A forum member shared a frustrating experience that is worth turning into a post, because it happens to a lot of people and almost nobody explains it properly. They paid for something online, the seller took the money and vanished, and they did everything right: reported it to their bank and to SAPS. The bank chased the money, and the reply that came back from the other side was two words: “funds utilised”.
If you have ever been scammed on an EFT, you may have heard the same thing. Here is what it actually means and what your options are.
What “funds utilised” means
When you make an EFT, the money lands in the scammer’s account and it is theirs to move. By the time you report it, they have usually already spent it or shifted it on. “Funds utilised” is the receiving bank’s way of saying the money is no longer sitting there to send back. A bank cannot simply reverse an EFT once it has been used, fully or partially, and it cannot pull money out of someone’s account without consent or a court order.
There is a rough logic to what is left. If the scammer’s balance never dropped below the amount you paid in, your money tends to be treated as still there and some of it may be recoverable. If the balance dipped below that, you might get a partial recovery, and if it hit zero there is usually nothing to claw back. You will see this dressed up online as a formal “FIFO” or “lowest balance” rule. The honest version is that it is more of a rule of thumb than a guarantee, and the outcome depends heavily on how fast you moved and how the receiving bank handled it.
Why recovery so often fails
- The money is gone or mixed with other funds by the time you report.
- The account holder can refuse to authorise the recall, and many do.
- An ordinary EFT is not a card payment, so there is no chargeback. Chargebacks only apply to card transactions, which catches a lot of people out.
- Time. A recall generally has to happen within about 40 days, and every day matters.
What to actually do, in order
- Phone your bank’s fraud department immediately and ask them to log it as fraud and attempt an urgent recall. Speed is everything.
- Report it to SAPS and get a case (CAS) number. You will need it.
- Keep every bit of evidence: proof of payment, chats, the advert, the seller’s details.
- If you are unhappy with how your bank handled the report, escalate to the National Financial Ombud (this is the old Banking Ombudsman, now merged in). It is free.
The part that stings
Because of POPIA, the other bank will not tell you anything about the account you paid into, whether the person has been caught, or whether other victims have come forward. You are often left none the wiser, which is its own kind of frustration on top of losing the money.
The blunt takeaway: prevention beats recovery every time, because once you have sent an EFT to a scammer the odds of getting it back are not good. Verify who you are paying before the money leaves your account.
Has anyone here been through a recall like this? Curious how it went and whether you got anything back.