an active account or just that the algorithm pattern fits.