Mistaken wire transfer/payment error

@analogjackal11
It took me about three business days to get it sorted, I guess.

Alright, let’s see if anyone can clear this up for me. Is it actually possible for someone to wire money to my account at JP Morgan Chase using a different name? Here is the situation: my name is Mirko Mirkić, and I have a standard checking account over at JP Morgan Chase. A buddy of mine wants to use my routing and account numbers just to get some funds moved into my account, but his name is Ivan Ivić.

To be crystal clear: different name, but my specific account details.

Can it be done, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Has anyone actually pulled this off in the real world?

Will the bank start breathing down my neck about it?

I’ve sent money to buddies using whatever random crap I typed into the name field, and honestly, nothing ever happens.
To be fair, I was keeping it under $333, so maybe things change once you start moving real money.
But I highly doubt some bank clerk is sitting there proactively tracking my tiny transactions just to call me out.

Hey there! 👍

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Hey, hope I'm in the right place here.
I work as a cashier at a big retail chain. During the shift handover, they found a $100 shortage in the register. I checked the security footage, but couldn't see any mistakes on my end. Am I on the hook for this amount?

I'd say 99.9% yes. Especially if there isn't some obvious glitch in the camera feed—which would be pretty weird if something actually went wrong by accident. As it stands, this looks like a textbook setup. They just pocketed an extra hundred bucks.

PS. I've seen situations at bank tellers where the footage shows someone was handed "too much" cash by mistake. It doesn't matter how much it was; the customer still had to cover the difference out of their own pocket. So, the security camera doesn't really solve anything. At most, you're relying on the person's good conscience to pay it back... assuming you can even track them down. Nothing more than that.

I truly believe you have no choice in the matter. Back when I was working at Chase, I personally never made a single error—though, looking back, it was likely just because I hadn't been on the job long enough 😁—but I once had a colleague who managed to $1000 process a withdrawal through the system as if it were a $3,000 deposit. By the end of the business day, she was left with a deficit of $2000, and while she realized immediately which transaction had caused the mess and reached out to the client, he flatly refused to come in to sign the reversal paperwork and fix the entry.
She was stuck footing the bill herself, and since our monthly pay was only about $4,800 back then, and the bank didn't want to cause a scene with the client...

Drew Johnson2 said:I truly believe you have no choice in the matter. Back when I was working at Chase, I personally never made a single error—though, looking back, it was likely just because I hadn't been on the job long enough 😁—but I once had a colleague who managed to $1000 process a withdrawal through the system as if it were a $3,000 deposit. By the end of the business day, she was left with a deficit of $2000, and while she realized immediately which transaction had caused the mess and reached out to the client, he flatly refused to come in to sign the reversal paperwork and fix the entry.
She was stuck footing the bill herself, and since our monthly pay was only about $4,800 back then, and the bank didn't want to cause a scene with the client...

Something similar happened to me, but I just accepted the refund. It didn't seem right to take money from an employee.

urbanowl81 said:Something similar happened to me, but I just accepted the refund. It didn't seem right to take money from an employee.

You'd be surprised how many people go with that first scenario... they probably assume the bank will eat the cost instead of passing it onto the staff.

cosmicpanther70 said:You'd be surprised how many people go with that first scenario... they probably assume the bank will eat the cost instead of passing it onto the staff.

Exactly, everyone seems to think they can screw over a major institution like Chase, but it's us—the people behind the counter—who get squeezed... The bank doesn't lose a dime; it's the teller who has to make it right. One tiny moment of distraction, one second where you aren't looking, and suddenly your paycheck is just... gone, or worse, several shifts' worth of pay vanishes into thin air. I remember this one time, just once, when someone tried to slide an old twenty-dollar bill past me—one of those discontinued ones that isn't even legal tender anymore. I had to void the whole transaction, record the amount in the register, and I was left holding that useless piece of paper as a little souvenir of my mistake. Luckily, it was only twenty bucks... but ever since then, I find myself checking every single note with an almost obsessive level of scrutiny...

Drew Johnson2 said:I truly believe you have no choice in the matter. Back when I was working at Chase, I personally never made a single error—though, looking back, it was likely just because I hadn't been on the job long enough 😁—but I once had a colleague who managed to $1000 process a withdrawal through the system as if it were a $3,000 deposit. By the end of the business day, she was left with a deficit of $2000, and while she realized immediately which transaction had caused the mess and reached out to the client, he flatly refused to come in to sign the reversal paperwork and fix the entry.
She was stuck footing the bill herself, and since our monthly pay was only about $4,800 back then, and the bank didn't want to cause a scene with the client...

They ask for that because they know you're afraid. Banks have insurance for these kinds of mistakes; it happens. But if employees are the type who are too scared to stand up for themselves... well, they'd rather just pay out of pocket. That's why they get away with it.

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haha, there’s no insurance for stuff like that... if there were, people would just exploit the system. Sure, you have insurance, but it doesn't cover those specific gaps... because if it did, we'd be claiming "missing items" every single day... and then the insurance companies would be footing the bill constantly... so yeah...

cosmicpanther70 said:haha, there’s no insurance for stuff like that... if there were, people would just exploit the system. Sure, you have insurance, but it doesn't cover those specific gaps... because if it did, we'd be claiming "missing items" every single day... and then the insurance companies would be footing the bill constantly... so yeah...

There is. It exists. The problem is you folks at the service counters don't realize it because everyone is terrified, and they teach you all that any mistake has to come out of your own pocket. If one person refuses to pay for an error, everyone else picks up the tab. People fear that, and the big banks exploit it. They keep themselves suppressed.

Fear is the ultimate motivator. People think, "I'll just pay it so I don't cause trouble, since I messed up anyway." But that’s just a business risk that the bank should be accounting for and covering.
They cover losses when an employee steals, but when a mistake happens, the "slaves" have been trained to think, "It's my fault, so I'll pay."
That kind of thing doesn't fly at a major Wall Street firm. Your colleagues there have protection, but in these local branches, it's just a servant mentality: stay quiet, take the hit, and suffer in silence.
Just pay it.

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Look, I haven't personally stood behind a teller window, but I know people who have. I know folks who fought back with union reps and lawyers in their corner... and some even lost their jobs over it. At the end of the day, you're still out of work. It’s a wash. The bank stays covered, but the employee? They’re left hanging. Honestly, those excuses about "accidents" are just child's play... if an individual's error is proven, they pay for it out of their own pocket.

Then again, I've seen the other side of the coin too. There are cases where tellers were straight-up skimming cash under the guise of "clerical errors." There were times when the bank just looked the other way and didn't press charges—right up until someone started gaming the system systematically. Every story has two sides...

I suppose I should mention that my tenure there was relatively brief, and while I don't recall making any catastrophic blunders, we did sign contracts that included strict confidentiality clauses regarding banking privacy and a requirement to personally cover any losses caused by our own errors... As for the legalities of it all, I can't say I'm an expert on labor law, though I suspect there was some creative maneuvering involved; they used to implement these two-day gaps in employment between contracts just to prevent women from qualifying for maternity leave, effectively forcing them to stay on fixed-term extensions for three years straight to avoid those benefits... It was over a decade ago, back when a career at a major firm like JPMorgan Chase was considered the gold standard... Nowadays, in my hometown, they’ve actually cut back their operating hours because they simply cannot find anyone willing to work for wages that are barely higher than what you'd make washing dishes during the summer rush in Miami.

boldnomad45 said:They ask for that because they know you're afraid. Banks have insurance for these kinds of mistakes; it happens. But if employees are the type who are too scared to stand up for themselves... well, they'd rather just pay out of pocket. That's why they get away with it.

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Jeje, they should just have the branch manager open that little side safe labeled "Shortage Fund for Birthdays and New Babies" and pay out whatever the teller is missing.

People, please, get real. In America, banks basically exist to fleece both the customers and the low-level clerks working the branches.

That was over a decade ago when banking was actually a decent career. Now, in my hometown, the local branches are cutting hours because they can't find anyone to work there. The pay is basically on par with a seasonal dishwasher.

That’s the thing. Banking today is an industry where nobody wants to work because everyone has already heard about the responsibilities involved.

Regardless, my advice to the staff is this: if you make an error that can be reversed—meaning you didn't just hand a customer a massive pile of extra cash—just void the transaction to match what was actually paid or deposited. Don't bother asking for a signature.
You aren't going to get fired 99% of the time since you're acting in good faith 😁 , and more importantly, your own wallet stays intact.