Aussie man wakes to find $105,000 cash deposit after transaction 'error'
After the initial shock and surprise, one big question remained.
When you open your banking app and are greeted with a rude shock, it normally has something to do with an extra trip to the ATM you forgot about on a drunken night out.
But this is the opposite situation, times a thousand. One hundred and five thousand, to be exact.
One Aussie man got the shock of a lifetime recently when he opened his bank account and noticed a $105,000 credit from a mystery depositor.
"I was worried at first because I thought I got hacked," he told Yahoo News Australia. He thought he had been charged $105,000 "but it was actually the reverse."
He noticed the transaction the day after it occurred on a "random" check of his banking app, admitting that a "great feeling" began to creep in after the initial shock and confusion.
But that begs the question: What do you do next?
Despite acknowledging it was "life changing" money, "[I] brought myself back to reality that this is too good to be true and I won't be keeping that money," he said.
"It was pretty tempting to do something dodgy, I'm not going to lie. But a quick Google search saying it's a crime was enough for me."
He quickly got in touch with his bank HSBC through the company's chat app. In screenshots of that correspondence shared with Yahoo, the bank worker clearly appreciated the unusual nature of the customer's query.
"That sounds so worrying," they responded.
The money was actually credited to the man's Visa Platinum account from a seemingly errant cashback charge.
In a seperate email correspondence with the Head of Mortgage Services at HSBC Australia, Tim Mozsny, the Sydney man was assured the payment "dispute" would be resolved "within the rules of the credit card scheme".
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In the end, he was charged a $9.52 fee by the bank for a cash advance surcharge relating to the mistaken transfer but says he also received a $100 payment, which he thinks might have been a goodwill gesture from the mistaken party but he's not exactly sure.
While a minor inconvenience – having to sort the issue out with the bank and losing use of his card temporarily – the bizarre incident at least left him with a good story to tell. And it was one he quickly shared online in an Australian subreddit dedicated to financial matters.
"It was a blissful and magnificent feeling to suddenly have $100k+ in your bank account but overall quite annoying, would not recommend," he wrote.
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"It wasn't too much time spent reversing this, the bank having its own chat channel is quite handy," he told Yahoo. "The annoying bit was being unable to use my card and being responsible for someone's error.
"I'm surprised at how easy it is to transfer $100k. Good to know it's also easy to reverse the transaction though."
After being contacted by Yahoo News Australia, HSBC Australia said it would not comment on the specific error.
"We can't comment on individual account matters due to client confidentiality," a spokesperson said. "If customers believe an error has been made in regards to their accounts, we ask them to contact our dedicated customer service team."
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