Insights for consumers
When depositing money into an account, it is important to check the account details before confirming the transaction. If you deposit money into the wrong account, your financial service provider may not be able to recover the funds.
Aimee tries to send money to India
In November 2024, Aimee* used a money transfer service to send $4,000 to a bank account in India. Unfortunately, Aimee entered an incorrect account number, and the money was sent to the wrong account. Aimee contacted the recipient bank in December 2024, and they placed the transaction on hold.
Aimee asks the money transfer service to recover funds
In January 2025, Aimee contacted the money transfer service and asked for their help to recover the funds from the recipient bank. The money transfer service submitted a chargeback request with the bank.
Over the following months, the money transfer service followed up on the chargeback request several times, but the recipient bank did not respond.
Aimee also followed up with the recipient bank, which confirmed that the funds were still on hold and that they were waiting for a response from the money transfer service. By May 2025, Aimee had still not received the funds, so she lodged a complaint with Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL).
Aimee said that the money transfer service wasn’t helping
Aimee complained that the money transfer service was not responding to the recipient bank and was not supporting the chargeback process. She asked FSCL to assist with the chargeback and to award compensation for the delays.
The money transfer service provided evidence that they had submitted and followed up on the chargeback request. They said the recipient bank had not responded.
FSCL said the money transfer service had done all it could
We told Aimee that, unfortunately, there was nothing further we could expect the money transfer service to do to recover her money. They had completed the transaction using the details Aimee provided, contacted the recipient bank to recall the money, and no longer had control over the funds.
We considered that the money transfer service had done all they could to recall the funds. While it was unfortunate that the recipient bank did not respond, we did not believe the money transfer service was required to continue pursuing and escalating the recall indefinitely.
We also did not consider the money transfer service responsible for compensating Aimee, as she had entered the incorrect account number, and they were not the cause of the delay.
How did FSCL suggest that the complaint should be resolved?
We suggested that Aimee discontinue her complaint about the money transfer service.
However, we asked the money transfer service to follow up with the recipient bank one more time, as the bank had told Aimee that the funds were still on hold. The recipient bank eventually responded and initiated the recall request. Aimee received her money back in October 2025.
