Online payment to wrong beneficiary by mistake

In the event of a wrongful credit to an account through an online transaction, the banks seek the authorization of the Beneficiary to return the amount wrongly credited to such account.

Therefore, in your case, the Beneficiary of the remittance made by you (by mistake) needs to give a letter authorizing his bank to return that amount back to your bank and credit to your account.

Banks are not privy to the transactions between account holders of the same bank or different banks. Once an amount is credited to the account of a beneficiary the same shall become the funds of that particular account holder and banks have no authority to debit unilaterally the account to return the amount merely based on communication received from the remitter and/or remitting bank. It requires authorization of the beneficiary to whose account the amount was by mistake credited by the remitter.

I understand that bank's hands are tied and they cannot do anything. Also, I dont hold bank responsible in anyway based on the fact that they at least contacted Opulentus on my behalf.

However, is there a legal way to take the money back from Opulentus. What should I do next to get my money back? Or, should I consider it lost forever? Anyone could do human mistake like this, and would expect law to be on their side to recover it. Just because the mistake happened, doesnt mean the money belong to wrong beneficiary.

Was there any dispute between you and the beneficiary Opulentus because of which they are not responding to the follow-up through your and their bankers too?

You may give a Registered Notice to them to refund the amount immediately followed by a legal notice. As per law no person/firm./company can enrich themselves by virtue of someone's mistake and cannot enjoy the funds that do not belong to them.

Dear Querist,

If you have transferred the amount to the wrong account and the account details are invalid, your money will automatically return to your account.

But the account number is valid and the transaction is a success. You can request a reimbursement from your bank by informing them of the RBI guideline from October 2010. However, it depends on the recipient to provide permission for reversal of transaction.

In case of wrong transfer, inform your bank immediately that you have transferred the money to the wrong beneficiary account, call the customer care number. Make a note of the transaction's date and time, as well as your account number and the account to which the funds were mistakenly transferred. You might be asked to visit the branch.

Visit your bank branch, submit a written application of wrong transfer along with details. Attach the screenshot if necessary.

The bank will act as a facilitator and provide you with details of the bank and branch of the account where the money has been transferred. If it is in the same bank, you can check with the recipient directly and ask for a reversal.

Regards,

Palak

There was no dispute. I am thinking of visiting their branch first and informing them in person.