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Yeah, if you do that and the other party runs off with the money you’re screwed.

You can certainly pursue the matter in civil courts, but law enforcement does not like to touch this kind of stuff at all. If the recipient transfers the money overseas, you will most likely never be able to recover it.

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I don't think that's the case everywhere. In Switzerland at least, if I send you money by mistake, I can claim that money back and you would have to give it back to me, even if you have spent it already - unless you can reasonably claim that you were unaware that this money was not meant for you.

As a result, if I received a large amount of money that I coulnd't explain, I would contact the sender or the bank first. I can't just spend it immeditaly and claim that I had no idea.

Yeah, good luck getting that money back if the other party doesn’t want to play along. Enforcing court judgements isn’t easy in these situations.

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