26

Today, I saw in my banking app that a single cent was added to my account. A bit of Googling tells me this is apparently done sometimes when someone signs up for a service, to validate that a person really exists. I've personally only ever seen the reverse (where you have to pay a cent to validate you own the bank account you're signing up with), but apparently this is a thing too and the description of the transaction is usually a code used to validate.

I checked the IBAN number this money came from, and Googled the company name. The IBAN comes back as Irish, but the company I found with the same name (Worldline Financial Services) doesn't have any offices in Ireland. This looks suspicious. I think somehow a scammer must've gotten a hold on my IBAN and name, because IBAN transactions don't work if you don't have both: I just tried and I can't use the IBAN from my brother + my mother's name, the transaction just won't "validate" and I can't send it.

So, besides wondering what the !?@# I did wrong with my info (I didn't do the obvious ones like open any links and fill anything out, I didn't get any phone calls, didn't use any shady webshops...) I'm wondering what the scam happening here is, and how I best stop it. Would I be better off contacting the customer service for the Worldline Financial Services I found online, and ask them to cancel anything I might've been signed up for(they only seem to have an online form)? Or do I take this immediately to my bank, call them first thing in the morning (they're closed now) and start arranging for a new bank account? Would first thing tomorrow morning be fast enough?

Tinkeringbell
  • 805
  • 7
  • 12

2 Answers2

60

I just contacted the bank's customer support, and it turns out this was just some weird transaction from a reputable webshop I do use all the time. If I pay them, the transaction just shows the webshop name as the account name and goes to a Dutch IBAN. Apparently, when they pay me back, it doesn't come from the same account but from a different, foreign, IBAN with no reference at all to said webshop in either the account name or the transaction description.

I also contacted the webshop's customer support, and apparently I used a discount code on my last order and apparently overpaid by one cent due to a rounding error, which is now dutifully returned. I left feedback that it may be worthwhile to look into their account name or transaction descriptions to not scare people shitless like this.

Tinkeringbell
  • 805
  • 7
  • 12
20

Would I be better off calling the customer service for the Worldline Financial Services I found online, and ask them to cancel anything I might've been signed up for?

I doubt they have any way to identify you based on what you've described even if it is a valid charge of theirs.

Or do I take this immediately to my bank, call them first thing in the morning (they're closed now) and start arranging for a new bank account?

Yes, that would be my suggestion. I don't know if arranging for a new bank account is necessarily the solution, or something else, their anti-fraud department will need to evaluate that.

Would first thing tomorrow morning be fast enough?

Since you mentioned Ireland and IBANs, I'm assuming this is a SEPA transfer. These can be reversed by the sender, or rejected by the receiver. Your bank would know how to handle this. If the bank has a 24/7 customer service call center (which you'd call if your bank card was stolen, for example), you may want to call them. If not, and the bank is closed - there's nothing much anyone can do with regards to the money at this point of time anyway, but if you feel you're in an immediate danger you may want to call the police.

littleadv
  • 190,863
  • 15
  • 314
  • 526