I Accidentally Sent €2,000 To A Stranger

It Took The Cops To Get It Back

I was in the market for a new car last month.

After trawling countless ads and reviewing my finances multiple times, I finally settled on one. Took the train down to meet the seller. Car checked out, was in perfect nick and in my price range. Brilliant.

“I’ll take it!”

“Great! Do you want to send me €2,000 as a booking deposit? You can pick up the car next week when you have the full sum.”

“Sure, sounds good.”

I logged in to Revolut to transfer the money. For anyone who’s unaware, Revolut is a nifty, Fintech company that let’s you bank, buy crypto, invest in stocks, transfer money and save. A no-frills, low-cost, mostly commission-less smartphone bank. I was an early adopter and Revolut-ing €2,000 to the seller seemed ideal.

“Whom do I send it to?”

“You can send it to my wife’s Revolut. Her name is Sandra.” (Name changed.)

“Do you have a link for her account?”

“Yup — texted it to you.”

The link didn’t seem to work on my iPhone.

“Here’s the receipt for the deposit.”

“Thanks!”

Because the link still wouldn’t open, I searched for “Sandra” within Revolut. Found her, sent her €2,000, “accepted” the Ts&Cs and got confirmation that the amount was successfully credited to Sandra’s account.

“That’s done now. Can you drop me back to the train station please? I’ll be back next week to finish the deal.”

“Sure — no problem.”

There I was waiting for the train to take me home. Already excited at haing a fancy car in my hands in the next few days…

*Incoming Revolut Message*

Your account has been credited by €1. You have 1 new message.

Puzzled, I opened it.

“Hi! I think you sent me €2,000 by mistake? Ring me on +44XXXXXXXXXX. Sandra”.

The sinking feeling in my stomach had already begun.

Phone rings.

“Hi! So I just spoke to my wife…seems like she didn’t get the money?”

“Oh shit! I think I sent it to someone else instead!”

“What do you mean?”

“I sent it to another Sandra!”

“Are you sure? I sent you the link?”

“Yes — it didn’t open on my iPhone. So I searched for her name instead…”

“So you sent it to a random Sandra?”

Heart sinking.

“Yes. I was distracted and excited by the car…I totally messed up. Let me get on to Revolut customer care and try to cancel the transaction and get back to you!”

Get on to the Revolut app — try to cancel or reverse the transaction. No luck.

This transaction has been completed and cannot be cancelled. For any queries, please Live Chat with our agents here.

Before I do that, I ring the other Sandra on her UK number.

“Hello?”

“Hi! This is Akarsh. I accidentally sent you a €2,000 payment by mistake. I can see you messaged me with your number asking if it was a mistake. It is! Sorry for the trouble, can you please send me back the money ASAP as I need it?”

“Ah yeah — thanks for letting me know! I was puzzled alright. Mistakes happen, no biggie. I’ll send it over to you now.”

Whew. Okay. Mistaken Sandra seemed to be genuine. She was kind enough to message me her number! Money should be back soon. Stupid loss of concentration.

Wait 20 minutes. Nothing happens. Maybe I should get on to Revolut customer care and tell them what happened?

“Hello Sir!”

“Hi! My name is Akarsh and I mistakenly sent a large sum of money to a stranger on Revolut. The person has confirmed that they’ll send me back the money but hasn’t yet. Can you please reverse the transaction?”

“Sure Sir. Let me take a look.”

Wait 5 more minutes.

“Sir, it looks like you authorized this transaction and accepted the Ts&Cs. You consented to sending money to this person. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do.”

“Look, I made a mistake. The receipient has confirmed that it was a mistake too. Can’t you reverse it since both parties have agreed?”

“No sir. The best I can do is to contact the receipient and inform them of what happened. We cannot enforce that they return the money as you sent it to them in the first place.”

“Okay — can you do that ASAP please? I need this money rightaway.”

“I’ll try Sir.”

“Thanks.”

It’s been 40 minutes since Mistaken Sandra said she’d return the money. I must ring her again.

“Hi! This is Akarsh. Just wondering if you had a chance to return the money…?”

“Hi! So, I spoke to my family members…they suspect something fishy is up. They’re aware of many such scams where people mistakenly get money and when they send it back, they actually lose more than what they mistakenly got.”

“What? Hey I assure you — this was a genuine mistake! I am not a scammer!”

“Look, I’ve been adised that this is a scam. So unless it’s proven otherwise, I’ll keep the money.”

“What do you mean? It’s not yours to keep! It was an accident. I’ve already spoken to Revolut!”.

“I have spoken to Revolut too. And they are unable to confirm that this isn’t a scam. I will be seeking legal help and I advise you to do the same. Until then, I will keep the money.”

“What are you talking about? Legal help? I am not a scammer. You yourself messaged me with your details — thanks for that. But you need to trust me! It’s my money that you are keeping!”

“I have a lot on my plate right now. I can’t really deal with this. I have a sick relative I am caring for right now and I can’t think straight. I know that there are lots of Revolut scams doing the rounds. So unless I am confident you are genuine, I will hold on to the money. I suggest you get legal help and don’t contact me again. I will text you my solicitor’s details, please take it up with him.”

Silence.

What the actual hell am I supposed to do now?

“Hi mate! Did you get sorted? My wife has confirmed she hasn’t received the money. And I already gave you a receipt saying you’e paid me a €2,000 deposit?”

“Sorry — this other Sandra doesn’t want to return the money right now. She thinks it’s a scam.”

“Oh…so what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I am on my way home right now. Let me figure out something and contact you tomorrow. I can give you the receipt back now if yiu like?”

“No, that’s okay — I trust you. Stay in touch.”

Thankful.

Eventually got home and do the one thing that I always do before embarking on any problem-solving mission: took a nap.

The nap dissoled into a full-blown early Friday night slumber. Woke up dreary-eyed on Saturday with a €2,000 hole in my wallet. I figured the best way to prove my “innocence” was to go to the local police station (The Garda). The on-duty policewoman surprisingly understood everything I said and asked me to calm down. She then asked me for Mistaken Sandra’s number, and disappeared into the inner sanctums of the cop-shop.

She came back about 15 minutes later and told me that Mistaken Sandra was convinced. Something about her steely, no-nonsense tone encouraged me. She asked me to go home, wait out the weekend and come back on Monday if there was no update.

So I did.

Took a long walk home. Made a checklist of my learnings from from this episode. Keep my excitement in check. Be aware of my surroundings. Don’t trust blindly. Double check any, especially financial, transactions. Better be sure and slow than fast and wrong. Pause once before clicking. Take a breath. Tiny mistakes have far-reaching consequences. Ho-hum.

*Incoming Revolut Message*

Your account has been credited by €1999.

Whew. The fancy car awaits. :D

Here’s my write-up on the Tesla!