Large Sum of Money Deposited into Account from Unknown Source - Now Police Are Involved

stealthmatt on 22/10/2019 - 21:15
Last edited 25/10/2019 - 11:57

Hi all,

Hoping I can get some advice you can help, a friend had about $7000 deposited into their account earlier this year which was not expected. She decided not to notify anyone and used about $900 of it, but left the remaining amount in her account.

Unfortunately because some of the money was used the bank could not do a reversal (account did not have enough to cover the full amount) and had to send a permission request through to have the funds taken back. She says she never saw this message (even though she confirmed today she sees it in the banking app now) the remaining money has been sitting there for about 6 months.

Now the police are involved and questioned her over this. She admitted the full facts above. After the interview with the police she went straight to the bank afterwards and initiated the process for the bank to recover the full amount (she has all the funds to cover the full amount).

Apparently there is a court date that she has to attend, her head is pretty scattered and can't remember exactly why.

What are the ramifications? She knows she is at fault, has openly admitted it and has started the process to have the funds corrected. Please don't say how stupid she was, because hindsight is a wonderful thing.

What advice would be the best advice? She doesn't have heaps of money for lawyers and all that, she called a lawyer and apparently they wanted like $300 just for consultation.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated or perhaps you have been in a similar situation?

——-Edit/update:———

After finding more information out she was charged for using the $900 (which she admitted to do). The police had bank statements.

The account which the money was deposited to was was in an account that didn't get used (like one of these saver accounts).

After the interview she has gone to the bank and had the bank process the reverse with the full amount. However, the court date was set at the police interview… perhaps they will just drop it now its all being sent back?

Just to clarify, it was pretty much just sitting in the bank account for the last several months (minus the $900), my guess is the business who accidentally sent it to her account had raised a police report or something to get the money back after the bank was unsuccessful. So the police are just following their procedures.

She has now spoken to legal aid and has gone to a lawyer…hopefully the case will be dropped.

Thank you everyone for your help and advice, some great information on here.

Financial

Comments

  • fossilfuel on 22/10/2019 - 21:30
    +23

    What advice would be the best advice? She doesn't have heaps of money for lawyers and all that, she called a lawyer and apparently they wanted like $300 just for consultation.

    If money is tight, first place to go is legalaid.
    Call them first to get advice about the situation.
    Then they might advise you to apply for a grant to receive legal aid. Read this to see if your friend is eligible for legal aid.

    What are the ramifications? She knows she is at fault, has openly admitted it and has started the process to have the funds corrected. Please don't say how stupid she was, because hindsight is a wonderful thing.

    My best guess is probably a payment plan to repay the funds.

    • TerryJustTerry on 24/10/2019 - 11:35
      +3

      After the interview with the police she went straight to the bank afterwards and initiated the process for the bank to recover the full amount (she has all the funds to cover the full amount).

      Seems like she already has the funds and wont need to go on a payment plan ( unless they go for punitive fees for spending it ).

      I would just go with what Fossilfuel stated and try to get legal aid, but seems like the best path would just be to admit fault at court and ask plead ignorance ?

      not a lawyer though so take that with a grain of salt.

      • cameldownunder on 24/10/2019 - 14:10
        +2

        Ignorance does not absolve from conviction.

        I mean, how many news about similar situations have been around?

        A simple call to the bank, or visit to the bank, and she would not be in this crap situation.

        • TerryJustTerry on 24/10/2019 - 14:55

          That sounds right tbh, I'm not sure it just sounds like a rough situation

    • thefud on 25/10/2019 - 08:14
      +1

      Mate money isn’t that tight. I heard she had a $7000 windfall earlier in the year that she has tucked away.

    • qwerty on 22/10/2019 - 21:53
      +30

      Bad advice

      Its up to you to notify the bank and return it otherwise its theft

      Its not the banks fault

        • Punda on 23/10/2019 - 20:17

          Who’s to say it’s the banks fault? It was probably a transfer to a wrong account from a Jane doe. Then the bank has to retrieve it. And she seems like she dodged the bank’s correspondence

        • geoffs87 on 23/10/2019 - 22:06
          +1

          You probably own bank shares too… even if indirectly…

          But yeah, it may not have even had anything to do with the bank, could have been a human error, like you or me transferring to the wrong account.

          Imagine you made that error, and the bank could never find nor reverse the funds, you’d be pretty livid

        • [Deactivated] on 24/10/2019 - 09:09

          I kinda think that the bank must own some responsibility as well. Shouldn't they?

          Btw, just wondering if this account is with Westpac, because I heard that they recycle the account numbers. Meaning after an account is closed, the same bsb and number can be reopen by someone else.

      • outlander on 22/10/2019 - 23:34
        +31

        Of course it's the banks fault. Absurd to say otherwise. But that doesn't remove responsibility from the recipient.

        'Bank error in your favor' isn't a thing (outside of monopoly).

        • bobbieb on 23/10/2019 - 05:16
          +15

          'Bank error in your favor' isn't a thing (outside of monopoly).

          "Bank error in your favor" isn't a thing but "Stealing by Finding" certainly is.

          Unless the bank erroneously moved someone's money into this person's account, they were likely oblivious to the issue until it reported by whomever sent the funds. The banks (the sender's bank - if it was a transfer - and the recipient's bank) are just the middle men here.

          If the issue has been referred to the courts, the best and only answer we can give is to get legal advise. Do it fast… with any luck the solicitor may be able to negotiate out of having to go to court (and avoid potentially have a charge/ruling recorded).

          • Chandler on 23/10/2019 - 10:55

            @bobbieb: OP should tell her to make sure they make the transfer using cash in a well-lit public place next time. Then there shouldn't be any issues!

        • snook on 24/10/2019 - 16:29

          It's not the bank's fault unless the bank actually deposited the money.

          A lot of times, this can be a transfer from one person to another where the account number was wrong. Then it has nothing to do with the bank.

          Since it hasn't been stated where the money actually came from, you can't know whose fault it is

          • Janko on 24/10/2019 - 22:53
            +4

            @snook: Banks have inadequate bank account numbers. Partially their fault.

            Credit card numbers or bitcoin addresses - type them incorrectly and they'll nearly always be rejected due to check digits. Bitcoin 1 in 4.3 billion chance of it being a valid address.

            I wouldn't have a clue if $7k appeared in my account. Not my problem. If I saw it, I'd of course inform the bank and give an ok to take it back.

            But here - receiver is missing their money, they contact sender, sender contacts bank, they notify me, I ok the reversal (if they even need that). Total paper trail. Not my responsibility to be on the lookout for errors.

            • ashikk on 24/10/2019 - 23:44

              @Janko: THIS ^.

            • snook on 24/10/2019 - 23:48
              -1

              @Janko: Not your responsibility no, but not the bank's either.

              I accidentally transferred money to the account one up from the one i meant. I contacted them. They said they'd send it back. They didn't.

              I contacted my bank, They said no problem. 200 years later, they told me that they contacted the other person's bank and their bank sent something to them to release the funds.

              My bank sends me an email and just says: sorry, we couldn't retrieve the funds. The request was rejected.

              I'm pretty pissed so I ring the business AGAIN. They tell me they've sent it back. I say ok, send me that proof. Only then do they send it back. For them to keep it would be theft and a civil matter … but they were definitely trying it on.

      • [Deactivated] on 24/10/2019 - 16:44
        +2

        That's incorrect, she doesn't need to notify the bank at all. she just needs to not use the money

    • vikvance on 23/10/2019 - 06:55
      +3

      I thought that if you accidentally sent money to a wrong account and the owner of the account refused to do a refund then you couldn't touch them as it was your mistake.

      Your thinking is incorrect.

      Here is CBA's help page on fixing transfer mistakes:
      https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/consumer-finance/what-t…

      • burningrage on 23/10/2019 - 07:17
        +1

        In another forum where I also provide this link, after 7 months, the recipient has to provide consent.

        • gromit on 23/10/2019 - 18:59
          +1

          They have to provide consent, but they still have no legal right to keep it and can be taken to court to have the money recovered.

  • qwerty on 22/10/2019 - 21:52
    +21

    "Apparently there is a court date that she has to attend, her head is pretty scattered and can't remember exactly why."

    I can see why lawyers want $300 because they are going to have to dig up why the court case is happening

    • snook on 24/10/2019 - 23:49
      -1

      no, that's just how much it costs to go in there. If they take a case, they'll ask for a retainer of maybe 3k and then they make sure they use up ALL that 3k.

  • bobbified on 22/10/2019 - 21:55
    +6

    Interested to know what she's being charged with.

    It sounds like a criminal case did they would have to prove that she knowingly spent the money that's not hers. If it's a regular spending account with lots of money coming in (eg wages) a out (eg spending), she could easily claim that she had no idea the $7,000 was even in there. She only spent $900 of the whole amount. Anyone could easily overestimate their balance by $900 or so. If she wanted to, she could've spent the whole amount, but she didn't.

    You could ask me and I'd have no idea how much I actually have in my spending account right now. I just know money goes in each month and I just use it for spending whatever I need. On the off chance that I do look at my account, there's so many mismatches and timing differences between transfers in and out, PayPal, direct debits that I wouldn't be about to tell you what the true balance should be.

    • profar on 22/10/2019 - 21:57
      +10

      Correct but not in play as she already told the police the truth which is why she in trouble .

      • Maxxjet on 23/10/2019 - 21:05
        -3

        So there is no " Miranda warning" in Oz?

        • trongy on 23/10/2019 - 22:05
          +3

          Miranda warning refers practices in the US that came after a landmark US Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona which interpreted the US constitution.

          In Australian jurisdictions there occasions when police should caution people being questioned e.g. Qld Government - Being questioned. There are similarities with US law, but it's not exactly the same.

          The OP doesn't state whether or not the friend was cautioned before being question.

      • Lichen6420 on 24/10/2019 - 18:04
        +2

        And herein lies the issues… never consent to an interview with police… ever. They are not your mates, they are not there to help you. Please OP tell your friend to lawyer up ASAP.

    • [Deactivated] on 22/10/2019 - 22:17
      +6

      Well the cops will have her saying she knew the money wasn't hers and she spent it. It's open and shut.

    • serideth on 24/10/2019 - 10:18

      Well she did know it was there because she spent the money and the account didn't have enough for the bank to correct the error which means she spent more money than she had in the account.

      • Lichen6420 on 24/10/2019 - 18:06

        Be realistic, she would have freaked, told them she was aware and only spent $900 of the total, thus admitting she knew they money was not hers and committing and offence by spending some of it.

        A lawyer could have likely fixed this whole matter up before a police interview with very little fuss.

  • tomsco on 22/10/2019 - 22:01
    +48

    She’s doing it all wrong. She’s meant to go $4.6m into overdraft and buy handbags.

    • Bargain80 on 23/10/2019 - 11:41
      +1

      and flee overseas

      • DeafMutePretender on 24/10/2019 - 00:15
        +1

        to Malaysia and us Australians have to pay for her !@#$%^& crimes.

    • TerryJustTerry on 24/10/2019 - 11:38

      … can I do this but with steam sale games instead ?

      Asking for a friend

  • [Deactivated] on 22/10/2019 - 22:07
    +14

    "She knows she is at fault, has openly admitted it "

    Needs a lawyer now. Might have been OK if she hadn't received a letter and hadn't confessed.

  • pegaxs on 22/10/2019 - 22:35
    +39

    Yeah, I’m not convinced. There is more to this story that either OP isn’t telling us, or she isn’t telling OP. I got a feeling that this is either a fraud/scam she collected on or a proceeds of crime thing.

    And she is stupid and this isn’t a hindsignt thing. She knew what she was doing at the time. Money turned up unexpectedly and then she went on a spending spree and didn’t notify the bank. She has then gone on to ignore the bank trying to get in touch with her. What did to she think would happen? They would just give up?

    • Lastchancetosee on 23/10/2019 - 07:43
      +17

      This. It happened to me. I contacted the bank, and they reversed the money out. The bank and/or police would only be prosecuting this if she had refused to pay up, or there was something else going on that was illegal.

    • Nebargains on 24/10/2019 - 07:58
      +2

      I agree, either OP is omitting a tonne of facts or the bank did not try very hard to get the money back.

      You ever missed a bill? Maybe a credit card expired and you didn't realise or something? People chase you for money pretty hard these days, I find it hard to believe that the full extent of their attempts to get money back were to merely attempt a single reversal and then put a notice in their banking app and then somehow 6 months later the police are involved? This could have been so easily resolved by now.

      Not fully across how these things work but surely OP's friend's bank would have sent letter and attempted to make phone calls.

      I feel that over $900, which could have been recovered months ago and is a complete waste of the police and the courts time, not to mention I am sure bank legal people are involved etc, so much money being wasted over $900.

      • snook on 24/10/2019 - 16:33
        +2

        I sent money to the wrong person.

        My bank contacted their bank, ONCE. Their bank supposedly sends the recipient ONE letter requesting permission to return the money. They claimed they never received any such notification.

        My bank contacted me and said they couldn't get the money back.

        This took nearly 8 weeks.

        • EskimoDough on 24/10/2019 - 18:46
          +1

          Not that it matters…but did you end up getting it back?

    • ankor on 25/10/2019 - 12:39

      The pattern of her expenditures in her bank statements would be very interesting to look at.

      My guess is that she knew.

    • SlavOz on 27/10/2019 - 11:34

      Came in here to post this as well. Fair enough OP's friend is at fault and admitted it, but since the money has been returned (with her willful co-operation) and it was initially an error with no malicious intent, who exactly is pressing charges and why?

      Even if the police did go to the trouble of taking them to court, they just have to to rock up well dressed, apologise, point to the fact that they wilfully returned the money after realising the severity of the crime, and will likely walk away with a warning, community service, or small fine. Absolutely no reason to hire a lawyer to get the same outcome for you.

  • bobbified on 22/10/2019 - 22:36
    +21

    Also, why doesn't the bank go to this much effort to recover the money if we, as customers, make an incorrect transfer? I haven't done it myself, but I've heard a lot of people get told that it's their own fault they screwed up and there's nothing the bank can do to help retrieve the money. The "privacy" excuse is also used so you're not even allowed to know who the money went too!

    • geoffs87 on 23/10/2019 - 22:15

      The banks will always try to recover, it takes quite a while (not sure why or what the exact process is). If the money isn’t there when the reversal is actioned, it fails. The bank generally tries on your behalf, but can’t guarantee it! If it’s a big enough amount, police Allan get involved, but they won’t bother for trivial amounts

      Imagine it this way, if you posted cash to an incorrect address, you can try, aus post can try retrieve the envelope, but there’s no guarantee right? And if the receiver moves it, there’s almost no way to finalise,

      Simply, you need to make sure you enter details correctly, most online transfers also ask you to confirm, and then also give you a receipt!

      • Jackson on 23/10/2019 - 22:33

        Yeah but if you post money to someone and they don't contact you for some period, might be 3 months, then it's yours. And if they do contact you but they don't come and collect it in 6, it's also yours

    • richmond12 on 24/10/2019 - 11:26

      This. I am always scared when transferring to new account.

      The account name doesnt even need to match the bsb and account number - so its quite easy to read a typo or something.

    • snook on 24/10/2019 - 16:35

      If you transfer to the wrong account and the person refuses to give your money back, it's theft and you can take them to court.

      Your bank is only able to 'contact' the other bank with the info about what happened. Then the other bank has to contact the person.

      It's all a mess if you ask me.

  • kahn on 22/10/2019 - 22:37

    If "your friend" had more money for legal representation, then "your friend" would be able to obtain the services of a lawyer competent in the Chewbacca Defense.

    • trustnoone on 22/10/2019 - 22:47
      +5

      Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!

  • [Deactivated] on 22/10/2019 - 23:04
    -7

    It's no biggie. A relative of mine transferred $900k in cash to buy an investment property, and the lawyer deposited it into someone else's bank account. It was sorted out within 3 days.

  • bac0n on 22/10/2019 - 23:28
    +1

    A court date is likely to be for one of two things:
    1. A civil case, where the owner of the funds has brought an action against your friend to claim back the lost money, or
    2. A criminal case, where the police have charged your friend for a crime.

    Based on what you've said, and the amount involved, it is more probable that the police have charged your friend for a stealing related offence (the equivalent offence in Queensland of obtaining property or financial advantage by deception).

    The Police will allege that your friend is guilty of this offence because your friend:
    1. Noticed that they received funds in their account which they knew was not theirs
    2. Chose to use some of that money
    3. Acted dishonestly (i.e. intentionally ignored messages, didn't contact the bank to rectify the error, took steps to try and keep the money)

    An example of this (on a much larger scale) happened a couple of years ago: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-05/woman-arrested-at-syd…

    If your friend cannot afford to pay for legal representation, the first step I recommend would be to find a suitable community legal centre to attend (https://communitylegalqld.org.au/find-legal-help/find-a-cent…). Otherwise, as fossilfuel mentioned above, legalaid may be able to help.

    • stealthmatt on 25/10/2019 - 11:46

      It looks like now it is 2. A criminal case, where the police have charged your friend for a crime.

      After finding more information out she was charged for using the $900 (which she admitted to do)

      The account which the money was deposited to was was in an account that didn't get used (like one of these saver accounts).

      She has gone to the bank and had the bank process the reverse with the full amount. However, the court date has still been sent…. perhaps they will just drop it now its all being sent back?

      • wyrmy on 25/10/2019 - 17:48
        +1

        Not necessarily. Returning something that was stolen by definition doesn't change the fact that a theft occured. In her case even worse since it was given back AFTER getting caught.

        Great if they drop the case but the police already spent their time and did the work. They have no real reason to be lenient on her.

    • imcold on 25/10/2019 - 16:01

      Well all criminal charges got dropped in the case. The bank will have to resolve it as a civil matter.

      No different to giving people interest only loans to buy housing.

  • GangGang on 23/10/2019 - 00:59

    Who is taking your friend to court? The bank or the owner of the $?

    I remember everyone on ozbargain saying the bank can't reverse it, it's not a police matter. This seems to be different.

  • shortgum on 23/10/2019 - 01:19
    -1

    My 50cents. If I received a large sum of money unexpectedly and wish not to tell anyone, put in a high interest online saver forever until they other parties look to get them back. You did not use it but get some interest benefit for the timeframe until they want it back. If you spend the money then will cause legal issue.

    • JimmyF on 23/10/2019 - 06:58
      +10

      You did not use it

      As soon as your 'move' the money from the account it was placed into, it is classed as 'using' it.

      So shuffling it over to a high interest account, is classed as using it.

      • pegaxs on 23/10/2019 - 09:09
        +9

        The mere fact that they have put it in a savings account to "earn interest" is the exact definition of "using it".

        And $7k. Just how much interest were they hoping to earn? $4… maybe $8??

  • smux on 23/10/2019 - 08:01
    +21

    Another one of her mistakes was cooperating with the police and admitting everything. Even if you're not guilty you should use a lawyer when talking to them, you never know how they'll twist your words to get what they want out of you.

    • nith265 on 23/10/2019 - 11:49
      +4

      If you asked a lawyer they would always advise you just give a “no comment” response to every question in a recorded police interview.

      It seems like immoral advice but from a legal perspective there is zero disadvantage to doing this.

      Even if like in the movies you do have a lawyers number you can call, they attend the station and sit in on a recorded police interview, that same lawyer can’t represent you later in court as they are now part of the police brief of evidence.

    • haemolysis on 23/10/2019 - 23:35
      +4

      Yeah, pretty much the only job of a police questioning if you are the suspected offender - is to try and get an admission of guilt. Every little thing a cop does when they interact with you revolves around that admission of guilt. This is why they start their discussions with “do you know why I’ve brought you in today” or “do you know why we pulled you over.”

      They’re waiting for you to say “because I was…” or “because I did…”

      Until you admit it, it’s “their word against yours.” Police don’t want that when they take you to court. The purpose of interviewing is so that your word IS theirs to ensure they win the case.

      In this case; OP’s friend can no longer claim simple ignorance. Has confessed to an officer!

      • trapper on 24/10/2019 - 11:55
        +1

        Yeah a lot of people still don't seem to get this.

        The only purpose of police questioning you is to get you to confess to some crime.

        • idonotknowwhy on 24/10/2019 - 17:21
          +3

          You guys are all freaking me out.

          Even if you're not guilty you should use a lawyer when talking to them, you never know how they'll twist your words to get what they want out of you.

          I'm still not buying it. If I were not guilty of something and being questioned, I'd cooperate.
          But some usually rational ozbargainers have upvoted this comment so now I don't know lol.

          • trapper on 24/10/2019 - 19:29
            +2

            @idonotknowwhy: The thing is… you can't possibly know that you haven't broken some random law.

            There are thousands and thousands of laws of every conceivable type, even a top legal expert has no hope of knowing every law.

          • nith265 on 24/10/2019 - 20:52

            @idonotknowwhy: You can still cooperate with police outside of a recorded interview.

            If they have gone to the trouble of arranging an interview they have almost certainly already formed the view that they think you’ve done something wrong. The interview is purely to obtain admissible evidence for their brief against you.

            If you have your own version of events you can make a police statement or a stat dec after a police interview. Then you can give your story on your own terms without pressure of being interviewed and recorded.

            • idonotknowwhy on 25/10/2019 - 09:27

              @nith265: Ok makes sense. So get a lawyer if it's a recorded interview, or failing that, say "no comment" to every question, even if you're innocent.

              And what if; when they're booking a time with you, you say 'Sure, but it's going to be "no comment" for every question, in case you wanted to save some time'?

              • nith265 on 25/10/2019 - 10:47

                @idonotknowwhy:

                So get a lawyer if it's a recorded interview…

                If you go to the trouble of asking for legal advice prior to an interview the lawyer's advice will almost always be say “no comment” and there’s no need for me to be there (and if they are in the interview they cant represent you in court later). All the stuff you see on TV/movies with lawyers saying “don’t answer that” doesn’t really happen in Australia on a day to day level at least.

                From a strict technical legal perspective a court cannot penalise you for remaining silent, it can’t be considered as evidence at trial and a judge/jury is not allowed be swayed by it. If a prosecutor raised during a trial that they were suspicious because you gave a no comment interview the case could be dismissed.

                … it's going to be "no comment" for every question, in case you wanted to save some time'?

                Standard police procedure is to interview everyone before formally laying charges. So even if you flagged ahead of time you were going to give a no comment interview they would still want the interview. If it went to court they need to show they gave you an opportunity to give your side to them.

                I’m not really advocating giving a "no comment" interview exactly – there could well be times it’s less hassle to answer questions. It’s obviously perceived by police as being standoffish, unhelpful, and they may have the discretion to not pursue/drop other issues depending on how cooperative you are.

                This thread is a great example though of why being truthful may not be in your own best interests, if OP’s friend said nothing the police would struggle to prove awareness and intent (needed to prove theft) and it could easily be passed off as a banking error.

                • idonotknowwhy on 25/10/2019 - 11:22

                  @nith265: Thanks for the detailed reply.

                  I'll just hope that I'm never in a situation where they want to interview me lol.

                  This thread is a great example though of why being truthful may not be in your own best interests

                  Yeah, but in this case (imho), OP's friend is not innocent. It looks like they tried to keep/spend the money.

                  • nith265 on 25/10/2019 - 11:52
                    +1

                    @idonotknowwhy:

                    I'll just hope that I'm never in a situation where they want to interview me lol.

                    Good luck!

                    OP's friend is not innocent.

                    Oh I agree - by definition and admission they're guilty of theft

                    I just hate it when being open, helping the police and telling the truth leads to a serious consequence when the legally strategic thing to do would be to say nothing.

                    Assuming it is theft they’re charged with, it seems very unfair that there’s no distinction between this as offence and if they’d gone and stolen $900 from a shop till. The court penalty would of course be less but on a criminal record years later it would look the same.

            • trapper on 29/10/2019 - 12:49

              @nith265:

              If you have your own version of events you can make a police statement or a stat dec after a police interview. Then you can give your story on your own terms without pressure of being interviewed and recorded.

              Even this can work against you. They only need to find a few contradictions from another witness and suddenly you could find yourself accused of being deceptive or dishonest.

    • ribbonsofnight on 24/10/2019 - 22:00

      I don't see why you'd need a lawyer for this. If the police ask you whether you spent someone else's money all you have to say is you don't know of extra money being paid into your account and you'll check your records and if there was a mistake you'll check if you have enough to reverse it. Doesn't seem like a cunning lawyer is necessary.

  • Baysew on 23/10/2019 - 09:19
    +2

    What advice would be the best advice?

    Professional advice. Spending $300 to see a solicitor to sort all of this out, may well be the best bargain your friend will get this year.

    No point making more stupid decisions.

    • tomsco on 23/10/2019 - 10:39
      +4

      I mean… they've got $7k to pay on legal fees :p

  • Seraphin7 on 23/10/2019 - 09:32
    +11

    Here is what we know for sure …

    1. A sum of $7,000 was deposited unexpectedly.

    2. A sum of $900 was spent, but the rest was left in the account.

    3. The person in question "doesn't have heaps of money".

    It is clear from the above that the person knew the money was not rightfully theirs. People who don't "have heaps of money" are not going to get $7k appear unexpectedly … she has spent a small portion of it and then got "cold feet" … it is likely that most, if not all of this money would have otherwise been spent by now.

    The person in question has alleged that the bank made no attempt to contact her other than via a message "in the banking app" and the bank has gone from that straight to police action, who in turn have gone straight to court action. This is unlikely. Banks have a very limited appetite for legal proceedings. It takes more than a single ignored message in an app to reach this point.

    I agree with others that there is more to this story than is either written here, or has been relayed by your friend.

    On an assumption that this is truly just a case of a deposit into the wrong account, this opens your friend to a charge of "theft by finding" (or whatever the technical charge is). The consequences of this will be up to relevant court authority, but most importantly could lead to a conviction and the attendant problems this can cause out into the future.

    If there is any suggestion that there is something more sinister going on (such as proceeds of crime that has been mentioned) your friend is then open to being charged as an accessory to that crime. Again, the consequences of this will be up to the courts.

    The only course of action from here (given it has now reached the point where it appears to be before the courts) is to get legal counsel and attempt to get the matter dropped. I would suggest the only way this will be possible will be for her to have the funds ready to repay immediately (in the bank account in question would be a good start) and attempt to get the police to drop the charges.

    This may not be possible as the repayment of the funds doesn't absolve her of any criminal activity. Once something becomes a police matter, you lose all sorts of negotiating power. While the bank and the party who made the transaction in error might be happy to get the funds back, the police don't necessarily care about this fact. They have found sufficient evidence to prosecute relevant charges and will go from there. "Giving the money back" doesn't change the facts of what has happened to this point.

    • StickMan on 23/10/2019 - 11:51

      They have found sufficient evidence to prosecute relevant charges and will go from there. "Giving the money back" doesn't change the facts of what has happened to this point.

      Highlighting for importance

    • Samsungnote10 on 23/10/2019 - 12:40
      +1

      yeah agree, going straight from "we couldnt recover the money" to court date seems extreme,

      I also didnt notice with a few of my banks that a message had been sent for a year

      i would assume that the bank would be sending letters out or intentions to sue etc.

      hypothetically if this person had a very low balance, and then got $7000, and didnt realise and then spent $1 extra so the remaining balance was $6999,

      to go to a court appearance seems not right, there must be more to the story

    • sulmar on 23/10/2019 - 19:46

      It is clear from the above that the person knew the money was not rightfully theirs. People who don't "have heaps of money" are not going to get $7k appear unexpectedly … she has spent a small portion of it and then got "cold feet" … it is likely that most, if not all of this money would have otherwise been spent by now

      Pretty much spot on.

      • elgrande on 23/10/2019 - 20:14
        +5

        she has spent a small portion of it and then got "cold feet"

        $900 on a trip to the snow?

        • FutureTech on 25/10/2019 - 20:05

          should have spent a bit more on Uggs

    • stealthmatt on 25/10/2019 - 11:50

      After finding more information out she was charged for using the $900 (which she admitted to do). The police had bank statements.

      The account which the money was deposited to was was in an account that didn't get used (like one of these saver accounts).

      She has gone to the bank and had the bank process the reverse with the full amount. However, the court date was set after the initial interview… perhaps they will just drop it now its all being sent back?

      Just to clarify, it was pretty much just sitting in the bank account for the last several months (minus the $900), my guess is the business who accidentally sent it to her account had raised a police report or something to get the money back after the bank was unsuccessful. So the police are just following their procedures.

  • Bad Company on 23/10/2019 - 09:34
    +5

    Please don't say how stupid she was, because hindsight is a wonderful thing.

    Don't need hindsight to see this…………

  • Hoobz on 23/10/2019 - 09:49
    +13

    'a friend'

  • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2019 - 11:37
    +8

    If the bank cant even be arsed making a phone call to let her know, then they shouldn't be getting the police involved. For all she knew the bank was going to remove the deposit grom her account. Banks are such scum. What is their fraud team even doing?

    • haemolysis on 23/10/2019 - 23:42

      Banks monitor your OUTGOING transactions for fraud. It’s not really possible for them to monitor the incoming money.

      • Thrawn on 24/10/2019 - 07:27
        +2

        CBA got fined $700m for allowing incoming large value ATM deposits unmonitored.

      • Nebargains on 24/10/2019 - 08:02
        +2

        Mystery depositors bank tried to do a reversal and was unable to, there is probably a process where they contact the other bank (assuming Ops friend is with a different bank) and tried to do some sort of charge back process.

        Then the full extent of their contact with the customer was a notice in their banking app? Find that hard to believe.

  • StickMan on 23/10/2019 - 11:45
    +1

    She's going to court either over a civil matter or criminal:

    Civil : the bank tried to get money back, failed, so now it's suing for it.

    Criminal : she admitted a crime to police, so the court date could be for this.

    You say she has no idea what the court date is for (?????), and admits to spending money she knows isn't hers. — sounds like a total dumpster fire.

    Tell your friend to get legal advice to: 1) work out wtf the court is for; 2) if it's civil matter get it dealt with prior to court otherwise it'll cost way more than $300 lawyer consult fee.

    tl;dr your friend is about to get steamrolled by the weight of her bad decisions and inability to function as an adult. Tell her to get some help, and get some distance from this friendship.

    • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2019 - 12:59
      +2

      There is no civil case. If she has returned the principle, banks are hardly going to pursue interest in an environment when they are paying 0.6% interest per annum on holding accounts themselves. She was interviewed by police and confessed to spending money she knew wasn't hers. It must be a criminal matter.

      • stealthmatt on 25/10/2019 - 11:52

        Yes this is what it is, she is charged for the $900.

  • OzHunterNSW on 23/10/2019 - 14:02
    +1

    Solicitors would want far more than $300…

    You don't need a solicitor. For what… to say you erred in judgment. Tell the Judge yourself.

    She did not spend it all, and it is paid back.

    I would simply explain the situation, and seek leniency on the fact that the money had been relatively untouched and is returned.

    Cop the fine. Move on

    • Maxi Pad on 24/10/2019 - 04:49
      +2

      This is actually reasonable advice. Why get screwed twice?

      Plead hardship. First offence? Might result in no charge being recorded.

      However legal aid is better or a community legal service.

  • Kamsi on 23/10/2019 - 19:38

    If only the sender notify the bank then the bank will act. The woman should've known better not to use the funds that isn't belong to her that way she will not be issued a court appearance. Like the people above said there is something missing that the OP isn't telling.

  • Punda on 23/10/2019 - 20:13
    +1

    We need more information. She’s in trouble for theft probably. You can’t play dumb and not tell anyone you got a deposit in error then keep it for months till they found out about it. I bet she was hoping nobody would pick it up and she’d keep it. FRAUD.

  • elgrande on 23/10/2019 - 20:15

    Ask judge for section 10

  • [Deactivated] on 23/10/2019 - 22:07
    +1

    Wtf. Money in my bank account is my money. Why should I pay bank monthly account fee only for others to deposit their money into my account?

    If I don't pay account fee is the unknown sender going to cover the fees?

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