eBay international wire transfer

Trying to safeguard myself against any type of fraud

[cinjamaid]

Hi - I am just looking for advice! I listed a classic Cadillac on ebay on behalf of my uncle. We have a buyer in the UK. They have paid, and we have just received, a wire transfer to our bank (we in in the US) of the $1,000 deposit. Balance of $16,000, as agreed upon, is following by Monday.

As I understand wires, generally, after 72 hours the money I received is good and can't be reclaimed. But what if fraud is discovered on the senders side? Can the sending bank reclaim it then?

I have no experience in international wires, so I am dependent on what my US bank (Spencer Savings) is telling me, but they are seem confused sometimes.

Should I be asking my bank for more information regarding the wire (senders name, sending bank location, etc) - someway to further validate identity?

I have no intention of releasing the car to the shipper until all funds are received and clear. I am aware of scams where the sender sends excess money and asks us to return excess (but I do not anticipate that happening here).

Because you hear so much about scams, I am analyzing everything to the nth degree trying to see the deception.

Thanks in advance,
James

[pdawg23]

You should definitely ask your bank to make sure.
My bank's manager told me they could take the money only if it's related to terrorist acts, government issues, etc.
Other than that, the money is yours and nobody can take it away without your permission at the time it hits your account.
if you wanna be even safer, you can take the money out when it's available (usually the next day) and put it in a different account.

[cinjamaid]

Thank you. I am going to try and pin Spencer savings down again on their exact policy.

[Tempest123]

You are absolutly in the right to be cautious in dealing with people as there are so many scams being run.

As one poster pointed out funds from wires can be confiscated by the US government if terrorism is involved.

Your bank should be able to provide you with the information that was included in the wire transfer. Wire transfer information is more than just an amount and an account to deposit into, there should be a sender's name and the name of the bank that sent the funds. Of course this information is what was put into the wire from the sending bank.

For international wires there may or may not be one or more banks inbetween the sending bank and your bank.

If you are thinking your bank could call the sending bank to verify anything, I doubt that is possible. I don't know what the privacy laws are for overseas banks but from the sending banks point view if their name and the customers name is on the wire, why would they want to release any other information? Would you want your bank providing information to someone calling from overseas claiming to be a bank and looking for information?

[cinjamaid]

I spoke w/Spencer & they said a wire could be reclaimed due to 1) bank error (it should have never went to you account in the first place) 2) terrorism activities or 3) if both the send AND receiver agree to reverse the wire.

We received the funds on monday and have since moved them out of the account and into another bank.

This morning, we gave the "all clear" to the shipper to begin the shipping/pickup process.

Thank you, everyone, for the advice!