"I sent you money by mistake, please send it back": the accidental payment scam

"I sent you money by mistake, please send it back": the accidental payment scam

"Hi, sorry to bother you. I've just sent you £150 by mistake, I typed the wrong account number. Could you please send it back? It's for my rent." It arrives as a text, a WhatsApp message, a message through a selling app or even a phone call, and the tone is polite and slightly desperate. It's natural to want to help. But this is a well-known scam, and in the UK it comes in three versions: the money never arrived, the "payment" is actually a request for you to pay, or the money is real but came from someone else's stolen account. In all three cases the answer is the same: don't send anything yourself; let your bank deal with it.

How does the accidental payment scam work?

Version 1: the money doesn't exist. The scammer sends you a screenshot or a fake "payment confirmation" email showing that they paid you. They hope you'll send the money "back" without checking your account. Screenshots and emails are trivially easy to fake.

Version 2: it's a request, not a payment. In payment apps such as PayPal or banking apps that let people send payment requests, the scammer sends you a request for money, not a payment. They tell you it's "the refund" or "the money I sent you" and ask you to "accept" it. If you approve it, you're the one paying. Fake emails and texts imitating PayPal or your bank are also used, as PayPal explains.

Version 3: the money is real, but it isn't theirs. This is the most dangerous. Money really does appear in your account, but it came from a stolen account or a card used fraudulently. If you send it "back" to the account they give you (which isn't the one it came from), you've just helped launder it. When the real account holder reports the fraud, the original payment can be pulled back from your account, and you've lost the money you sent. You may also be treated as a money mule, which can get your bank account closed and lead to a police investigation.

How can I tell it's an accidental payment scam?

• Check your account in your banking app, not the screenshot or email they send you. If the money isn't there, it never arrived.
• Look at whether it's a payment or a request. In any app, a request asks you to approve a payment. Read every screen carefully.
• They ask you to send it back to a different account from the one it came from, or by a different method (another app, cryptocurrency, a gift card).
• Urgency and emotional pressure: "it's my rent", "my child needs it", "please, I'm desperate".
• They've contacted you through an unusual channel with a number you don't know.
• Someone claiming to be from your bank calls to "help you return it" and asks for codes or to approve something in the app.

What should I do right now?

1. Don't send anything and don't approve any request.
2. Check your balance and transactions in your banking app, logging in yourself.
3. If the money really is there, call your bank. Use 159 or the number on the back of your card, explain that a stranger claims to have paid you by mistake, and let the bank handle the return through its own processes. Banks have procedures for payments sent to the wrong account.
4. Don't use the money in the meantime. If it was sent in error, you may have to give it back; if it came from fraud, it will be reclaimed.
5. Keep the evidence: messages, numbers, screenshots.
6. Block the sender and report the number in the spam numbers directory.

What if I've already sent the money or accepted the request?

1. Call your bank immediately on 159 or the number on your card. Explain what happened and ask them to try to stop or recover the payment. With Faster Payments, time matters.
2. Ask about reimbursement. If you were tricked into paying, you may be covered by the rules on authorised push payment scams, which require most victims to be reimbursed, with some exceptions; the Payment Systems Regulator explains them.
3. If money from a stolen account passed through yours, tell your bank everything now. Being open is the best protection against being treated as a money mule.
4. If they asked for codes or passwords and you gave them, change your passwords and tell your bank so they can secure your account.

Where do I report it and who can help?

• Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud) on 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or Police Scotland on 101, with the messages, numbers and payment details.
• Citizens Advice consumer service for advice: see how to report a scam.
• Forward scam texts to 7726, free on most networks.
• NoCall: report the number in the spam numbers directory.

Frequently asked questions

Can someone take money from me just because they have my phone number or account details? Not on their own. Your sort code and account number let people pay you, not take money from you. The danger comes when you approve a request, share a code or send a payment yourself.

Someone really did pay money into my account. Isn't it more honest to send it back myself? The honest thing is to tell your bank and let it return the money through the proper channel, to the account it came from. Sending it yourself to an account a stranger gives you is exactly how the scam works.

Someone from "my bank" is calling to help me return the payment. Can I trust them? Hang up and call your bank yourself on 159 or the number on your card. Your bank will never ask you for one-time codes, your PIN or your full password, or ask you to move money to another account.

What if the message comes from a friend's number? Their account may have been hijacked. Call your friend on their usual number before doing anything.

In short

Check your account in your banking app, not the screenshot. Never approve a request you don't understand, never send money back yourself to an account a stranger gives you, and let your bank handle any payment that arrived by mistake. And if someone has tried this trick on you, report the number in the NoCall spam numbers directory: your warning could save someone else their money.