Please spread the word

 

He looks like he’s been in one of Guy Ritchie’s films

 

Gotta love a guy who is so busy that his only time to record his videos is during his commute.

That said, his concern is real. However his remedy is incomplete. Wire transfers are generally irreversible, but other mechanisms (in the US, "ACH" or direct deposit) can be reversed or modified under certain circumstances (Google "ACH reversal rules"), and those mechanisms may be abusable by scammers. That said, I wouldn't be confident that just waiting until the next day is 100% sure.

If you are supposed to be paid by wire, I would just confirm with your bank that that was the mechanism of payment. If the transfer shows up via another mechanism, have concerns and ask your bank when the payment is irreversible.

It's also usually best practice to have a separate account for receiving payments and sweeping funds from that account to another one. Once you've moved the money, it's much more complicated to reverse a transaction, and you are more likely to be consulted. It also means you don't have money sitting around in an account which other people have the details of.

It's better than it used to be, but much of the day-to-day operations of the banking system is held together with legacy duct tape and baling wire.

 

When I receive a wire transfer the transaction is listed as "WIRE" in the description, so it's clear that it's a wire. I believe this is SOP but if as noted if you don't see this, ask questions...

 

Hi all,

I'm not sure his advice is applicable for those of you in US as what he is talking about isn't a wire transfer but something called paying by Direct Debit which is different to a wire transfer. Direct Debit is usually used for a reacquiring payment of either a fixed or flexible sum and unlike a wire transfer can be recalled on day of payment hence the scam. Plus the fact that as he states you can put a reference to the payment hence its says Cleared Funds and his point stands that Banks should query and disallow a payment reference that says Cleared Funds as being highly suspicious and also not true.

Marc

 

The US has both wire transfer and direct debit (also known as ACH in the US). Of course, the volume is too large for banks to hand-review every memo line and make sure they're not deceptive; instead, what banks should do is make it clear what is a statement from the bank vs. what is a statement from the payer. For example, instead of just putting the memo line under the transaction, one could say something like:

Sender provided the following comment: "Cleared funds"

Which hopefully wouldn't fool anyone who is paying attention.

 

Is that guy an Uber Driver?
I like the Wormwood Scrubs tats.

 

Thanks for the info. I was wondering how that worked.

 

I agree and this is what I do. When I receive payment via PayPal, wire, etc., I wait until it clears and then move it to another account before shipping the watch. There used to be a scam where money would be sent using a stolen credit card and then the buyer would insist their own freight forwarder pick it up that day (for an emergency birthday gift or such). A day or two later the item is gone and the charge is reversed as stolen.