What if you transfer money to a wrong account? Here's how family lost ₹6 lakh after tuition fee transfer error

A family from Miryalaguda lost ₹6 lakh after mistakenly transferring tuition fees to the wrong U.S. bank account over two months ago.

As per a report by TOI, Dongari Chakravarthi is studying Advanced Data Analytics at the University of North Texas. His family sent $7,100 ( ₹5,99,174) for his term fees.

The transfer was made by his elder brother Dongari Pavan from SBI’s Miryalaguda branch on August 27, but an account number error directed the funds to the wrong recipient, leaving the family struggling to recover the money. Pavan said, "My parents are farmers. It was with great difficulty that we managed to secure a loan for the money needed to pay my brother's fees."

SBI could not help as…

Following the incident, Chakravarthi approached the bank to obtain information about the recipient of funds mistakenly transferred from his account. However, the bank declined to provide any details about the account holder, citing privacy reasons. Meanwhile, the university has been urging him to settle his outstanding fees.

Meanwhile, Pavan also reached out to officials at SBI’s Miryalaguda branch to request help in identifying the account holder who received the funds. However, the staff reportedly informed him that such details would need to be obtained from the beneficiary bank in the United States.

"Despite numerous attempts to get a resolution from the bank, we have not received any favourable response. The situation is stressful for us," Pavan told TOI.

Pavan had immediately brought the matter to the notice of SBI Miryalaguda on Aug 30 and also got an acknowledgement from it. "It has been 64 days since the problem arose. I have been appealing to the authorities of both the banks but we have not been able to get our money back," he added.

In response to an ‘X' post by Pavan about his problem, SBI, on Oct 5, advised him not to post banking or personal information publicly for security reasons