Checking an IBAN online.

I am remitting a large sum of money. I have been given an IBAN number. Is there anywhere that I can check this IBAN securely?

Also, if I have the sorting code of the bank. Is there anywhere I can check the location of the branch?

Thanks

Google is your friend.

Tintagel said:

I am remitting a large sum of money

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I always do a test run for a very small amount and see if that goes ok before doing the larger amount. It gives peace of mind. I confirmed with bank teller recently if the money does go to the wrong account you do have to rely on the receiver's agreement to return the funds so test run is best IMHO.

IBAN checker per Google.

Sort code tracing per Google.

Tintagel said:

I am remitting a large sum of money. I have been given an IBAN number. Is there anywhere that I can check this IBAN securely?

Also, if I have the sorting code of the bank. Is there anywhere I can check the location of the branch?

Thanks

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There is no way to check who owns the account, you can only check that it's a valid IBAN.

If the transfer is BOI to BOI, Banking 365 leaks part of the actual account name as the transfer narrative eg '365 Online xxxxxxx'.

Sue Ellen said:

do a test run

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Same here - let your payee know & have them confirm

1) Always check over the phone first with whoever you are paying that the IBAN is correct. Sometimes email systems are hacked and fraudsters request payments to their own IBAN.

2) it is hard to make a transcription error with an IBAN. Usually a single wrong digit will result in an error message.

Tintagel said:

Also, if I have the sorting code of the bank. Is there anywhere I can check the location of the branch?

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This shouldn’t matter to you if you are happy that the payee is the right one.

Tintagel said:

I am remitting a large sum of money. I have been given an IBAN number. Is there anywhere that I can check this IBAN securely?

Also, if I have the sorting code of the bank. Is there anywhere I can check the location of the branch?

Thanks

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• There are a number of NSC (Sort Code) checkers available: Google "NSC Checker Ireland". Some of these will give you the actual address details.
• There is a NSC and Account checker here: BPFI Account Checker
• And here is a IBAN Validator: BPFI IBAN Validator

Be wary of these. Not all are kept up to date with new branches etc, and for example all Ulster Bank Sortcodes, account numbers and IBAN's will still pass.

I would echo what others said, and these are steps I always follow for larger amounts:

• If I received the destination IBAN by post, email, etc I always call the intended recipient and get them to call out their IBAN to me (not the other way around). I make a record of the time and date of the call and the name of the person.
• If the transaction amount is large similar to @Sue Ellen I will generally send a small amount first and send a message to the recipient asking them to confirm receipt before I send the balance.
• I also tun a test transaction any time I set up a new Payee/IBAN for any of my own accounts.

Freelance said:

Be wary of these. Not all are kept up to date with new branches etc, and for example all Ulster Bank Sortcodes, account numbers and IBAN's will still pass.

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The IBAN checkers just make sure they are the correct length for the country code and check the number's checksum. They aren't validating against a database.

To all the sensible advice already given, some small additions:

a) The person actually making the transfer should always be the one to make a verification call. A call from the recipient is not the correct process. If you have a book-keeper, partner or anybody else making the fund transfer they must make the call. An email from you to an assistant to say " here are the IBAN details- I've already verified them" introduces an opportunity for a criminal to step into your internal communications. This is one of the most common attack vectors.

b) A verification call is only secure if you have received or verified the phone number independently of receiving the IBAN, or if you know the person well enough to be able to 100% know who you are talking to. Sounds obvious, but I have seen emails "what's your number so I can call you to verify these details?"

c) Don't drop your standards just because you know the recipient very well and think you will instantly recognise them. AI now allows voices to be convincingly deep-faked and it is only a matter of time before criminals use this. Probably already happening.

MOB said:

b) A verification call is only secure if you have received or verified the phone number independently of receiving the IBAN, or if you know the person well enough to be able to 100% know who you are talking to. Sounds obvious, but I have seen emails "what's your number so I can call you to verify these details?"

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There really is a lot of innocence out there about what is known as CEO fraud.

I have some items in storage and I get invoiced by the storage firm quarterly by email and pay by standing order. Same arrangement for years. Out of the blue a few months ago the firms emails me saying "Dear Dr S, We are moving to a direct debit system, please click on this link to start the process ". The link was to a third-party website I'd never heard of and was asking me to provide IBAN and authorise direct debits.

I rang the firm up on the number on their website and asked them if it was legitimate. They said yes it was. I said this is a really common scam. They said it hadn't even occured to them and I was the only customer that had queried it!

Sue Ellen said:

I always do a test run for a very small amount and see if that goes ok before doing the larger amount. It gives peace of mind. I confirmed with bank teller recently if the money does go to the wrong account you do have to rely on the receiver's agreement to return the funds so test run is best IMHO.

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I did the same for a solicitor recently with 5 euro. Even though the IBAN is correct, and I copy paste it in to make sure, no way would I transfer any significant sum to a new account without making sure doubly sure that it's received before transferring the correct amount.