I was transferring money overseas to my own foreign account using Western Union. The amount being transferred was $5000 AUD and I made payment using Cash however the agent experienced server issues with transferring so she attempted multiple times and now I have received three times the money in my foreign account.
What are the next steps.
One of my concerns is regarding the cost to transfer the excess funds back to Aus
I don't know why you got negged for that when what you've posted is entirely correct. Have a +1.
I think it may be referring to it as a form of theft. Most don't realise that if a machine/technology caused the error it really is considered theft by taking (similar to when ATM gives too much money) whereas if there was a human involved in the error (such as a bank teller giving too much) it is a "giving", so no usually no illegal conduct.
Only required to repay theft by taking, not if money was "given". (Assuming no conspiracies to defraud etc).
I think it may be referring to it as a form of theft.
It is.
One of the annoying things is they will want 2 x $5,000 (sender currency) back, and if the exchange rate has changed, you may be out of pocket. Depends on quality of customer service.
One of the annoying things is they will want 2 x $5,000 (sender currency) back, and if the exchange rate has changed, you may be out of pocket. Depends on quality of customer service.
I would almost bet if the customer was out of pocket they would lose the money.
If the company is out of pocket, it would be tough luck, you only get back the original amount of money.
Just tell them, most likely they should have some recall/trace process that they do from their side (this is how it works within Aus anyway).
I would not send it back manually, as they should do it the above way.
It may even be possible that it just disappears from the receiving account if they realise in the meantime, which they surely will do when their books are out by $10k.
If this was with the Western Union independent outlet, then you can reach out to them and transfer the access money back to the destination account of the western union and hence no fee for moving money back to Aus. I would see you in no obligation to pay for the fee due to server errors.
Inform them you are investigating the issue and will come back to them. Meanwhile invest it on the short term money market
i think the monopoly chance card would come in handy in this situation- bank error in your favour , collect 3x the money
They should fix their own problems.
If they ask you to help them, ask them to pay for your time.
They should fix their own problems.
They will, but if you spend the money or move it where they can't get it back easily, you could find yourself in big trouble.
If it was the bank that screwed up, they'd just reverse it once they were told or realised.
But the screw-up was by Western Union. And it has gone overseas. That will make it a harder to fix.
Tell them, and say you know its not your money, and you'll be happy to co-operate to make it easy for them to fix it.
But you think there should be some compensation for that for your time and trouble. Best case is that they agree to that. Worst case is they can fix it themselves without your help, and you are no worse off.
Start the car.
The best course of action would be to get Western Union to initiate a recall and approve the recall when asked by your overseas bank. You might want to under stand the implication of the local laws of the country where the money was received in regards to sending money overseas if you do decide to initiate the transfer yourself.
I won’t transfer return any ‘accidentally paid’ money as a blanket rule. It’s a common scam.
If it’s legitimate, they can have the bank take steps to undo the transaction. Happy to consent to that. But it has to explicitly be the bank undoing the transaction, with the ‘returned’ money ringfenced. If it ends up in the wrong place again, I don’t want to be on the hook for the original amount.
If it was me, I wouldn't spend it but buggered if I'm wasting my time informing them and trying to get it fixed.
I say leave it. Co-operate if they need to get it back but until then I'd let it earn me some interest.
Why did you use an agent and not do it yourself?
Let them know…
If you don't and you use any of that money, you could be in big trouble…
It's Not Your Money: The funds legally belong to someone else or the bank, and keeping them constitutes a form of theft or unjust enrichment.
https://www.afca.org.au/about-afca/publications/mistaken-int…
You should not spend or withdraw the money transferred into your account by mistake because it is not legally yours and you have to pay it back.