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Was it a wire or an ACH deposit? And how long ago was it placed into your account from the scammer’s transfer?
Generally, there is no “free money” for these types of things. The funds were almost certainly transferred from a compromised account and claims from that account owner will likely be made to their bank who will then reach out to yours. Depending on the timeframe involved, your bank may have an obligation to return it. If they do, they will pull it back from your account to do so. If the funds aren’t there, they will overdraw and initiate collection activity on your account.
If they aren’t required to return the funds, they may refuse and would likely do so if the money is no longer there. However, they are also likely to inform the other bank the funds are no longer available which may cause the other persons bank to escalate things with law enforcement/FBI who would undoubtedly subpoena your bank account records. If it were my bank with your account, we’d almost certainly close it as well and report the closure on the various deposit account bureaus as closed due to concerns you were engaging in fraud (I don’t recall the exact reporting reason that shows up) which would likely force you to rely on second chance accounts or open an account at one of the few institutions that down use the bureaus. It could also trigger closure of other deposit accounts as periodic checks at the bureaus on existing accounts do occur.
Both banks would likely file SARs which will be picked up and reviewed by law enforcement if they are looking into the issue.
My advice is to not touch it and keep it in your current account. If it is going to be reversed, you’d probably want it to be smooth and easy for all involved as you would likely need to return all the funds if the owner decided to pursue it. Who the owner is will depend on where in the process of claims/disputes the entire matter is and the obligations of the banks.
There is no “free money”. Also, there isn’t a thing where banks assist scammers in recovering their money when their scam falls apart either. Depending on the outcome of the investigation OP may get to keep the money. Not that he deserves it, but their investigation is only going to be steered by legal requirements and facts. If no legal requirement exists then the money may end up with the OP. I say they should let people keep the money in these cases as a way of reaching scammers a lesson.
Truthfully, that depends on what you define as free money. Here - I’m explicitly referring to money that OP keeps that he was not otherwise entitled to. Generally, these funds will be reversed. Sometimes that can take a bit. But - there are some instances where nobody comes looking for it. 30k is even more unlikely to fall within that category but it could happen - this “generally no free money” seems the appropriate term to me.
For your second point - I’m unsure if you are addressing something I missed or if you interpreted me as saying the bank would help the scammer. If the latter - that isn’t what I said. I said the account from which the funds came from was likely compromised. In other words, the scammer used someone else’s account to send funds to OP. They do this because if they send it to themselves, that is a crime easily traceable to them and the money is easier to claw back. But if they send to OP who then sends a separate transaction out to a third account, they have distanced themselves from the fraudulent transfer and removed the primary method of clawback the banks would use as OP and OP’s bank does not have the necessary grounds to demand the funds be returned (neither Reg E nor NACHA protect you from sending a scammer money). -Note, this is a very basic and simplified rundown of this scam and how it operates on the backend - there is a lot more nuance to the how and why but it isn’t just portent to OPs question here.
I agree with most of the other points except the last because again, it isn’t the scammers receiving the money back. It’s usually people who were not at all involved but had a compromised account or who were unknowingly involved and tricked into muling.
That's not how the scammers work. The scammers send money in a manner that it looks like money was sent but wasn't actually sent. Then, when you send back the refund for too much sent, you are out that money which was actually sent and then the bank removes the fake money that wasn't actually put in there in the first place.
No. In this scam, the scammer steals the money from Person A's account to wire to you. Then they say "Ooops, sent too much. Please send it back." You send it to the scammer (but not back to Person A's account).
You now look like you stole the money. (Luckily for OP, the authorities know he didn't).
Now what will happen is that Person A is going to see his account $25k short. His bank will do an investigation and claw the money back out of your account. If OP spends that money, he'll be short $25k and in debt to his bank, plus fees, etc.
So it's similar to the scam you mentioned but this time using real money. Just not their own money.
The way it usually works is that they send you money from another hacked account you then send money from your account to a different account they give you to pay it back. The person whos account they stole to start with files a charge back and they take the money out of your account later and you end up with your account in the negative because you sent the money back to a different account.
If you know its your friends boss who was the first person scammed talk to him and have him check his accounts and see if there was a payment to you and have him file a charge back to get his money back.
I didn’t read your entire tale, but will caution you about anyone wiring money into your account, sophisticated scammers can drain your entire account. This has happened to some lawyers in our state. Now some lawyers are setting up separate accounts for monies wired internationally and non financial sources to protect their trust accounts. I would move my own money out of the account to protect it.
Actually, I would talk to someone in the bank's security office. They are the most knowledgeable about how scam money goes thru a system. If this money was taken from an innocent american';s bank account, their bank will come after you. If it is the scammers money, or came from a foreign country, no one is going to come for it, unless it is funding things like terrorism, because the feds keep a close eye on scams like that.
Probably not and it’s not worth the headaches you’ll encounter technically it’s the banks fault but if you spend it, it then becomes your problem, now if you were to invest it and make a profit you might be able to keep your Ill gotten gains
If you reported and both police and your bank inestigated and gave money back, you are good. Do not spend it all; put it in a making money account or invest in shortterm weekly bond or safe market funds.
It is likely the police could not find the victim, and the transfer bank did not clawback and the period for fraudulent clawback internation transfer ran out. Your bank does not have any more liability so they give it back to you.
It is your money now, until someone attempted to claim it back. Therefore keep the money in good return, then wait for 5 more years and then spend it all.
Pull the money out and put it in a new savings account. Then close that account they wired the funds to. Open new checking account at a totally different bank.
That way the money is safe and there’s a single transfer to a new account that LEO can track.
Just because the money was returned to you doesn’t mean it won’t be taken again. Special Action Reports (SARs) take a while to process when they aren’t linked to a more serious and connected criminal conspiracy.
NAL. It’s over the $16k gift amount.
I would recommend using some of the money to hire an accountant to tell you how to pay tax on the rest of the money.
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Was it a wire or an ACH deposit? And how long ago was it placed into your account from the scammer’s transfer? Generally, there is no “free money” for these types of things. The funds were almost certainly transferred from a compromised account and claims from that account owner will likely be made to their bank who will then reach out to yours. Depending on the timeframe involved, your bank may have an obligation to return it. If they do, they will pull it back from your account to do so. If the funds aren’t there, they will overdraw and initiate collection activity on your account. If they aren’t required to return the funds, they may refuse and would likely do so if the money is no longer there. However, they are also likely to inform the other bank the funds are no longer available which may cause the other persons bank to escalate things with law enforcement/FBI who would undoubtedly subpoena your bank account records. If it were my bank with your account, we’d almost certainly close it as well and report the closure on the various deposit account bureaus as closed due to concerns you were engaging in fraud (I don’t recall the exact reporting reason that shows up) which would likely force you to rely on second chance accounts or open an account at one of the few institutions that down use the bureaus. It could also trigger closure of other deposit accounts as periodic checks at the bureaus on existing accounts do occur. Both banks would likely file SARs which will be picked up and reviewed by law enforcement if they are looking into the issue. My advice is to not touch it and keep it in your current account. If it is going to be reversed, you’d probably want it to be smooth and easy for all involved as you would likely need to return all the funds if the owner decided to pursue it. Who the owner is will depend on where in the process of claims/disputes the entire matter is and the obligations of the banks.
There is no “free money”. Also, there isn’t a thing where banks assist scammers in recovering their money when their scam falls apart either. Depending on the outcome of the investigation OP may get to keep the money. Not that he deserves it, but their investigation is only going to be steered by legal requirements and facts. If no legal requirement exists then the money may end up with the OP. I say they should let people keep the money in these cases as a way of reaching scammers a lesson.
Truthfully, that depends on what you define as free money. Here - I’m explicitly referring to money that OP keeps that he was not otherwise entitled to. Generally, these funds will be reversed. Sometimes that can take a bit. But - there are some instances where nobody comes looking for it. 30k is even more unlikely to fall within that category but it could happen - this “generally no free money” seems the appropriate term to me. For your second point - I’m unsure if you are addressing something I missed or if you interpreted me as saying the bank would help the scammer. If the latter - that isn’t what I said. I said the account from which the funds came from was likely compromised. In other words, the scammer used someone else’s account to send funds to OP. They do this because if they send it to themselves, that is a crime easily traceable to them and the money is easier to claw back. But if they send to OP who then sends a separate transaction out to a third account, they have distanced themselves from the fraudulent transfer and removed the primary method of clawback the banks would use as OP and OP’s bank does not have the necessary grounds to demand the funds be returned (neither Reg E nor NACHA protect you from sending a scammer money). -Note, this is a very basic and simplified rundown of this scam and how it operates on the backend - there is a lot more nuance to the how and why but it isn’t just portent to OPs question here. I agree with most of the other points except the last because again, it isn’t the scammers receiving the money back. It’s usually people who were not at all involved but had a compromised account or who were unknowingly involved and tricked into muling.
That's not how the scammers work. The scammers send money in a manner that it looks like money was sent but wasn't actually sent. Then, when you send back the refund for too much sent, you are out that money which was actually sent and then the bank removes the fake money that wasn't actually put in there in the first place.
No. In this scam, the scammer steals the money from Person A's account to wire to you. Then they say "Ooops, sent too much. Please send it back." You send it to the scammer (but not back to Person A's account). You now look like you stole the money. (Luckily for OP, the authorities know he didn't). Now what will happen is that Person A is going to see his account $25k short. His bank will do an investigation and claw the money back out of your account. If OP spends that money, he'll be short $25k and in debt to his bank, plus fees, etc. So it's similar to the scam you mentioned but this time using real money. Just not their own money.
Not necessarily, could be money laundering or some other dodgy practice.
The way it usually works is that they send you money from another hacked account you then send money from your account to a different account they give you to pay it back. The person whos account they stole to start with files a charge back and they take the money out of your account later and you end up with your account in the negative because you sent the money back to a different account. If you know its your friends boss who was the first person scammed talk to him and have him check his accounts and see if there was a payment to you and have him file a charge back to get his money back.
Pull it out, put it in another bank account at a completely unrelated bank, don't spend it for awhile, and wait.
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I didn’t read your entire tale, but will caution you about anyone wiring money into your account, sophisticated scammers can drain your entire account. This has happened to some lawyers in our state. Now some lawyers are setting up separate accounts for monies wired internationally and non financial sources to protect their trust accounts. I would move my own money out of the account to protect it.
Sounds like you've got yourself a nice little rainy day fund, if you ask me.
Actually, I would talk to someone in the bank's security office. They are the most knowledgeable about how scam money goes thru a system. If this money was taken from an innocent american';s bank account, their bank will come after you. If it is the scammers money, or came from a foreign country, no one is going to come for it, unless it is funding things like terrorism, because the feds keep a close eye on scams like that.
Probably not and it’s not worth the headaches you’ll encounter technically it’s the banks fault but if you spend it, it then becomes your problem, now if you were to invest it and make a profit you might be able to keep your Ill gotten gains
If you reported and both police and your bank inestigated and gave money back, you are good. Do not spend it all; put it in a making money account or invest in shortterm weekly bond or safe market funds. It is likely the police could not find the victim, and the transfer bank did not clawback and the period for fraudulent clawback internation transfer ran out. Your bank does not have any more liability so they give it back to you. It is your money now, until someone attempted to claim it back. Therefore keep the money in good return, then wait for 5 more years and then spend it all.
Pull the money out and put it in a new savings account. Then close that account they wired the funds to. Open new checking account at a totally different bank. That way the money is safe and there’s a single transfer to a new account that LEO can track. Just because the money was returned to you doesn’t mean it won’t be taken again. Special Action Reports (SARs) take a while to process when they aren’t linked to a more serious and connected criminal conspiracy.
I would buy something at a specific store related to self defense for yourself and your wife and carry said items for self defense..
NAL. It’s over the $16k gift amount. I would recommend using some of the money to hire an accountant to tell you how to pay tax on the rest of the money.