Bit of a strange one this. MrsMonkey has received a transfer to her bank account for a seemingly random amount of money (£314.44 I think – not a vast amount, but not inconsequential either and a strange figure) and we don’t know where it’s come from. The really weird thing is that the sender is her, but using her maiden name (we got married and changed account details a year ago, but her Facebook is still in her maiden name). It’s also from a Barclays account (about as much as we could get from our bank) which she’s never held.

Is this some elaborate scam? An innocent explanation?

Call your bank and block any recalls on the amount and any deposits coming in from other Barclays accounts.

Could it be HMRC? P60s will have been issued by employers in June, and if there is a rebate due these normally come at about this time.

Banks can be a bit shitty with recalls, they can’t recall more than they put in, but you can’t just tell them not to take back money they’ve given you by mistake.

Could it be an old forgotten account?

Definitely not an old account, MrsMonkey has never had anything with Barclays apart from a Barclaycard in her married name. HMRC is a possibility, there is a rebate owing but she doesn’t think they have her details and there’s been no communication.

Curious.

Has she actually received the money or has she just had an email telling her she’s received it?

Withdraw the money and close the account 😉

Yeah, phone the bank – they’re hot on fraud (potential) these days, so will be able to tell you where it came from.

Has she actually received the money or has she just had an email

I read it as received into the account, rather than received an email …

Notified by email?  That’s how I’d play it if I wanted someone’s internet banking details (or even just the identification code from the card reader).

Sent phishing email using publicly available info (her Facebook name), with fake link to Barclays online banking.  She attempts to log in, verifies with card reader, but is rejected from the fake site.  In the meantime the scammer is logged into the real online banking using that number.

In fact, with careful planning you could probably use this technique to get the 8 digit authorisation codes for large transfers.  The other option is that a keylogger is installed on the computer, and is transmitting this data as she logs in to the real thing.  If she has logged in using 2FA following an email, I’d recommend calling the bank immediately.

Could potentially be a scam, if they know her name, address and bank details then knowing an amount paid in could get them passed security questions on the phone for example. Call the bank and speak to them, they should be hot on it.

@flaperon – have you been watching too much Mr Robot? 😉

An old account opened on her behalf by a relative when she was a child ?

Aunty Betty was sticking a fiver in it every month for when she grows up and then forgot about it?

IIRC someone on here got ripped with some kind of sophistamacated “man in the middle”/keylogger thing attack so don’t don tin foil hat just yet – check with yer bank, run Anti Virus, check DNS etc,

THEN don tin foil hat.

I’d very very much doubt it’s HMRC, those shysters don’t return anything unless you beg and plead and jump through a lot of hoops first, plus why would they have your bank details in the first place?

I have literally just done an HMRC refund from previous tax year. I received a letter first, then had to log in through the .Gov site and enter a number of details and go through various security checks. So unlikely HMRC refund…. I doubt they would keep your account details? I could be wrong on that one though.

I received a letter first, then had to log in through the .Gov site and enter a number of details and go through various security check

Yeah, me too. At least they’re better than bloody insurance companies, who STILL send payments by bloody cheque! Tossers. ahem, I digress.

@DezB – with Lloyds online banking you can now pay cheques in from the comfort of your home and no need to visit the bank. Just scan the cheque and you’re done 🙂

I’m sure other banks have a similar process.

I’m with Lloyds and I never knew dat. Next time I will, cheers 🙂

Cheers all – yeah they money has been received in the account, no sign of an email as far as we can see. Spoke to the bank and they didn’t really seem interested, the most they could do was tell us that it came from a Barclays account. I think all we can do at the moment is leave it and see what happens.

Keep checking for tiny withdrawal etc …

She’s not done a PPI claim or authorised one potentially?  She might not have had a Barclays account but lots of cards and finance deals are in the end Barclays…. possibility they have corrected a previous error and the paperwork went to an old address or email?

Ah… Yes….. ok, so Barclays are under an initiative to repay overdraft fees and excess charges laid on the account in the past. It’s linked to all accounts held at Barcs and paid back into the Current Account only (not all the other accounts where the charges were purloined from)

I was part of the original PPI setup at Barcs (BITD) and it was structured around fees charged on products sold or not sold but fees laid on the account for charges of packaged accounts and OD facilities…. wind forward to 2015 and the OD and Packaged Account charges initiative took over from the PPI and you may have an idea where this money is coming from..

Its difficult to pinpoint becuse a letter/statement should accompany any refund/charge laid on accounts so I’m of the thinking that the letters been mislaid, Barcs have refunded some charges and all’s well but you’d forgotten about the fees a long time ago.

There will be a reference on the transaction, an account number and sort code and your bank should inform you of all of that… you should then call Barcs and go straight to Fraud dept and tell them about the money and reference details.

Or…..

Just ignore that and go for a meal and a few pints..

Yeh – I got a similar sort of refund as a result of incorrectly calculated interest charges from HSBC but I did get a letter explaining it – as a result they refunded all interest from the period in question (don’t know why they do that instead of just the difference but don’t look a gift horse, etc)

Doesn’t sound like a scam. If it’s showing that it’s come from an account in your wife’s name then it’s come from your wife’s account. You can’t “Fake” that.

Get her to contact Barclays, give them the account number of where the payment came from and they’ll figure it out.

Must be an old forgotten account or similar. I’d bet you £10 I’m right.

No letters or emails, and she’s adamant she’s never had a Barclays account.

We’ve spoken to her bank and Barclays, and we’re going to push for a bit more info but beyond that and keeping a very close eye on the account there seems little we can do.

Thanks for the advice all!

she’s adamant she’s never had a Barclays account.

ING Direct? Barclays bought them + a few others.

They also bought a bucket load of Credit Card companies too… mind the accounting entity is still under the same name, so unlikely to come from a Barcs Account. And some small Insurance business for household and mobile stuff..

Barcs Private Bank? Investment dealings? Pension with a provider that uses Barcs as payment processor? Insurance charge refund?

To be honest I’m now scraping the barrel of my knowledge at working there, so best of luck hope it’s a legit refund.

paid for car insurance monthly? – that probably wouldn’t have been paid monthly, rather the credit is outsourced to someone (like Barclays) who then collect the payments…..

loads of ways to ‘have’ a Barclays account without actually realising. If you’re worried about the cash, sit on it for now until you can find out where it came from but i can’t really see where the scam comes in.

Going back about 20 years, I had a mystery amount of £3664 deposited in my Barclays account. I had no idea where it came from, but being young and maybe a bit stupid, I sat on it for 6 months without saying anything. After 6 months, nothing had happened so I started happily spending it. Shortly after I’d spent it all, I got a letter from Barclays saying that they’d had their annual check of their accounts and spotted that there had been a deposit paid into my account, made in error, and that they wanted their money back! I didn’t have any cash left (I’d recently moved out and money was going out as fast as it was going in!) and eventually managed to arrange to pay it back at £50 a month!

Not sure if that helps the OP, but if you’re not sure where it came from, be prepared for it to disappear again!