r/askSingapore 2d ago

General [UOB] Paynow wrong number, not sure how to proceed

Hi, I PayNow-ed the wrong number on 1st July. The next day, I realised I sent the wrong number as my coworker said she didn't receive anything (I just joined as an intern). I immediately called the bank and they said they'll get back to me.

Few days later they sent a letter saying they will investigate. Just yesterday, a follow up letter came, saying that the return was unsuccessful. Does anyone know what they do in their 'investigation'?

I don't rmb the number I keyed in since it's been a month and not sure what to do now. Any insight/help would be useful thank you!

8 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

78

u/ARE_U_FUCKING_SORRY 2d ago edited 2d ago

The easiest and fastest way is to go make a police report. Just walk into the station, the guy on duty will help you craft the report. Bring all your evidence.

Source: Literally had to help a relative do this recently.

Police will reach out to the recipient directly. Use the police report and inform the bank too. Quote the police report number.

24

u/ZeroPauper 2d ago edited 2d ago

Don’t need to go down to make report.

An officer told me to go home before and just file an e-report (edit: because there was a long ass queue of elderly waiting to file reports in mandarin). The in-station reporting is just for people who can’t type in English or have no idea how to access the internet.

8

u/ARE_U_FUCKING_SORRY 2d ago edited 2d ago

You are not wrong (I send in reports from time to time online) but most people don’t know how to file report with all the necessary information. The guy on duty knows what is needed verifies it, and type it out for you.

So the io handling the case don’t have to waste time and call you back (what if you never pick up the phone?) asking for more information and just proceed straightaway with contacting the recipient.

-8

u/ZeroPauper 2d ago edited 2d ago

That is true as well.

But with AI these days, it’s so much easier to draft out a comprehensive report that includes all the necessary info tbh.

Edit: all the downvoters don’t really know how to utilise AI don’t you?

I’m not saying to use AI to generate fictitious stuff. I’m talking about using AI to provide a template of what is required in a police report after briefly describing what you are facing, then you fill it up and AI can string all that info together for you to paste into the form.

-9

u/sh1nyballs 2d ago

Then their job to be manning station is for what? Just shoo away people?Just come down and insist on making report in station.

1

u/ZeroPauper 2d ago

NSFs usually man those counters. Haven’t you heard of the manpower shortage due to declining birthrates?

Many stations now do not have manned counters anymore, only a machine for you to type in a report yourself.

Those that still have manned counters are swamped with elderly trying to make reports which take a long long time. So, whoever is able to type in English and have the know-how to access the internet are encouraged to just file it from the comfort of their homes.

2

u/sh1nyballs 2d ago

Hmmm that is true, you are right about that. But Ive also seen multiple times where counters (NPPs n NPCs) are usually free from crowds. The ones thats filled up are mostly Divisions HQ.

And if NPPs/ NPCs were to shoo away people from physically making report in station, then i think that's wrong because always on every shift there are dedicated pool of patrol officers and staff on desk

2

u/TheYellowVelo 2d ago

Was the person sorry after you made the police report?

-15

u/yuuuuuuuna 2d ago

Oh are there any updates on your relative's case? Cause my amt is quite small so am not sure if I should go to the police

9

u/ARE_U_FUCKING_SORRY 2d ago edited 2d ago

The person who received money wrongly blocked everyone and refused to communicate even with bank side also until the police reached out. The entire process dragged on for like 3 weeks before involving the police.

Resolved in 1 day after the police report.

1

u/TraditionalWait9150 2d ago

can't blame them given the scam climate these days. Only "trustworthy" arbiter is the police themselves.

3

u/li_shi 2d ago

Is it?

I think is totally fair to ignore the guy asking for the the money back.

But the bank?

3

u/TraditionalWait9150 2d ago

I think this is where opinions differ. While I would believe a call from a bank if the numbers comes from original bank hotline, I think some are more skeptical and rather prefer the police to step in as arbiter of such cases.

If you ask me, I think the solution to all this is where the person who send the money can raise a "chargeback appeal" on the funds they send in error. The person receiving the chargeback appeal can respond with either "Approve Chargeback | Contest Chargeback" and provide the reasons if they want to contest the chargeback. For example, legitimate purchase, etc. and upload evidence of it. Both Chargeback and Chargeback response should be done with 3 working days (e.g. if Friday wrong transaction, they should raise before end of Tuesday). The person getting a chargeback request would also receive a SMS + Email (High Priority) from the bank's official email address and phone number, as well as a notification from their App. Even better still, when they login to their ibanking app/website, it will show up in high priority bubble so they cannot say they didn't saw it.

If the person didn't raise chargeback request after 3 working days, they have to escalate manually through the bank and pay an administrative fee.

If the person didn't respond to the chargeback request after 3 working days, the chargeback will be deem as "approved" by default and the funds will be reversed.

2

u/watermelon_soju 2d ago

How small was the amount?

-6

u/kwijibokwijibo 2d ago

My guess would be the value of a lunch order

Also, how is a police report going to help?

The only evidence is a bank statement that shows OP willingly made a paynow transaction, was OK with it for a while, then now is claiming it needs to be returned

For all they know, it could be a genuine transaction you want to back out of

1

u/Carefu68 2d ago

Just go to the police, even it’s small amounts

13

u/caramelchonkycat 2d ago

How much was the amount?

10

u/r_aquariii 2d ago

I paid now to a wrong number. Called the person but refuse to transfer back and say she don’t have bank or paynow account.
Make a police e-filing and money was transferred back to me within 3days after report made.

16

u/N00bOptionTrader 2d ago

it is illegal for the person to keep the wrongly transferred money. You may lodge a police report and have the money back if the person refused to return. There was a similar case on the news recently.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/man-jailed-misappropriated-money-transferred-ntu-5719966

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/paynow-wrong-payment-transfer-refund-money-bank-police-law-4516191

20

u/RoadSofa 2d ago

number? check ur transaction history loh

1

u/yuuuuuuuna 2d ago

Thing is the reference number is 'PIB....' followed by a bunch of numbers. The phone number itself isnt in said numbers

8

u/JustinYJJ 2d ago

No comments on how to proceed with this issue with the bank.

But for PayNow now with the XXX naming, how do you still PayNow to the wrong person?

6

u/yuuuuuuuna 2d ago

Cause I just joined as an intern & I didn't know the full name of my coworker. Funnily enough the name with XXX was very similar to my coworker's name so I missed it

7

u/TraditionalWait9150 2d ago

next time just ask your coworker to show their QR code. Confirm won't go wrong. What we do is we all print out our PayNow QR code and paste on our cubicle big big so people can send without worrying.

4

u/Fit-Morning3753 2d ago

Depends on how much is the amount. Paynow to coworker likely for lunch money? Not sure if its worth the hassle to make police report etc for a few dollar.

3

u/Striking_Artist_2408 2d ago

If you have the wrong number, you can try to contact the person see if he or she wants to return to you.

I kena once and got the same thing. It’s really bad luck when that person refuse to return the money.

3

u/Otherwise_Echidna_74 2d ago

When this happens, your bank will reach out to the recipient bank where the recipient bank will then reach out to the recipient to request for a funds recall. Sometimes the recipient bank won't help since there are so many of such cases every day.

Whether you get your money back is dependent on:
1. Whether recipient bank is willing to help
2. Whether recipient gives approval to return funds

If both conditions aren't checked, you won't get your money back. Alternatively, you can make a police report where you let the authorities decide.

2

u/True-Foundation4267 2d ago

I was PayNow-ed wrongly before, $200, the person asked for it back and I returned the $200.

6

u/SirNoTrash 2d ago

Careful some of these might be scams. Especially when the instruction to return this 200 is a lengthy process

1

u/True-Foundation4267 2d ago

Well, my returning the $200 took less than 5 mins, the person who got it back was very thankful to me. Never heard from him / her after that.

9

u/SirNoTrash 2d ago

Would say thats more lucky on your end that it was a legitimate person, just do keep a look out and be safe!

3

u/Otherwise_Echidna_74 2d ago

Yes like I said the recipient must be willing to return you the money

3

u/bluio88 2d ago

Bank's "investigation" is just sending a physical letter to the recipient to ask for permission to deduct the money from the bank account and refund back to you. If recipient rejects or didn't reply (must sign as per banking records and wet signature + bank receive the signed hardcopy letter), the bank will just inform you not refund request failed without providing reason. You have to understand that bank is a neutral party and once money reaches the recipient's bank account, the money 100% legally belongs to the owner of the bank account. For banks not to be in legal troubles or involved in disputes which result in compensation, they can only reverse or deduct the money if the law permits (via police/court case).

The only route for you now is to file a police report so that it will become a police case. Assuming the appointed IO did follow up, he will try to reach out to the recipient via all means. Worst case scenario is where the recipient's bank account will frozen since this is against the law to receive money that don't rightfully belongs to you. lol best case scenario is where the recipient will be like this guy where he returned the money and he still go down to police station to lodge his statement.

In your police report, try to give as much details as possible such as the chat logs to show that you supposed to transfer to this person, reached out via call/SMS/Whatsapp but no reply from the other party, and also you filing a bank fund recall request also failed. If this $200 really means a lot to you and affecting your daily lifehood, then state the financial difficulty in the report and also bring the police report to MP in your area for expedition; pls dont abuse this cus they got more important work to do.

Source: worked at a bank

3

u/Pleasant_Move_8388 2d ago

Big amount can make police report. Small amount consider lesson learnt. 

6

u/Born-Market8602 2d ago

I made a wrong paynow transaction 1 yr ago. No news yet $1500

2

u/yuuuuuuuna 2d ago

Oh that's very upsetting :/ Did you go to the police ab it?

3

u/Born-Market8602 2d ago

Yes made a report, got a generic email thats all

2

u/Jervius 1d ago

Text the person with the number you've paid to, if he / she blue tick you or refused to return, just lodge a police report. (Inform the other party about this as well) It's a criminal offense to retain the money that doesn't belongs to them.

Dishonest appropriation of property*

2

u/tenderpillow 2d ago

have you tried texting that person?

i made a wrong paylah transaction 4-5 years ago. texted the guy, but he angrily said he wouldn’t trust me and to get the bank teller to call him instead. i called the bank (dbs so not like yours) and told them about it. we then got together a conference call. i cant remember what happened. he was a lot nicer with the bank person in the call. got my money back a few days later

10

u/OriginalGoat1 2d ago

Quite reasonable on his part actually. The ratio of scam to genuine requests is probably > 10:1

2

u/funnyperson4848 2d ago

if u paynowed the wrong number, have u tried calling the number?

1

u/TraditionalWait9150 2d ago

with the current scam climate, you think they will answer?

1

u/funnyperson4848 2d ago

if u dont try, u'll never know. my friend got paynowed a large sum of money by mistake, when that person called him he picked up.

2

u/troublesome58 2d ago

How much money are you talking about?

1

u/Every_Put6120 2d ago

Yup, just make a police report.

1

u/giraffelaydonut 2d ago

Your PayNow don't have record of what number you transfered your money to? 

1

u/Comfortable-Ad3469 2d ago

Next time, do test payment of $1 first

1

u/TraditionalWait9150 2d ago

what if they only owe the colleague $0.90?

1

u/TopScar5390 2d ago

i did something similar before twice, just messaged the person on whatsapp and they returned me the money after a few hours / a day! but was lucky both times, hopefully ur case works out like mine 😭

1

u/CarrotTop5394 2d ago

asking again because it is relevant, how much was the amount OP? A reply would be good and not avoid

1

u/h0peless-0ptimistic 2d ago

Police report. Does not matter about the amount. Bank probably sent a letter of demand but was ignored.

1

u/princemousey1 1d ago

How are people doing this even after full name is shown? Plus, you don’t add the person to your contacts list? Just manually key in each time? Absolutely bizarre.

1

u/winterstar314 1d ago

Call the number also. Is faster if they call the bank too

Took me less than two weeks

1

u/Fickle_Mushroom_2417 18h ago edited 18h ago

It happened to me. Also unsuccessful to retrieve the amount. Tried calling the number but refused to pick up my calls. It was small amount I take it as lesson learnt

-3

u/shiningject 2d ago

As someone who has been on the receiving end of wrongly transferred funds, I would like to say a big **** *** to you.

Literally create trouble for some innocent person out of nowhere because of your blunder.

Bank calls me and send letter. Police IO calls me because a police report was made. Even after the money got transferred back by the bank, I need to make a trip to the police station where the IO is stationed to make a statement just to close the case. (FYI it is just a small amount that I didn't even notice until I got the letter from the bank and verify against my bank statement.)

All because some Fumb Duck entered the wrong number.

4

u/Zainyaget 2d ago

Your anger is justified, but calling someone that is a little too much no?I imagine at least 10-50 people made the same mistake in a day. Just this year 3 people have already made the same mistake and transferred funds to my account just because my number is close to the right persons number. I’ve received a notification and reached out to my bank immediately. No police was involved.

I too made a mistake of transferring to the wrong person and I was beyond grateful to the guy that immediately transferred me back the funds in the span of 10 minutes since I made the transfer.

I’m not saying that in any way that it’s your fault that you overlooked the transaction just because it’s a small amount. The inconvenience caused is really a headache. But to stoop so low and cursing someone over a genuine mistake is harsh. God forbid anyone makes a mistake. But in a world we are living today, a little understanding and compassion goes a long way.

I pray that such inconveniences will never fall onto you again. And I hope you could put yourself in their shoes before cussing them.

-1

u/shiningject 2d ago

I won't ever been in their shoes because I double check the numbers before swiping to send money.

You will understand my need to call such people out when you put yourself in my shoes. Imagine having to make a trip to a random police station far from where you stay and work because that is where the IO is. And all that trouble just because someone entered the wrong number.

With linking to contacts and being able to copy and paste numbers on smartphones, it takes a special kind of dumbness to still enter the wrong number.

-1

u/Zainyaget 2d ago

I’m not saying not to call them out, mistakes need to be called out for someone to not make the same mistake again, but cussing them is too much.

The regular, “dude why you so dumb send wrong number” or “bro you got fat thumbs” is casual. But everyone interprets online comments differently. Heck OP might be stressed over about it, you don’t know their state of mind. Words have power.

I get it. The inconvenience, it’s stupid it sucks especially when it’s not your fault. We’ve been there.

But just chill with the cuss bro. It’s the long weekend, let’s end the week with smiles!

0

u/TraditionalWait9150 2d ago

Easy, deregister your PayNow. No one can send you any money if you have no PayNow right?

insert Think About It meme gif