What Would You Do

[society]

If this happened to you what would you do? - http://tinyurl.com/ap9es6v

A woman experienced a sickening, gut-wrenching moment when she discovered that over the course of two years, each time she had transferred her monthly paycheck of $1,500 from her HSBC account to the joint one she shares with her husband at Nationwide building society, she had accidentally been placing the money in a total stranger's account. After two years, the amount she had transferred was roughly $40,000.

[craft1948]

It took her 2 years to realise this?

[boxtops]

How the....... didn't the silly woman check that the credits were going into the account each month??

[flump1]

Oh how I would cry ....

[Ann]

Sounds very strange to me ............

[boxtops]

The husband must be earning a fair wedge if they didn't notice the loss of £1.5K each month....

[Baldric]

More money than sense imho.

[Bbbananas]

She can't have needed it very much if it took her that long to realise. Silly mare. It'd take me...ooh..a day, 3 at the most. No sympathy really, hope the recipient needed it.

[joggerjayne]

If she was $40k before she even noticed, the loss isn't goin no to kill her.

She's still a silly arse, though.

[joggerjayne]

Wow ... did I just type that ????

[craft1948]

She was stupid in not realising sooner, but I don't know how the recipient can live with themselves by refusing to give the money back. What an absolute arse..................

[baza]

How did that get through ed's filter, lol!

[joggerjayne]

baza ... I was more concerned about the nonsensical first sentence, lol

[Baldric]

I had a large amount of money transferred into my account from some where in Europe 25 or so years ago, I put it into a seperate account and it's still there now, no-one has ever asked ;o)

[Barmaid]

It was MINE Baldric!!!

Stupid woman. However, I wouldn't be phased by the Data Protection mullarky. I'd be seeking a court order for Nationwide to reveal the destination of the dosh. THEN I would ascertain whether the person who spent it has the funds to pay it back. THEN I would sit down and beat myself round the head saying "stupid cow stupid cow stupid cow" to myself.

[society]

The person who kept this money had no conscience, and is a thief. I would be scared and immediately contact my bank when I saw the first deposit.

As for this hairdresser, I think she must be rich. Also, her husband probably handled all the financial businesses in the household.

[Canary42]

Nationwide must have a very poor system if just one incorrect digit lands the deposit elsewhere.

All important numbers should include at least one check digit, and depending on the algorithm used to calculate the same, wrong numbers are largely eliminated (the algorithm determines the chances of a wrong digit producing the same check digit). This procedure was widely adopted in the early days of electronic processing to overcome data input errors. Using a double check digit of course makes it even safer, as does using alpha characters as well.

[magsmay]

It seems very strange that the person she transferred it to must have 1) the same name as her husband and the same sort code + 1 digit wrong in the account number - all these things are needed to be able to transfer money otherwise it comes up as transfer denied -very unbelievable story I'm afraid -more like an urban myth. Another thing -rich people tend to be very careful about checking their accounts!!

[Tilly2]

Am I being thick here? Why is it dollars and then pounds?

[FredPuli43]

Because $ and £ are on adjacent keys?

[shoota]

It reads to me like it is being reported in an American publication so they have reported amounts in dollars but left quoted amounts in pounds.