Instructions: what to do if you transferred money to the wrong card or to someone else’s number

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Published: 08/28/2018

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First of all, it is worth noting that in a situation with an erroneous transfer to someone else’s number, it is not possible in all cases to cancel such a monetary transaction without leaving home.

For this reason, you will need to immediately contact the nearest store of your or someone else’s mobile operator. After all, if the funds are credited to the account of a phone serviced by another network, they will have to be contacted.

• Under what conditions can you get your money back? Options for returning an erroneous payment
• What exactly to do
• How to return a payment if the money was debited from a bank card

At the same time, you can try to contact the owner of the telephone number to whose account the money was received in order to offer him to solve the problem “peacefully”.

However, as practice shows, various fraudulent actions have sharply reduced people’s trust, so in most cases a person refuses such a request.

In what cases can you return money from your phone to your card?

The need to return money from your phone to your card arises in the following situations:

• You mistakenly deposited more money into your account than you intended. For example, they wanted to top up their phone balance with 100 rubles, but added an extra zero and sent 1,000. Or instead of one, they pressed five and deposited 500.
• You have a large sum on your phone balance, but you need this money for other purposes. For example, at the beginning of the year they put in 6,000 rubles so that a monthly fee of 500 rubles would be debited. And after a couple of months, you found that you needed 2,000 rubles, and there was nowhere else to get them except to borrow them, and you chose not to borrow, but to withdraw them to a card.
• You made a mistake when entering the number - instead of one or more numbers, you entered the wrong ones or mixed up their order.
• Payment for the goods or services you sold was transferred to your phone balance, but you prefer to spend this money not on communication services, but on other purposes.

The last option was common 10 years ago, but has not lost its relevance in 2021. In 2009 and 2010, it was more convenient for me and my customers to transfer small amounts to the balance of my mobile number. But one day a situation arose when it would be better to receive 1,000 rubles for the next project on a card or in cash. And the conditions for displaying it on the card turned out to be so unfavorable that it remained on the phone. In 2021, options for transferring small amounts to bank cards are more popular. But even on the phone, although not as widespread as before, it is still practiced.

Yota is the only operator that specifically returns money to the subscriber; for the rest, it can be transferred from the phone balance to a card - not necessarily your own

Usually, when it comes to funds on the balance of your mobile number, we are talking about transferring money from your phone to a card. Less often - return of the advance. And money received to someone else's or non-existent number is called by mobile operators an erroneous payment, which has its own return procedure. This procedure varies depending on the specific cellular network. So there are two separate services:

• transfer money from phone balance to card/return advance from phone balance to card;
• return of erroneous payment.

By returning an erroneous payment, operators mean transferring funds to the number for which they were intended. But most operators also allow returns to the card.

Conditions for refund

Did you top up your mobile account with a bank card, but the money didn’t arrive?
After checking the data, it turned out that the number was entered incorrectly, and how can I return the money from the phone to the card? If you sent funds to a non-existent number, they should bounce back, but they may also get stuck in the system, which can only be unblocked by a specialist. There are certain conditions for a refund:

• No more than 14 days have passed since the actual replenishment.
• The transfer was made for no more than 3,000 rubles.
• There was a mistake in one or two characters when dialing the number.
• The number must be registered in some network.

Is it possible to return money from a phone to a Sberbank card by calling 900

You cannot do this, regardless of whether you are returning money from your own number or from someone else’s number replenished by mistake. And this applies not only to Sberbank of Russia, but to any bank.

If you transferred more than you wanted or topped up a number that was not yours by mistake, it is you who made the mistake, not the bank. And the bank is not responsible for the client’s mistakes. Therefore, you will have to solve the problem yourself and interact not with the bank, but with the mobile operator that owns the number you topped up.

It’s a different matter if the reason that the money did not arrive at your number or was debited from the card and more money came to your phone than you wanted was a malfunction in the bank itself. This also happens, although less often than due to errors by mobile subscribers themselves. In this case, you have the right to demand resolution of situations and compensation from the bank. But this is a separate topic.

Another situation is possible when, in order to return the money that went to the balance of the mobile number, you need to contact the bank. These are cases where criminals withdrew money from your card to your mobile phone without your knowledge and before you identified the unauthorized use of the card and reported it to the bank. In this situation, the bank is obliged to launch a chargeback procedure - challenging an unauthorized transaction. But if you yourself provided secret information about your card (PIN code, CVV code on the back of the card, one-time password from SMS) or they turned out to be available to criminals as a result of your carelessness or negligence, and the bank was able to prove this, in returning the money to you they will refuse. Chargeback is a topic for a separate publication, so there is no need to go into further details.

Cancel payment

It is quite simple to return money using a credit or payment instrument if you paid for your own telephone service. After all, each cell phone holder has a personal account on the company’s website, through which he can perform certain functions with his account.

By going to the official website of the operator providing communication services, you can find a tab dedicated to reverse transfer. It may be called differently in each company, but the meaning remains the same. Having visited the desired resource and gone through identification, you enter the account.

The subscriber even has the right to add a personal plastic instrument to his mobile phone account, which will allow him to receive a wider range of services. Of course, for the reverse transfer of the amount, such a procedure is not provided.

You can return accidentally sent money using the “Transfer” tab, where you need to indicate the plastic number and the amount of the return. By clicking on the “Send” icon, the user will complete the transaction minus the interest rate and transfer the money within the time frame specified in the agreement between the telecommunications company and the bank.

Communications companies MTC and Beeline return amounts within a few hours, Megafon takes longer - at least a day and a half. However, the latter has the highest return rate - 8.5 of the transfer. Compensation may include the absence of tax on the part of the receiving banking institution.

How to return money from your phone to your card

Each mobile operator has its own conditions for transferring money from the balance of your number to a bank card. In most cases, we are not talking about returning funds that were over-credited to your number, but rather about transferring them to a bank card. The only exception is Yota - they return funds only to the subscriber’s card.

Let's consider the conditions of such a transfer for each mobile operator that provides such services in more detail.

MTS

You can withdraw money from an MTS number to a bank card on the company’s website under the following conditions:

• transfer amount - from 10 to 15,000 rubles at a time;
• commission - 0.9% of the transfer amount to an MTS Bank card and 1.99–4% to a card of another Russian bank, but not less than 60 rubles;
• up to 5 transfers totaling 75,000 rubles per day;
• The maximum commission amount is 3,000 rubles per day.

On the MTS website, money from your phone can be transferred to a card of not only a Russian, but also a foreign bank.
A similar operation can also be carried out in the MTS Money mobile application.

How to transfer money from MTS to a card using USSD code (video)

Beeline

In Beeline you can transfer money from the balance of a mobile number to a card under the following conditions:

• from 50 to 14,000 rubles at a time;
• up to 14,000 rubles or 10 transactions per week;
• up to 40,000 rubles or 20 transactions per week;
• up to 40,000 rubles or 50 transactions per month.
• commission - 60 rubles for a transfer amount up to 60 rubles, from 60 to 14,000 rubles. — 10% of the transfer amount.

You can withdraw money to your account if the bank where it is opened has a partnership agreement with the operator. Commission - 2.99%. The restrictions have one difference from withdrawal to a card - the minimum transfer amount is 500 rubles.

You can transfer money on the website or via SMS.

To transfer money from your phone to a card on the Beeline website, you need to enter the 16-digit card number, your Beeline phone number, email address for sending a check, the transfer amount, enter a captcha and tick your agreement with the terms.

To transfer via SMS, you need to send a message to the short number 7878 with a text containing, separated by spaces, the name of the card’s payment system, its 16-digit number and the transfer amount. For example, to transfer 5 thousand rubles to a Visa card: “Visa 0000 1111 2222 3333 5000”.

Megaphone

Funds can be transferred from the Megafon number balance both by card number and account details. To do this, you need to use the MegafonMoney service.

You can transfer from 1 to 15,000 rubles at a time, and no more than 40,000 rubles per day. The limit on transfers per month is also 40,000 rubles.

Tariffs for transfers to a card are:

• 7.35% of the transfer amount + 95 rubles - for transfers from 50 to 4,999 rubles;
• 7.35% of the transfer amount +259 rubles - for amounts from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles.

Money can be withdrawn by number to Visa and MasterCard, Maestro and Mir cards.

Transfer using account details is also possible. The tariff for transferring from a phone to an account is 8% of the amount + 40 rubles.

The term for crediting funds depends on the recipient’s bank - from two minutes to five days.

You can withdraw from 1 to 15,000 rubles at a time from Megafon’s number, but not more than 40,000 per day or month

Tele 2

To withdraw money from your Tele2 balance, you just need to indicate your phone number, the recipient’s card number and the payment amount.

In Tele2 you can transfer money from your mobile balance not only to your own, but also to someone else’s card

You can transfer from 50 to 15,000 rubles at a time, but after the transfer, at least 10 rubles must remain on the balance of the mobile number. Up to 50 transfers are allowed per day, up to 1,000 per month. The commission depends on the amount and on average ranges from 50 to 400 rubles. Transfers are made to cards with 16-digit numbers. You cannot transfer money to Maestro, where there are more digits in the number.

Iota

The operator returns money from the balance of the mobile number only to the bank card. To begin this procedure, you need to visit the operator’s point of sale with your passport and a receipt or other proof of payment. You can find the nearest one here using the “Accepting applications” filter. You can fill out an application for refund of the advance payment () in advance or on the spot.

The application must include the following information about the card:

• card type (Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Mir or other);
• number on the front of the card;
• the owner’s first and last name in Latin letters - as on the front side of the card;
• card expiry date;
• Bank's name;
• current account number;
• bank correspondent account;
• BIC.

Yota considers such applications within 30 days. Depending on the bank, it will take up to five days for the money to be credited to the card.

Features of returns from various mobile companies

MTS allows you to return money from your phone to your card thanks to a special one. To activate it, you need to dial the combination *444*incorrectly replenished number#.

This is also important to know:
How money is returned for goods of proper and inadequate quality

Receiving funds from MTS requires compliance with the following conditions:

• compliance with deadlines from the date of replenishment of no more than 14 days;
• no more than 3 mixed up numbers;
• sequence violation of no more than 4 digits.

The refund procedure is completed on the official MTS website by filling out the required form indicating all the necessary data.

The finished document is sent to the feedback service for review. You can also return the money at any branch of the company with a package of necessary papers (passport, terminal receipt).

If money was deposited to the wrong Beeline number, then the company’s official website provides special forms for filling out an application in case of an erroneous payment. They enter all the necessary data and the confirmation code sent to your personal phone.

The Megafon company provides its users with a hotline number 8-800 550-70-95, which can be used to carry out the refund procedure from another mobile phone. If necessary, you can also contact any branch of the operator.

Important

All communications representatives put forward a number of mandatory conditions when transferring erroneous funds, since such schemes can be carried out for the purpose of fraud and withdrawal of money from the accounts of other users.

How to return money to a card if it went to someone else’s number by mistake

In publications on this topic, of which there are many on the RuNet, there is widespread advice to contact the owner of the number that you topped up by mistake and ask him to transfer money to your number or transfer it to the card you specified. Perhaps such an attempt will yield results. But do not rush to accuse the owner of the number you mistakenly replenished of dishonesty if he refuses you or ignores your requests. The thing is that this trick is practiced by mobile scammers - they deliberately top up someone else’s number, then ask the owner to return the money, and having received it back, they order, after which the amount that the victim has already returned to them is debited from her account again. Mobile operators themselves, in particular Megafon, warn their subscribers against such fraudulent tricks.

Megafon officially recommends that subscribers not return money to those who credited it to someone else’s balance allegedly by mistake

About a year ago, 300 rubles were received on my number, which belongs to MTS. Soon I received an SMS signed by a certain Yana, who asked me to transfer money, allegedly mistakenly transferred to my number, to the phone number indicated to her. I ignored the message, and the money, which I simply did not touch, was soon written off from the balance - apparently, just within the limits. Whether this was really a mistake or an attempt at fraud, I don’t know.

Even if you acted without malicious intent, and your interlocutor, whose phone number you sponsored, is respectable and does not need someone else’s, different situations are possible. The person is abroad, sick, busy at work, and finally, you could wake him up in the middle of the night. And this is a common situation: one subscriber drank too much, topped up the number of another by mistake at night, then noticed this and immediately calls the one whose number the money was sent to and in slurred language demands an urgent return of the money. What will be the natural reaction of the interlocutor?

But it would not be superfluous to notify the subscriber, whose account you, unwittingly, topped up, about the error and ask not to touch this money, since you are launching. You don’t even have to call to do this—an SMS is enough. This does not guarantee that the owner of the mistakenly replenished number will not rush to withdraw your money from the balance or mislead. But there are still a lot of decent people who will try not to do this.

In any case, do not delay contacting the operator regarding an erroneous payment. And it’s not just a matter of the time frame when this can be done, which for most operators is limited to a few days. From someone else's balance you will be returned no more than the balance on it. And if there is zero or debt on the balance sheet, you will have nothing to return. You have the right to file a police report about the theft, especially if you notified the owner of the number you topped up about the error and can present an SMS or an audio recording of a phone conversation. But this is no longer in the realm of your relationship with the mobile operator or bank.

Each operator has its own ordering procedure.

MTS

You can return money that was mistakenly transferred to someone else’s number belonging to MTS in two ways:

1. If you made a mistake by no more than three digits, send a message to the chat in your Personal Account on the operator’s website or call the Contact Center at one of these numbers: 0890 from mobile numbers in MTS networks throughout Russia and the Republic of Belarus;
2. 8 800 250 0890 - free from Russian landlines and numbers of other mobile operators;
3. +7 495 7660166 - from abroad.

The operator promises to review the application and return the money within two working days.

When contacting MTS, you must keep in mind the following restrictions:

• the erroneously replenished number belongs to MTS;
• you made a mistake in a maximum of three numbers;
• the order of a maximum of four digits is violated;
• no more than 14 days have passed from the date of payment.

Beeline

You can submit a statement about an erroneous payment in Beeline in the following ways:

• on the web page perenos.beeline.ru
• using USSD command *278#;
• call the short number 07222.

These options are available under the following conditions:

• replenishment amount is less than 3,000 rubles;
• Beeline owns both numbers - the one you topped up by mistake and yours that you wanted to top up; You can check whether the number belongs to Beeline using the command *444*phone number without 8#.;
• you were wrong by a maximum of two digits in the number;
• a maximum of 4 days have passed since the payment date;
• the number does not start with 6, for example, 8 603;
• The number belongs to an individual.

The money will be returned within a few seconds after the request, but not to the card, but to your number.

If your situation does not meet at least one of the above criteria or you want to return the money specifically to the card, two other options are available:

• personally contact the nearest Beeline office with your passport and confirmation of payment;
• send a message by email

The operator will consider your application for 14 days. Mandatory conditions for returning money to the card: only to the one from which the payment was made, and the application must be submitted by the person in whose name it was issued.

Megaphone

To get your money back using an expedited procedure, you need to call one of these numbers:

• 0500977 - free from Megafon number;
• 8–800–550–70–95 — free from any Russian landline or mobile number while in the country;
• +79232500043 - from abroad or within Russia, the call is paid according to the tariffs of your operator.

After the answer, you will need to voice the operator or automatically transfer the correct and incorrect numbers and the payment amount without taking into account the commission, if any was charged - only the exact amount credited to the balance.

An accelerated option is possible under the following conditions:

• the correct and incorrect numbers belong to Megafon;
• both of them are registered to individuals;
• no more than two weeks have passed since the date of payment.

In other cases, only the standard procedure is available - visit the Megafon office with a passport and check and write an application on the spot. In order for the money to be returned to the card, you must fill out all the details specified in the application without errors.

Tele 2

The Tele2 operator, in case of an error when entering the number to be replenished, only offers the option of transferring money from the erroneous number to the correct one. You can report an error to the operator in the following ways:

• via messengers;
• chat on the website;
• through an ambulance service;
• personally contact the Tele2 communication salon with your passport and original receipt.

The check details will also be required for any online application. The operator also recommends reporting the problem in a situation where the money has not been credited to the account within 24 hours after making the payment.

Transferring funds from an erroneous Tele2 number to the correct one is possible if the following conditions are met:

• the wrong number belongs to Tele2;
• the subscriber made a mistake in a maximum of two digits or swapped the digits;
• the receipt has been preserved.

What to do if you write incorrect details

This error occurs most often. This problem is simply solved if a non-existent account number is entered, which leads to freezing of money in the bank's system. To return them, simple sequential steps are performed:

1. you need to call the Sberbank hotline by dialing 900 , or you can also use the phone number located on the ATM from which the funds were transferred;
2. the operator of the banking transaction should be asked to cancel the transaction;
3. Next, you need to come to the bank branch to write a special application, which is given to the employee along with the payment documents received from the ATM.

Why doesn't the bank transfer the money back on its own?

Current legislation prohibits banking institutions from independently performing any actions with clients’ money without their consent. That is why, even erroneously transferred funds become the property of the account owner, and the bank has no right to dispose of them.

According to the agreement concluded between the bank and the client, all responsibility for the manipulations performed falls on the account holder. In particular, the client is independently responsible for:

• any actions that may require entering a PIN code;
• all transactions made through the online banking system;
• refund of erroneously sent money.

When conducting banking transactions, you should be extremely careful, because just one incorrectly entered number can lead to undesirable consequences and require a lot of time and effort to correct the situation.

What to do if incorrect details are entered when transferring money to a legal entity

Many individuals pay for the services of legal entities with the help of banks. This includes payment for housing and communal services or the Internet, as well as fines or taxes. To do this, you can use online banking, terminals, or directly the services of cashiers working in branches of banking institutions.

Most often, payment is made using special documents, so the likelihood of an error occurring is minimal. Usually there is a form with all the necessary details, and often a special barcode.

If an error occurs when manually filling in the details, the bank usually calculates it on its own, so the money is frozen in a temporary account, the field of which is given to the sender who wrote the correct application. If the money has already been transferred, then the issue will have to be resolved directly with this legal entity, and most often you will have to go to court.

If you decide to contact the account owner

First, the question arises of how to contact the owner of this account. Sometimes it can be very simple. If, for example, the transfer was made using the Sberbank Online service, and instead of the card number you entered the phone number associated with it and got the number wrong.