'It was tempting to do something dodgy,' man says after $70k lands in account before Google brought him back to earth | 71QV2Z6 | 2024-05-11 05:08:01
A MAN has admitted that he was tempted to make purchases immediately after a mystery deposit of $65,000 appeared in his account.
The Sydney resident explained that he woke up and checked his mobile banking application with HSBC Australia to find not an unexpected or fraudulent withdrawal, but a deposit.
A screenshot of the anonymous customer's account showed that the money added was 105,000 AUD, or about $71,594, from "105Cashback_remedationSydney," per Yahoo News Australia.
He explained to the outlet that seeing the considerable cash amount caused a rollercoaster of emotions.
"I was worried at first because I thought I got hacked," the man said.
At first, he believed that the over $70,000 amount was taken out of his account, not realizing it had actually been deposited.
"It was actually the reverse," the man noted.
Amid the confusion and realization that there was a considerable amount of money in his account, the man revealed that a "great feeling" did start to come over him for a brief moment.
The man said he recognized the funds would have been "life-changing" that tempted him to "do something dodgy," so he decided to make a quick Google search about the incident.
Discovering it would be a crime to keep the money brought him from cloud nine back to earth.
"[I] brought myself back to reality that this is too good to be true and I won't be keeping that money," the Aussie resident explained to Yahoo.
"It was pretty tempting to do something dodgy, I'm not going to lie."
He added: "But a quick Google search saying it's a crime was enough for me."
The man provided the outlet with screenshots to show that he quickly contacted HSBC through the bank's chat feature about the issue, explaining that the funds were deposited into his Visa Platinum account very unexpectedly.
"That sounds so worrying," an employee responded.
So, where did the money come from?
It appeared that the $70,000 came from a mistaken cash back charge, but Tim Mozsny, the Head of Mortgage Services at HSBC Australia, sent the man a separate email writing that the deposit "dispute" would be handled "within the rules of the credit card scheme."
Ironically, the Aussie man was charged a 9.52 AUD ($6.49) fee for a cash advance surcharge relating to the $70,000 deposit but later received a $100 payment from an unknown sender.
He said that he suspects it was the person responsible for the incident sending some money as a thank-you for resolving the issue.
Although it was seemingly an innocent mistake and likely not part of a major scam, the Aussie man shared the wild story online in a Reddit thread to hear others' thoughts.
"It was a blissful and magnificent feeling to suddenly have $100k+ in your bank account but overall quite annoying, would not recommend," he wrote.
The man also praised HSBC's chat feature and said that the only annoying part of the process was his card being inactive for a short period, and having to resolve a problem he didn't cause.
"It wasn't too much time spent reversing this, the bank having its own chat channel is quite handy," he explained to Yahoo.
"The annoying bit was being unable to use my card and being responsible for someone's error."
He continued: "I'm surprised at how easy it is to transfer 100,000 AUD. Good to know it's also easy to reverse the transaction though."
HSBC Australia said it would not comment on the error when contacted by the outlet.
"We can't comment on individual account matters due to client confidentiality," a spokesperson noted.
"If customers believe an error has been made in regards to their accounts, we ask them to contact our dedicated customer service team."
At the very least, the Sydney resident came out on the positive side with his bank account confusion.
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, several American account holders have lost hundreds of thousands in scams that drained their bank accounts dry.
A retiree's $113,000 life savings were drained from their Bank of America account recently due to a "check-washing" scheme.
Around $30,000 was also wiped out from a Citibank customer's account, and they claimed that their request for a refund had been denied.
For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of a Chase Bank customer who saw $63,000 disappear after a Walmart charge.
The U.S. Sun also has tips on how residents can protect themselves from a mail-based credit card scam.
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