Although it is practical to carry out monetary activities through bank account numbers or IBAN numbers, various problems may arise due to this technology.
If money transferrs accidentally send money to a wrong account, the person who deposited money in their account will be legally enriched for no reason. That’s why the person who deposits money in his account should not be happy right away.
The legal methods to be followed are:
Unjust Enrichment
A person who has deposited money in his own bank account due to a relationship that he is not a party to and therefore has received a share from someone else’s labor or assets without a justified reason is legally considered “unjustly enriched”. In other words, in the event that an enrichment is based on an unrealized, invalid or expired reason, the enriched person is obliged to return the portion of the enrichment.
In this case, it is necessary to file a lawsuit in the Civil Court of First Instance located at the defendant’s residence address, based on the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations no.
In the event that the person who became rich without reason before the lawsuit is filed, disposes of the money (goods or) that enabled the enrichment in good faith (without knowing and not expected to know that he was enriched without reason), these values cannot be demanded back, but the remaining values can be demanded back. Again, the bona fide third person, who is enriched without any reason, can even request back from the sender the obligatory and useful expenses incurred on the goods that cause the enrichment.
In parallel, if the unjust enriched person is malicious, this time the sender can also demand back the value increase on the goods that caused the enrichment due to the compulsory and beneficial costs incurred on the goods.
Lawsuits to be filed regarding claims arising from unjust enrichment are subject to a statute of limitations of 2 years from the date on which the right holder learns that he has the right to claim back, and probably 10 years from the date of the enrichment.
Conclusion
An unjust enrichment lawsuit should be filed before the Civil Court of First Instance in time for the cancellation of the money transfer transaction that took place inadvertently for the above-mentioned reasons and for the refund of the unjust enriched amount. At this point, it should be noted that in case it is determined that the unjust enrichment subject to the lawsuit is not the fault of the person, but the fault of the bank, all the litigation expenses incurred by the parties are covered by the relevant bank.
An example of a recent event:
O. A., who lives in Kayseri, spent 3500 TL, which was mistakenly deposited into his account by someone he did not know. O. A., who was sued thereupon, was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison and a judicial fine of 8.000 liras.
In another incident, Durmuş Şahan realized that 28,000 Euros had been deposited into his bank account by mistake and returned the money to its owner.
If he was malicious, he would be punished.
Incident in the USA: An incredible amount of $50 billion was accidentally deposited into a man’s bank account.
“We knew it wasn’t ours. We didn’t earn it. That’s why we didn’t spend it,” says the man, adding that he didn’t think twice about keeping the money in their account without taking any action, knowing that if they spent the money, it would be considered “theft”. The fact that he worked as a law enforcement officer may also have been effective in this decision. However, since most people do not have knowledge about it, the devil can be followed.
So what should you do if money is accidentally deposited into your account?
In case of mistakenly deposited money into your account, it would be best to perform the refund process. Here’s what to do when a mistake is noticed:
- You should contact the bank’s customer service as soon as possible and report the wrong money transfer.
- If the sender is also a customer of the same bank, you can easily solve the problem with the bank. Otherwise, the process may take a little longer.
- You can request that the other party’s account be blocked. It is important to take this precaution, especially when transferring large amounts of money. If the money comes via EFT, you can easily cancel and return the money.
Source: Gülaç Law Office, TRT
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