Large unexpected bank transfer - mistake or scam?

[sunbeam alpine]

We received a payment of €25000 into one of our business accounts about 3 weeks ago, but it was only yesterday that we noticed/realised that it wasn't for us.

The payment came by bank transfer and the bank has assured me that it is cleared funds. The only details I can see are the name and account number.

The bank won't give me any more information - citing data protection - and unfortunately the name is pretty much the Belgian equivalent of "Smith", so I'm not going to have a lot of luck tracking them down.

Given that the funds have now cleared into the account the only options for me are either to transfer it back (with a message that it must have been a mistake) or to wait until someone contacts me. That transfer will then be viewed as a voluntary bank transfer from us to them, not a "bounce" due to a mistake, if that makes sense.

If they do contact me, I will only transfer the funds back to the original account, nowhere else.

I was just wondering whether anyone on here had any suggestions/observations/experience that this could be a scam in any way (can't see how myself), or whether it is just an innocent mistake.

I find it strange that someone could not notice their mistake (although that's maybe a bit hypocritical because we've only just noticed!).

For absolute clarity, I'm not looking for a way to keep the money, just trying to avoid a situation where we transfer it back, and then the original transfer gets called back, so we end up seriously out of pocket!

[sunbeam alpine]

Foliage said:

Id ignore it, tell the bank that you weren't expecting the money and let them deal with it, if you do anything with the money then it will be your fault, if the bank move the money back then its on them and you wont lose your money.

Thanks. I've been to the bank this morning and they say they can't do anything, so I then have to "send" them money rather than "refuse" it, if that makes sense.

[sunbeam alpine]

foxsasha said:

We had around £60k transferred into our account. Was a scam. Payment was made via a stolen cheque. Showed as cleared and looked from our end like a bank transfer. We contacted the bank, ignored the payment and after a few weeks the fraud was discovered and the funds taken back out of our account.

st! I guess I'll just wait and see what happens.

[sunbeam alpine]

Mr Pointy said:

Well saying leave it there & do nothing is all very well but it's going to have to appear in the company accounts at some point & the OP's company might end up paying tax on it. After all it could look like €25k more profit unless his accountants find a special category to squirrel it away into.

Fortunately we have until the end of 2015 before we need to worry about that - in Belgium our tax year is the calendar year.

[sunbeam alpine]

Quick update - the transfer was a mistake, not a scam.

The money has gone back to the sender.