Forum

Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Hi All,

This is a cautionary tale to everyone out there using mismatched names between eBay accounts and banks. I'm relieved to say this doesn't apply to me but it's a very serious concern and I'm very keen to hear if anyone else has had an issue like this before?

I have a friend with many mismatched accounts between ebay payee name and bank account registered owner. Some months ago when eBay did an automated quarterly payout they dumped a few thousand pounds into many Chase current accounts which triggered a manual review. When they saw the mismatched names they referred it to the police who seized all the funds. He was fortunate enough to be offered a disclaimer form to forfeit the funds without further investigation and advised to proceed by a solicitor, but the bank registered a CIFAS marker which completely destroys your financial life. He is now in a complete mess and isn't sure how he will manage to continue his mortgage when it's up for renewal or receive any money since CIFAS means every single bank account you own will eventually be closed!

Has anyone ever been questioned by a bank before regarding mismatched names? I'm very concerned about continuing this practice after this.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

How many thousands was it at once ?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

About £4000 across a bunch of current accounts I think but he had 10k in the bank which they also took.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

If he could prove the funds were from his sales why would he forfeit the funds? He basically admitted guilt and has given himself a cifas. If it’s not identity theft, and he’s running the accounts and paying taxes then he can prove everything. Seems like there’s more to this..

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Bunch is more than 10 ?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

The solicitors told him selling other names constitutes money laundering which is what the police were investigating him for.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Should have been to business bank account, or have the accounts in his name.. eBay aren’t linking accounts just based off of names.. seems like a silly situation he’s gotten himself into. I’ve never not had an eBay account that’s not in my name.

Seems like he’s got a terrible solicitor. Money laundering is hiding the proceeds of crime, selling on a marketplace such as eBay in a different name and receiving payouts to a bank account in his real name and identity is not money laundering in the slightest. There’s more to this story than you are letting on.

Regarding the cifas marker I had some stupid friends in the past who gave permission to fraudsters when they were younger to “load” their bank accounts, and of course they ended up with a cifas for 6 years. However one of those friends wrote a long appeal to cifas and they managed to get it removed. So worth giving it a go..

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I do not believe your story though. it is possible to open 10 current accounts on chase but that was certainly not because of 4000 pounds. if this happened the way you described it must have been a much bigger amount with no meaningful previous history of transactions on these accounts

additionally the quarterly dump part in your text also points to false info as it implies that the guy does not make regular withdrawals but amasses money on ebay for longer periods of time

all in all if this happened it was a lot more money , likely to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds received within a short period of time with little to no previous history

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I double

Manual review on bank would be only to very large ammmount of money flowing through it , or some other kind of fraud involving theft - usually only then police would be involved

On top of that that what bank sees as payment from ebay is basically ebay ltd paying so how they saw all the mismatched names ?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Quarterly payout, as in one payout every 3 months? I thought the longest interval you can choose is one month and I've always seen even that as impractical.


If you're scared, can't you (they?) start using business accounts?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Did'nt Ebay want us to keep the fund in our Ebay account to buy things on Ebay?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Yeshttps://i.postimg.cc/1zQrcSPH/Untitled-1.webp

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I think when eBay first brought in Balance for private sellers in the UK they used to automatically transfer the un-spent balance every quarter, apparently they stopped this earlier this year.

Obviously banks can see the name on any incoming transfers, and having many current accounts with incoming transfers to different names would be a massive red flag, especially if they accounts didn't have normal transaction paterns like direct debits, standing orders, POS transactions, etc.

If the bank suspected money laundering they would have frozen the accounts and sent a SAR to the NCA, they wouldn't have told him they suspected money laundering, indeed it would be illegal for them to tell him.

More likely they suspected fraud and gave him a easy way out to close the accounts and sent the transfers back to ebay.

Either way he needs to google 'cifas solicitor' and take legal advice, its unlikely they'll remove the marker though.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Ebay has to give the bank the account number where the deposits should go/.besides the account number,there could be the account holder name as well (the one registered with Ebay).
Since it is easy to transpose numbers,adding the name will make sure it goes to the right account .
Dont forget some folks are still doing it the old fashion way,fill out a deposit slip-I am looking at a Chase BaNK DEPOSIT slip right now,it wants today date,customer name,and account number(the routing number is preprinted on the slip)

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I'll try and answer a bunch of things here..

It was because the 4000 was paid by ebay throughout the middle of the night at stupid times across more than 10 of his current accounts that caused it to be flagged. He did periodically withdraw a few hundred at a time but nothing to the scale of 4k over 6-7 hours in the middle of the night. I think it was a combinations of the number of accounts and time of day that triggered it. Also he didn't use Chase for anything else, just eBay.

Of course the bank can see mismatched names, what you see on the bank statement is the merchant description but the payeee is in the name of the account.

Yes the bank did freeze his accounts for a few months while he had the police sending various letters from the economic crime investigation team. Strangely his ebay accounts weren't even suspended or frozen at all but the other big issue was the police requested eBay turn over all account info related to the payments and told him they could see the accounts were in other identities.

Believe me all of this is true, I have nothing to gain out of making up a wild story. I helped him look through high grade POCA solicitors while it was going on. I'm posting this now as using mismatched names has been making me increasingly anxious seeing what he continues to go though and it's hard to imagine nothing like this has ever happened to anyone here. I know people may not want to discuss it openly so please PM me if you do have something to share.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Were the ebay accounts in "made up" details or was the information real?

And is the situation now resolved or are the police still investigating?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Over 10k is when eBay start asking for Identification. 4k I don't think anyone cares especially eBay

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Weren't we all using mismatched names in the pre-MP days? IIRC we were all using "pseudonyms" for PP and then having mismatched deposits directly into our bank account. Never had a problem in the states, maybe overseas it's different

Also I think there would be a difference btwn using a pseudonym and flat out copping someone's details and conducting transactions as if you are that entity (aka anything that can pass for identity theft, eg using the details of another living person). You def dont wanna go there

but why is this a question in 2026 when most of us are using our real identity with MPs anyway? Unless you are using a rando's personal information to make it through Ayten's verification which, yeah, could def get you in trouble. But it wouldn't be the "mismatched names" that got you in trouble, it would be the theft of another person's identity. Hope I understood the question correctly

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

The "over 10k" transaction likely triggered a manual review at the bank level which showed the stealth name of the incoming payment...and then they looked at all the incoming payments. Sad story to read about but I can believe it :(

kirkland makes a good point about MP being in the real name so the deposits wouldn't cause an issue...but still best to keep amounts less than 9999 in general...

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Chase bank accounts were in his name
Ebay accounts werent.

Thats what I got from reading everything.
The story actually is very likely true.
Ive also had issues when I was using Chase with 10 sub-accounts. But difference is Chase warned me 3 times to stop using my Chase account for business practices and to switch to a business account before they just suspended my account.
But for them to involve police, there must have been a good reason for them to do that… Usually they are very tolerant…


I also had one account with funds seized by eBay(around 2k) for suspected money laundering a few months ago. It was eBay and not the bank…
Banks dont really seem to care if you dont withdraw too huge amounts.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Something about this isn’t ringing true.

For the mandatory quarterly payouts all to happen at exactly the same time means the ebay accounts must have all been created at the same time, literally at the same time. Possible I guess but extremely unlikely.

Beyond the accounts being frozen the Police need a court order to seize funds, this takes time, particularly given the court has to satisfy itself that there is a crime involved. This ain’t happening in a matter of months.

AFAIK, there is no such thing as a ‘Disclaimer Form’, surprised he had time to seek legal advice and a solicitor advised them to sign one citing money laundering! Get a new brief! Again, all within a matter of months. IMO…never happened.

Again, AFAIK, mismatched names isn’t technically identity theft and even then, some forms of identity theft aren’t even a criminal offence. Still smirking at the thought a ‘high grade’ solicitor told him it was money laundering.

As for the question of when his mortgage is up for renewal, I have no Idea what on earth you mean by this, who’s mortgage is ever ‘up for renewal’. Additionally, in the UK we have the right to a current account. Maybe not with Chase, but even the lowest of the low have the right to one.

And all this over a few measly grand….and we’re to believe that rather than applying their own internal security processes they got the Police involved. Nope, not having it.

But we don’t know you or your ‘friend’ so I guess it’s just another of those online chats that goes nowhere…for us anyway, but fun for a few days I guess.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

No right to a bank account if you have a CIFAS marker for fraud and no chance with any major bank, he might be able to find a credit union or fintech account that doesn't check.

And by 'mortgage is up for renewal' they probably mean when whatever fixed rate deal they have ends, no need to worry though, he'll just pay the variable rate.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Sorry but i still dont believe this story

Not sure whats the goal of this
Perhaps to get advice regarding other fraud


Theres many people who get 10k and more 5 digits payouts to mismatched ebay name

Bank sees its as company “ebay ltd” paying you they dont see the actual names

Bank in Uk may close your account without any explanation when theres too much money coming too early when account is not used to it or due to similar patterns
Also as others said its imposssible to accumulate and get all the payouts in the same time

All your accounts must have been created exactly same day same hour same minute which is impossible

Also quarter payouts no longer exist since ebay balance
Just nothing adds up here

Such a situation would 100% happen if you sent money from 10 stolen bank accounts to your bank tho

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I've no idea if the story is true or not, as its a story about something that may or may not have happened to a friend some details will have been lost along the way.

Banks can obviously see the name of the Payee, that's what is not matching the name of the Chase account holder in this story.


eBay Balance would transfer the unspent balance quarterly, they changed this earlier this year, which matches the OP's claim that this happened some months ago.

This used to happen on on the first Tuesday of every January, April, July and October.

Just as business account monthly payments happen on the first Tuesday of the month, and weekly every Tuesday.

It doesn't matter when the accounts were created. nobody is claiming the transfers happened at exactly the same second.

Your are right that there's probably more to this story for the bank to involve the economic crime unit though.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Yes you do. Taken from the .gov.uk website:

The Government also recognises the importance of ensuring that individuals can access banking services to receive wages and welfare payments. Where individuals face barriers when accessing banking services, alternative options may be available. The nine largest personal current account providers in the UK are legally required to offer basic bank accounts to customers who do not have a bank account or are not eligible for a standard current account.


But he is worrying, quote, "...isn't sure how he will manage to continue his mortgage". They're implying they wont be able to continue, unlikely it's simply the end of a fixed rate deal.



Anyway, the poster is offering up a casserole of nonsense, just enjoy the circus.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

That's true, but the legal requirement to provide a basic bank account does not override a bank's legal and regulatory duty to prevent financial crime, meaning they can use this as a excuse to refuse anyone with a CIFAS marker for fraud.

But not really relevant to this story, if its true.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Dear Forum users, please tell me if I can use different names in UK and USA in bank and in ebay. I'm confused about something((

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

EBay account yes, managed payments (Ayden) no.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I can believe this story purely on the fact that chase froze my funds and then eventually suspended my account.

It was impossible to get any answers as to why.
Each time I called them they said internal team was investigating and they couldn't give me anymore information. In the end they asked me for a bank account they could pay the frozen funds to before they suspended the account.

I did have more than 10 accounts open, and the last guy on the call who transferred the funds said that because of high number of bank accounts open and closed with chase that's why they suspended me.

Zero affect to my mismatch ebay accounts, I had to add new bank accounts and continue soldering on.

This was the only bank I had issues with.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

It's interesting to see some individuals invent or misinterpret details and ebay processes in such a way to discredit it. I've been a member of these forums for almost a decade, I'm long past arguing over the internet but I will provide some more info for others.

I'll start by saying I see this guy weekly and know him very well, I was involved with the whole process from start to end so I can testify the story is 100% accurate. I will add that he foolishly nicknamed the bank accounts after the name of the identities / incoming payee names from eBay which probably made the situation much worse. He had another sat 9k in the bank accounts before the payout, most of it was taken via POCA 1k threshold, the bank kept the rest the police didn't confiscate.

I don't understand what this "10k" thing is about but in the UK ebay regularly does KYC right after account creation now or after first sale, I've seen that myself plenty of times. As mentioned the police retrieved this info from eBay directly.

All timelines etc are within the normal threshold for low level POCA investigations which a quick Google search will confirm. What is this payouts all at the same time nonsense? I said throughout the night between around 12am and 6am. This is how quarterly payouts worked before they were axed (this was before..)

I stated the goal of my post quite clearly in my first post, I am very concerned, I want to know if this was a once in a blue moon situation or if others here have had issues with mismatched payments with certain banks. Thank you to Nimble and other guy (sorry forgot your ID) for contributing on this front, sounds like you had a very lucky escape.

That is a lot of banks to replace, what did you you use or was it just a random assortment of high street banks?

People used to be able to get certain basic bank accounts with a CIFAS marker but those days are over, solicitors have lobbied MP's to reduce it from 6 to 3 years for under 21s because it's so life destroying over graduation age.


If anyone else has any bad experiences with banks please contribute, I wanted this to be a bad banks thread, not a debate over reality. Seems clear from the two other posters that Chase should be avoided.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Over a period of time I have opened bank accounts from all major UK high street providers, so just replaced with those.

A couple of times I did have payouts bounce from Natwest but after verifying the bank account again through eBay all was well again.

Back in the day I used to have a lot of savers from santander but had to slowly close them all when they stopped working with eb.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Stopped working on existing eBays because of mismatched names or stopped being able to add to new eBays because they were saving accounts?

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I can't speak on UK but I know first hand back in 2023 I was trying to get my life back on track after losing my main account I built from 2014-2021. So I made a new account in 2022 which really was the only account I made under the new managed payments with real name/real ssn etc. It was a business account under single member LLC, owned by a parent company not my SSN.

That account ended up getting MC999 originally due to INRC, then failed a bullsh1t inspection during my audit (long story). Anyways I was trying to make a lot of accounts in 2023, things weren't going well and I was not patient like you have to be. I recovered my main account from 2010 by paying the fees off it, thinking this could maybe help me, but the account I made in 2023 got linked to it. And although they told me my account from 2010 was fine, after I paid the fees it wasn't. That link then created a chain reaction creating another link to my 2022 account.

I know better not to do this but got desperate, so while talking to an american trust & safety rep on the phone trying to fix my account he asked if I could answer his database questions. For me to proceed further I had to do it. I figured him asking me was a problem, regardless I did it. Soon as I did, he asked me if I was familiar with the username I had from 2022. Moment after. He directly linked me. More so I think he had the link already but needed some confirmation from me. Maybe they don't need this confirmed now or can do it indirectly other ways.

Ebay can link anyone if they want to. I am very confident with this. Whether they will or not is entirely dependent on who reviews your account and what you did wrong. The actual link likely only happens under a very detailed review process, unlikely be a random bot inspection. I presume there is possibly some clause where you have to actually verify it somehow for them. They maybe can't just do these links like before because it involves Ayden now. However they definitely can link any account if they want too. The guy I talked to was pretty high up and it burned me from using eBay for an entire year because I know he put my name in high risk after our phone call.

(side note which does matter, he only linked my most recent account, or at least only mentioned it, even though under managed payments I had functionally made 4 other accounts with real information and my own information)

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

But it's not.

The Police DID NOT seize the monies, and it is bordering on impossible to believe that a 'high grade' solicitor told him to admit to money laundering and sign some imaginary disclaimer to absolve them of any futher issues when it is quite possible no criminal offense had occurred.

And all in a matter of months.....


Anyway, other than "avoid Chase" you seem to know more about this than we do so learn from your 'friends' mistakes.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

I would believe the story if it were not about ebay but payments from third parties who complained about being deceived

with ebay such a situation would play out differently , chase would shut down the accounts for unauthorized business use

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Yes this is bs end of story

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Don't worry OP, these people have their own narrative that they follow.

Sole reason why many old members left this place to begin with. Forum housed with idiots which I can name 2 from UK, one from canada, one from Japan and the other from USA who makes threads: "What is your best AI prompts."

Talk about trying to revive a dying forum.

Mismatched names in terms of banks has always been an issue with certain ones, so this isn't new or would be considered BS by many of the "Elite" so called stealthers here.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

You didn't like my picture thread?


Shucks. :/

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

Because they were saving accounts so couldn't add them to eBay accounts. Not because of mismatched names.

Re: Serious issues regarding mismatched names, bank fraud flags and law enforcement
 

The bank can see the name under the direct debit.