Possible to trace someone via their bank details?

[Trash Man]

I just got a text message from my bank with the OTP (One Time Password) to authorize an payment to an account that I know nothing about. I checked my account straight away and although there was nothing on the statement, the balance was down by the amount in the text.

I phoned my bank and they confirmed that a bank transfer payment was setup on my account today. They gave me the details, sort code, account number, the reference used when setting the payment up and what bank the account belongs to.

If I get in touch with this other persons bank will they give me any details or even look into it?

I still don't understand how he/she got my details, I only log on to my bank with my own computers at home but not only that he/she needed the OTP to finalize the transaction, which is sent to my phone. How the hell did they get that?

Any advice of what to do next? My online banking has been disabled for now.

[Allen]

I doubt very much any bank would give out personal details to a random person calling up with account numbers. Your bank should be able to trace the transfer and reverse it if it was done fraudulently, however it might be worth also contacting the police.

[MaddAussie]

I would have thought your banks anti-fraud dept would be dealing with this?

[Trash Man]

No money has gone out of the account as the transfer was only setup today. It was brought to my attention when I got the text and then I contacted my bank and they stopped the transfer.

This is the first time I've had anything like this happen to me, so I'm a little unsure has to what to do. When I finished my speaking with my bank there was no mention of anti-fraud. Should I speak to my bank again and ask them to look into it further?

[Unique]

yes, ask your bank to look into it. either someone has your details to use fraudulently or someone made a mistake, which is hard to do with a bank account as there is a check digit in the account, just like a EAN13 barcode that appears on retail goods

you might want to ask your bank to open a new account for you and transfer everything to that account and close the old one so it can't be tried again

[peterb]

No money has gone out of the account as the transfer was only setup today. It was brought to my attention when I got the text and then I contacted my bank and they stopped the transfer.

This is the first time I've had anything like this happen to me, so I'm a little unsure has to what to do. When I finished my speaking with my bank there was no mention of anti-fraud. Should I speak to my bank again and ask them to look into it further?

Yes. Definitely - if they haven't started doing so already.

[Trash Man]

Just finished speaking to my bank again and they had already handed it over the the anti-fraud section.

The one thing bugging me is how did they get the password that was text to my phone?

[finlay666]

Contact the police also, in my experience banks aren't too concerned however this may have happened to other people who weren't so fortunate to notice straight away

[TheAnimus]

demand your bank change your account number asap.

[vicar]

Will second that. You need a new account asap, also check that your Rig is not compromised.

[atmadden]

There is no way the other bank should give you any details of the other account. However your banks fraud dept should contact them. The police are unlikely to get involved unless this is something bigger going on or the fraud had already been comitted.

Changing your account may be a wise option.

[Sputnik]

Like has been already said, Get the bank to deal with it and ask for new account number and cards.

When I had a similar problem, The Police showed very little interest in these matters and the bank did not seem that bothered either even though I was about £1000 down. I'm still completely baffled as to how they managed to get my details as I'm very careful about who I give the details to and hardly use my card anywhere.

I got the bank to change everything and despite having informed them as soon as the first fraudulent transaction happened and informing the shop where the transaction had taken place they allowed a further 2 transactions at the same shop. Eventually I got a form from the bank where I had to highlight the fraudulent transactions and sign a form saying that I did not make these transactions etc.

I was amazed that the police had no interest at all considering I had a delivery address where these goods were being sent to.

[Brucelles]

This happened to my daughter. It was actually just a bizarre accident, but still cost her a lot of time and anguish. It's a good idea to just ask for a new account and transfer your balance to it and then close this one, once the cards are replaced etc.

[Trash Man]

Thanks for the advice guys

I've had a new account setup, so will just have to wait a few days to get everything else sorted. Hope this does not happen again

Spoke to the bank again and asked about contacting the police. They seemed to be of the attitude that the police would not really be bothered about it.

[Stickmaker48]

I recently set up a 'standing order' but made a slight error,one gigit wrong on the sort code. The money went 'somewhere' but my bank says they can't trace it. Surely, even though it was my mistake, if an account holder sees an amount mstakenly put into their account but then chooses to kepp it, that is a criminal offence. How can I trace the acccount holder from the bank account sort code and number/

[Racksmirh]

http://findsortcodes.co.uk/. You can find the banks details here. If you contact the bank with the transaction details they may investigate it for you but they won't tell you the account holder name or any private details.