can someone unilaterally withdraw from account?

V

Vanilla

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Have had an enquiry from an African country about renting our holiday home in Kerry. We normally take deposits by e-transfer into our bank account but I am just slightly concerned that this person has sought the account details ( before we said this) and also said they wanted to transfer the money in a hurry. The bookings come from a French website and the payment goes into a French account. I assume it is okay to give the account details, iban etc? Can anyone ever withdraw money from an account without your permission? Bear in mind it is a French account. I will of course contact the bank tomorrow but wonder if anyone knows anything about it in the interim.
 
Re: can someone unlaterally withdraw from account?

Trust your instincts and don't give out your bank details until you speak with an official from your bank branch in the morning.
 
Re: can someone unlaterally withdraw from account?

Hi Vanilla

This is most likely to be a scam which is reported extensively elsewhere on Askaboutmoney.

No money will be transferred. You may get some form of conditional transfer of an amount in excess of the price and then they will ask you to transfer the difference back to them.

Brendan
 
Re: can someone unlaterally withdraw from account?

under no circumsrtances transfer any alleged balance back to them.
 
Ah okay, thanks for that. He gave his phone number which Mr. V tried to ring but it didnt work= the dialling code was 00 22...I tried to google where it was from but it seems common to a few places. We presume it is from a French speaking country but Mr.V says his French isnt very good so who knows? Anyway will see what happens but will of course take the advice and not 'return the excess'.
 
Thanks for amending the title, I meant to do it...Mr.V says the dialling code is from the Ivory Coast. Funnily enough they want to come very quickly, VERY quickly as in this Thursday. So if a blameless man and another arrive in Kerry on Thursday I will let you know. Won't hold my breath though.
 
Anyway will see what happens but will of course take the advice and not 'return the excess'
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Or just ignore it and save yourself the time.

I'm constantly getting emails from people who are 'interested in our products' etc...
 
If by any chance it's the only son of the late Minister for Mining and the Interior, Oliver Akubueze, Esq., tell him I'll see him for pints in the Abbey as usual.

Oh, and he owes me US$24 million.
 
You can see if the telephone number works by trying to use the 0 in the area code, some countries require this as in 00 353 01 ... where normally you drop the 0 in the 01.
 
Why would you bother? If, as seems likely, it is a scam then the last thing you want to do is to make contact with the scammer. Who knows - you may end up on a premium rate line or something like that.
 
I don't want you all to feel bad for being so cynical- I admit I was a little suspicious myself- but alls well that ends well. Our visitor has changed his dates and is now arriving next week, he will be flying into Barcelona, no Paris, no the International Airport. I take it he means Kerry International Airport.

By an amazing coincidence it turns out he is a fellow lawyer and is arriving to fight a case on behalf of a client which may go on two or at the most, three weeks. In an unspecified court. I was surprised and delighted at the news and advised him we were colleagues and offered to present him at the court- I DID wonder if it were the circuit court or the High court since the High Court on circuit sittings are just finished, and I wasn't aware of any other sittings likely to have a two to three week case. Anyway he hasnt responded yet but I imagine these international lawyers travel quite a bit...

Bet you all feel a tinsy bit foolish now?

Oh BTW our French bank manager was not at all reassuring, admitting that with all the account details someone very clever COULD take money from our account. Mr.V had given some of the details but not enough and our friend in Cote dIvoire has come back requesting more details.
 
Vanilla said:
I don't want you all to feel bad for being so cynical- I admit I was a little suspicious myself- but alls well that ends well. Our visitor has changed his dates and is now arriving next week, he will be flying into Barcelona, no Paris, no the International Airport. I take it he means Kerry International Airport.

By an amazing coincidence it turns out he is a fellow lawyer and is arriving to fight a case on behalf of a client which may go on two or at the most, three weeks. In an unspecified court. I was surprised and delighted at the news and advised him we were colleagues and offered to present him at the court- I DID wonder if it were the circuit court or the High court since the High Court on circuit sittings are just finished, and I wasn't aware of any other sittings likely to have a two to three week case. Anyway he hasnt responded yet but I imagine these international lawyers travel quite a bit...

Bet you all feel a tinsy bit foolish now?

Oh BTW our French bank manager was not at all reassuring, admitting that with all the account details someone very clever COULD take money from our account. Mr.V had given some of the details but not enough and our friend in Cote dIvoire has come back requesting more details.
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Can you just open an account with a few Euro in it and get him to use this account? That way you don't have much to loose?
 
On a serious note the bank manager did suggest opening a seperate account in which we should keep only a small sum of money at all times for which we can give out the details, but not to give the details of the main account anymore. I admit I was surprised that she said someone COULD take money from the account with the IBAN etc if they were clever enough. She is setting this new account up now. Given French red-tape we should have it for next years bookings!

I think there are enough threads already about these scams so I'll spare you any further details...but I might keep the worm dangling on the hook a little longer for my own amusement.
 
Purple said:
Can you just open an account with a few Euro in it and get him to use this account? That way you don't have much to loose?
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I share your amusement but would urge caution at engaging with these guys at any level. They are very dangerous international criminals.

Have a look at scamorama.com to get an idea how they operate.
 
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