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Have you ever made a bank transfer and immediately wished to reverse the transaction? This could be due to crediting a wrong account, being defrauded, or some other reason. Note that this is completely different from a transaction where you are debited but the beneficiary does not receive the fund.
Earlier in the year, Nairametrics Founder, Ugodre tweeted about sending money to an account number in Bank A (we do not want to name the bank) only for the money to be transferred to another customer with the same identical number in Bank B.
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This was quite shocking as the CBN operated NUBAN account numbers are meant to be unique to each customer and no two customers can have the same account number. However, following the tweet we now understand some customers do have the same account numbers but different banks. As such, the banking apps can mistakenly populate the wrong beneficiary and bank and if you do not cross-check before transferring, the money could be sent to the wrong beneficiary
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Well, here’s how you can get your money back.
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Time is of the essence
The first thing you must do is reach your bank. How fast you do this largely determines the success of the rest of the process. If you can reach the recipient’s bank immediately, this might also work in your favour.
Banks now have official e-mail addresses, WhatsApp lines and Phone lines you can immediately call to have issues addressed. Recent surveys have however shown that some banks only send auto-responders to messages, and handle complaints much later. Since time is of the essence here, you might need to resort to calling them or getting to a physical branch (if you can).
Before contacting the bank by either of these means, make sure to have all details written out: your account name and number, recipient’s account name and number, amount involved, date and time of transaction, and the reason you want to recall the funds.
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You have to be as explicit as possible in stating the reason for recalling the funds. If you mistakenly transferred into a wrong account, you made a transfer under duress, or you have been defrauded, state it clearly.
As soon as this is done, your bank immediately gets the recipient’s bank to place a hold on the amount cited in the transaction. What this implies is that if the recipient has N30,000 in his account, and the amount under dispute is N10,000, the bank places a hold on N10,000 but allows him to withdraw other funds.
You need to move as quickly as possible, because the recipient could go on a spending spree upon receiving the alert of an unexpected “windfall.” However, if the money is already withdrawn, and the account is longer funded to the amount under contention, a hold will be placed on whatever amount is left, pending the resolution.
Whether the account is funded or not, the recipient gets invited to the bank to resolve the issue. Here, two things could happen.
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The account holder could show up and authorise a reversal of the wrongful credit, as an upstanding citizen. On the other hand, they could choose to abandon the account.
Caveats
Hopefully, with all things being equal, wrongly transferred funds should be reversed within 2 days. However, sometimes it could take longer, even running into months, due to various reasons.
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Now, the bank does not just go ahead to reverse the sum to your account simply because you claim to have been defrauded. If this is were the case, some persons could mischievously try to recall funds used as payment for legitimate services or products.
In resolving the complaint, the recipient has to verify your claim that the funds don’t belong to them. Like most banks state, consent from the recipient has to be given to reverse the amount in dispute, unless it is an outright fraud case.
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If the recipient insists that it’s a valid transfer and refuses to give consent, the bank could maintain the hold on their account, making it impossible to spend the money. The problem, however, is that your money remains stuck in the account till the day they walk into the bank to authorise the reversal.
In some cases, the bank may advise you to take the case to court and secure an injunction to get back the money, or compel the recipient to show up.
If it is a case of fraud, you might need to involve relevant law enforcement agencies. Also, the account is then added to the watchlist for subsequent transactions, or completely closed, depending on the gravity of the allegation.
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Note: Whenever making a transfer, be sure to double-check account name, number and bank to avoid sending the money to someone else with similar details. Also, avoid divulging personal details to fraudsters so that they don’t gain access to your account to carry out unauthorised transfers.
It is always safer to err on the side of caution. You may not be lucky to get a refund.
Since last year June my friend transferred 10k to a,wrong account tI’ll date she has not gotten reversal. She reported to the bank and followed all the procedures given to her, still, the money hasn’t been refunded to her till date.
Nigeria can’t do it because both banker are fraudster
In a country where almost nothing works. I doubt this is effective. But thanks for the tips all the same
My wife is also going similar issue for over two weeks at Access Bank. She tried withdrawing at a POS. She was debited but the agent never got the money. She had been to the bank, sent emails, contact via social all to no avail. All she hears is that the issue is being resolved. Just yesterday she was sent an indemnity form that Incase the money is not paid back she would be responsible
I am having the problem now. My own case was that I wrongly transfered the sum of 90k since 5th, of February 2020 to a wrong recipient in same Bank (Access Bank).The account numbers are same except the last digits (8 & 9) The transaction was from Fidelity Bank. I followed up immediately through my bankers (Fidelity) till date, I have not gotten any positive response. I had even contacted the CBN from where I was device to resend my complaint through my Bankers and to demand from them to register my complaint with a unique reference number of which I would use to escalate the complaint by forwarding same to CBN if not resolved after 72 hours. So, tactically my bankers(Fidelity) acknowledged my mail after three weeks without any reference in order to prevent my ability to escalate it to CBN.
My case was thesame account number but different owners in 2 different banks. I transferred 5,455,000 To the wrong recipient.It took 8 months to get a court order before the money was reversed because the beneficiary refused to write the bank for reversal.
Pls what kind of court order did you get, my bank is telling me zenith told them the court order I got was a bankers order but they need an explicit court order to reverse the payment. Pls how do I get this or is that statement valid at all
Thank you for this insight
A situation whereby money was mistakenly sent to someone whose account is domant for years and he is Dead.
Since last June access bank is still holding my 5000 after all the calls that I made that have passed the 5000 that I wrongly transfer,I have written a letter sent an email from first bank to access ,but now the reply that am getting is that my 5000 is the last money in the girls account ,till today no reply ,what they are telling me now is to forget it
Someone scammed me of 3k, little but very painful. Pls wat do I do to get the refund
I want to pos to make withdraw, I transferred 3900 and got debit alert but couldn’t get the cash on the ground they did not receive the money this happened on 22/10/2020
Someone scam me this morning and use one of my friends facebook account in order to introduce online business and I sent him #2050 into his account, this is account309599 is your Facebook password reset code number :0593084626 GTb name :olaoye
Am have the same issues now I just payied 50 thousand Naira to somebody’s account by name moses ese in excess bank pls what will I do
Am waiting for your reply