snoozy

BE careful the next time you transfer money using an ATM.
Punch in the wrong number and it may be the last time you see your money.

It won't help even if you contact the bank immediately.

This is because the bank needs the consent of the person the money went to before it can reinstate it to your account.

If the recipient cannot be contacted, the bank won't transfer the money back to you.

Mr Kenneth Phua, 33, a sales manager, learnt this the hard way - losing $1,480 to a stranger.

He had wanted to transfer the amount from his POSB savings account to his DBS Cashline account on 20 Sep.

He was leaving on a week-long business trip that day and had used an ATM at Changi Airport Terminal 2.

DISTRACTED

Said Mr Phua: 'When I was about to complete the transfer, I got a phone call and was distracted.

'I ended up pressing 00 instead of 77 for the last two digits of my account.'

He did not realise his mistake even when the account number flashed on the screen and he was asked to confirm the transfer.

After the transaction was completed, he looked at the receipt and found out he had transferred the money into some other account.

'I called the bank's hotline immediately and told the officer about the mistake,' said Mr Phua.

'I also asked for the money to be reinstated to my account. She said she was unable to do that and advised me to go to the nearest DBS branch to fill up some documents.'

But Mr Phua had to board the plane within half an hour. So he told the officer that he would do it when he returned from his trip.

Mr Phua came back on 27 Sep and on the same day, he went to the DBS branch at Hougang Central.

He said: 'To my surprise, the bank officer told me that they needed the consent of the other account holder before they could reinstate the funds into my account.'

The next day, the bank officer informed Mr Phua that they were unable to reach the account holder after numerous phone calls and had sent out a letter to inform the person.

Mr Phua was then asked to wait seven working days for the other party to respond.

'I called the bank officer to check the status and every time, he would say the other party had not responded,' said Mr Phua.

'I was told by the bank that the account holder had been making deposits into the account, which means this is not a dormant account.'

But the bank was still unable to contact the account holder.

Then on 18 Oct, Mr Phua received a letter from DBS which stated: 'As we are unable to obtain the consent of the account holder to return the funds, we are sorry that we could not assist you further on this matter.'

Mr Phua has made a police report.

If it can be shown that the account holder has seen the letter from the bank or knows that the money was wrongly transferred, he or she can be charged with theft.

So why can't the bank transfer the money back to Mr Phua's account if it was informed that the transaction was a mistake?

A DBS spokesman said the money had been transferred under Mr Phua's authorisation.

Said the spokesman: 'Though he may claim to have made an error, the bank does not really know.

'It is therefore prudent and proper that the transferee's (recipient's) consent be first obtained before debiting his account.'

The DBS spokesman added that the bank had tried contacting the account holder by phone several times, but there was no answer.

LETTER

The bank had also sent out a letter asking for the account holder's consent to return the money to Mr Phua. But there was no response to that too.

DBS does not have figures for the number of customers who claim they have made mistaken transfers.