I am selling something to someone in England…she is not able or willing to sign up with Paypal
She send me an email saying:
I need to know is this something commonly done? Is it risky on my part giving her this information?
I have had buyers from all over the world but they all paid either with cash(yes they actually sent cash around the world), money orders, checks, or Paypal
Is this safe letting her have this information?
Sounds like BS to me. I’d tell her she can get a PayPal account or some sort of international money order. Given this information she could do horrible things to you.
What “horrible things” can she do? Why is it BS? How can a person wire money to your account if you don’'t give them the account details? I’m curious because it is pretty standard procedure. Sorry but your attitude sounds quite ignorant to me.
Never ever ever give out your bank account number.
Never.
If she has your account number to wire money in, she has access to wire money out in the form of check payment made over the phone. Some telephone check authorizers request more information than what she’s asking for; others will perform the transfer with what she’s asking you for. I would strongly advise against giving her this information. Tell her to suck it up and get a Paypal account or send you a payment by cashier’s check, money order or other wire transfer (Western Union for example; does American Express still have offices that do this sort of thing?).
That’s just silly, you give out your bank information every time you write a check. I have given out my bank information many times for people to transfer money and never had a problem. Can someone explain exactly what the problem is? Because if you should not give out your bank account details then you should never pay by check. Can someone give me real life examples of someone who was harmed by giving his bank account number?
Just today I have (as a business matter) exchanged information about bank accounts as I have done dozens of times before. What is the exact nature of the risk?
I called my bank and they told me that unless I personally authorized her to withdraw the money from my account she would not be able to take any money from my account
I wondered about that since most of what the lady was asking for is printed on all my checks to begin with…routing number…account number…address…name and so forth
However a bigger problem is it would cost the lady around $30 to sent the wire and ME $20 to receive the funds…forget that baloney
I will work something else out
NurseCarmen those are warnings against telephone fraud calls. Of course you should not give any information to someone who is trying to defraud you but please explain to me where is the risk. Every time you pay with a check you are giving out your bank account information. Businesses routinely give out that information for their customers to send payments in. I have often given people a deposit slip to my bank account so they could mail a check directly to the bank. Please explain to me what terrible risk I have been running all this time. If you believe no one should know your bank account number then you should never pay by check.
Oh come on sailor, Haven’t you heard what thousands of Nigerians have doing in their free time? Add that to the number of scams pulled on eBay, and it’s a risky endevour. The best way to avoid beeing the target of fraud, is to avoid anything that smells like it. For a deposit all the information they need is the routing number and the account number. All the other information they are requesting raises a giant red flag.
sailor’s right. Your account number is preprinted on your checks and deposit slips, and is commonly given out to do wire transfers. In fact, a couple of times I needed an account number for someone (to wire money to them), so I called their bank, asked for it and they gave it to me.
Your bank account number is pretty public piece of information. That’s why banks are (supposed to be anyway) such sticklers for PINS and mothers maiden names and such.
All that said, it’s not a good idea to give your account number away without good reason, any more then it’s a good idea to give out your phone number, say. No reason to attract attention to your account. But for a reasonable business transaction like the OP, it’s completely reasonable to give the account number.
I wouldn’t do it. If she won’t use paypal, offer to cancel the transaction. Don’t give out your information.
As far as the Nigerian scam goes, it’s not related to you giving out your bank account number or any other piece of security information. The con is that you think you’re going to get millions, so little by little you give them money believing at the end of the day you’ll get huge illicit rewards.
You can go google on it to learn more.
She may well be harmless. But sending anybody all that information about your bank account is foolhardy. I wouldn’t do it; if she can’t/won’t get a PayPal account, then she can get a money order. That’d also be cheaper for all concerned from the sound of it. A check doesn’t have a bank address, etc., on it either. Given all of that I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody couldn’t find a way to get into MY account.
Please tell me what piece of information mentioned in the OP should not be given and why. It is all available on your checks or deposit slips. Please explain in detail why it shhould not be given to someone doing a legitimate transaction with me.
Your Nigerain scam example is just silly because we have no reason to believe the transaction is a scam. Those who think they should not give out that information are just plain ignorant of the fact that they are giving it out every time they write a check, And, as I say, anyone who does any kind of business gives that information out frequently.
The point about scam artists is that you should not be giving them any information but that does not mean giving out your bank account for legitimate transactions is risky. Again, anyone who disagrees pleae show me some examples and explain to me why I am at risk by giving out my account number which I do often. No such proof has been offered yet.
A check doesn’t have a bank address??? Really? So if someone pays you with a check how would you know where to cash it? You would really accept a check from the Famous and Non-Existent Bank with No Address? Let’s get real here for a moment.
The information the person is requesting is just the information necessary to identify the bank account where the money needs to be sent which is the only way she can actually send the money. The bank and account ID are printed in text and also contained in the routing number.
I am just amazed at how ignorant people will be paranoid about things. I would not give my bank account number to someone who is trying to scam me any more than I would give my home address but thee is no reason not to give your bank account info for a legitimate transaction.
Again, if it so risky, please show me a few cases of people who suffered some consequence.
You need all the extra detail for INTERNATIONAL transfers as banks in different countries have different codes. eg. I send money from the UK to Australia, receive some from the US to the UK and none of the codes correspond. Here we have a ‘sort code’ for branch, in Australia it’s a ‘BSB’ number, account numbers have different amounts of digits and what is a cheque account somewhere is a current account somewhere else etc. You mention a ‘routing number’, there is no such thing here so it can be very confusing and open to misdirection if you don’t have the additional info.
It sounds like a legitimate request to me, although I would also suggest the international money order option, or something like a Western Union money transfer which has lower fees.
Essentially, it comes down to how much you trust the other person in the transaction.
With malicious intent, that information is sufficient do take any money you have in that account without too much trouble.
But as sailor is saying, you give out this same information every time you use a check (one reason I never use checks except for bill where I know it will be going through automatic processing centers; my AT&T payment is almost never seen by human eyes).
Similarly, you would be reticent to give your credit card number to a stranger over the phone, but you give it to your waiter every time you eat at a restaurant.
It all comes down to relative risks, perceived risks, and your tolerance for same.
So, my first question would be: How well do you know the person you’d be giving this information to?
sailor: Plenty of people have lost money over this kind of thing. In the early nineties, there was a common telemarketing scam where they convinced people to give out this information and then took their money, claiming it was authorized. Laws were passed in 1994 (I think) that strengthened the requirements for proving authorization (that is why telemarketers frequently tell you they are recording your assent).
obfusciatrist, I would like to see some real life examples where I can go to a bank just with a person’s name and bank account number and get some money. Real life examples. Please tell me which bank gave money out to someone just because they claimed it was authorised. Further, if it did happen, please show me the customer lost the money and the bank did not reimburse them. I have an extremely hard time believing it. Does anyone really believe I can go to your bank and give them your bank account and tell them I am authorised to take some money out and the bank would give it to me? Come on! What bank is this? I want real life cites of this happening and until I get them I am extremely skeptical.
I mean, personal information should not be given out without a reason as it can be support for a scam but that goes for anything like your SS number, address , phone number etc. But giving your bank account details for someone to make a deposit is not inherently risky.
Update guys…I got her through the Paypal experience and she paid me that way just a few minutes ago. Once she knew they would charge HER around $50 to send that wire she was a lot more enthusiastic about Paypal
This was the most work I’ve had to do to sell something in quite awhile…whew
I was only worried because while she SEEMED nice I have been the victim of attempted scams before…one guy sent me an email that was a perfect copy of the email notification Paypal sends when someone pays you…however when I went to Paypal to check(my parents didn’t raise a fool…at least not more than 50% of the time) there was nothing there to show he paid