A friend wants to use my account for a wire transfer. Is this a scam or is it legitimate?
"This is another version of an old scam -- ""let me have a check deposited in your account because I can't open one for some reason, and I'll share some of the money with you.""  Here the scammer is promising to ""start a business"" with you as a way to gain your confidence and trust. The first danger sign is that you only know this person from online.  They are not someone you are friends with in the ""real"" world.  They could be anybody.   They used the name of a big company as a way to make what they're doing sound legitimate, but it's all a fraud.  They could be depositing a faked Exxon check into your account, which could land YOU in huge trouble. Here's the thing -- The only way Exxon (or any other company) can deposit money in a bank under someone's name is if that person provides the account and routing numbers to an account that already exists.  No company can just create an account in another person's name.  That's Hollywood movie stuff, but it's not how banking works.  To open an account, the bank would need identification on the account holder, so your ""friend"" already has an account if Exxon has allegedly deposited money.  Further, Exxon isn't going to take back money that has already been deposited.  In fact, they can't take it back.  If the account is in his name, they can't do anything to the account or with the account.   This is a situation you should run away from and never look back.  Nothing about this story sounds right or legitimate, but this is one of the oldest scams out there since the beginning of the Internet. You would be well advised to stay VERY far away from your supposed friend, because they're anything but your friend.  You are being SCAMMED.  Don't be a victim.  Stop communicating with this person immediately, and DON'T give them any personal information of any kind.  They're crooks! I hope this helps. Good luck!" I know people who work in the gulf and most contracts are of the 14 days on/ 14 days (or so) off flavor. I've never heard of someone being onboard a ship or platform for a year. I bet this is a scam. 100% scam. This is classic of mixing real (Exxon) with fiction. This gives credibility to story. Don't give any thing, there is no damage yet. If you take the bait, there are multiple ways to get money from you. "A friend since July online and big business talks and trust/money forwards.  Usually a question ""is this a scam or legitimate?"" is hard to answer since obviously scams are modelled after legitimate stories (or they'd easily fail). If there were bookmakers for ""scam or legitimate"", this one would easily gather odds of 10000:1.  The only plausible reason for this to be legitimate would be to defraud the scam-or-legitimate bookmakers. At any rate, Exxon is a large company and has to obey labor laws.  They cannot set up operations in a manner where their workers may not have access to their salary for prolonged times without easy remedy. Drop communications immediately, don't open them, don't read them.  They hook you with emotional investment.  They will redouble efforts if it appears you are slipping out of their reach.  Explanations will become more plausible, more pressing, more emotionally charged.  You are a big promising fish and they won't let you swim off without a serious struggle to rehook you. Hand your communication so far to law enforcement.  That may help with not having to figure this out on your own." "Just one further point to add to what everyone else has said. There are no oil rigs or platforms ""off the shores of Liverpool"". Liverpool is on the west coast of England, on the oil-free Irish Sea. The UK's oil industry is in the North Sea, to the north-east. Aberdeen would be the correct city." "As a woman who was once married to someone who worked offshore in the North Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Nova Scotia, in fact all over the world...and my husband's rig was contracted through Exxon (by the way, Exxon contracts rigs, but doesn't own any), this is most certainly a scam.  Even if you do not believe all the above information, I will tell you this.  Offshore oil companies will either have schedules consisting of two weeks on/two weeks off or one month on/one month off.  If he is in the Gulf of Mexico, it is almost certainly two weeks on/two off.  Which means this ""person"" who is your ""friend"" is lying to you, because contract or not, no employer holds any employee on the rig for an entire year.  In addition, he can leave the rig anytime he wants to, due to a personal emergency.  And no, once a paycheck is deposited in an employee's account, they cannot take it back.  LOL!! I would like to see them try!!  Don't do this.  It will only cause you heartbreak.  And since all of the posters recommending that you NOT fall for this POS line of bull have nothing to gain, guess who is telling the truth?  It's not your ""FRIEND""!" "This is not only a scam but it is potentially fraud that may get you in trouble. This ""friend"" of yours will wire you some money in which you do not know where this money is really from. It's obvious from other answers that his story is fictitious. Thus it is likely that this money was stolen through another scam/hack in which now he wants to wash this money through your bank account. If it turns out that is was stolen, any money you withdrawal for your ""cut"", will have to be returned and your account will be frozen." In many countries it is a legal requirement or in some other way mandatory for the banks to ban the owner(s) of an account to allow a third party to use the account. In some countries if you willing give someone access in this way you get no compensation what so ever and you'll be lucky if they catch the crooks and even luckier if you get any of your money back. Don't forget the possibility of jail time due to the criminal activities going on under your name.
"He wants to send me money, as a gift. Do you know this friend? It could easily be a scam. What I don't know is that how much money can he send and what are the taxes that would be applicable in this case? There is no limit; you have to pay taxes as per your tax brackets. This will be added as ""income from other sources"". I'll probably be using that money to invest in stock market. If the idea is you will make profits from stock market and pay this back, you need to follow the Foreign Exchange Management Act. There are restrictions on transfer of funds outside of India." Regular wire transfer from bank to bank would be the easiest, safest, and likely the cheapest (next to carrying cash over the border) method. Get the SWIFT info from the US bank you want the many land in (I believe all of the ones you mentioned support SWIFT wire transfers), and give it to your family in China. They'll have to find a local bank that supports SWIFT out-going transfers (might not be as easy as in the US) and send it out from there. Other, more expensive, options would be Western Union/MoneyGram. Or carrying cash over the border, which in these amounts can trigger some questioning from the authorities. There's no tax on wire transfer, but it would be easier on everyone if he would wire himself from his own account. Withdrawing money, depositing to your account and then wiring back to him may raise some flags with FinCEN and IRS with questions about money laundering or gift taxes. Why do you want to complicate things? Can I transfer these money to India in my saving account? What will be tax implication to me? Yes you can. Whether you transfer to India or not does not change your tax obligation. If I understand correctly you are being paid an allowance in UK to cover your expense. If you are saving; then the saving portion is treated as income and you have to self declare this and pay tax according to you tax bracket. Can I transfer these money to my wife's account as a gift? What will be tax implication to me and my wife? There is no tax obligation to your wife. The tax obligation remain same to you as in first point. What if i transfer these money as loan refund to my friend? What will be tax implication for these to me and my friend? If there is proper paper trial to show your friend loaned you a sum at zero percentage and you have paid back; amounts are not to large; then there is no tax obligation to your friend. The tax obligation remains same to you as in point 1. Is there more information that I could review and become more knowledgeable about this type of scam? In response to this, anytime anyone ask you to send money, for a bank password, bank account numbers, etc...  It is most likely a scam.   For more education this search turned up an number of excellent resources. The typical scam is that they overpay you - 'accidentially', or for some obscure reason they claim, and they ask you to wire the extra money either back or to someone else. Because you wire it, that money is gone for sure. Then they undo the original transaction (or it turns out it was fake anyway), and you end up with a loss. Maybe he claims that he wants to buy some more stuff, and the fees are high, so he sends you all the payments in one amount, and you pay the other sellers from it, something like that. There are honest nigerians though, actually most of them. Either way, the real problem is that the original payment is fake. Whichever way it comes to you, you need to make sure that it cannot be reversed or declared invalid after you think you have it. Wire transfer is the only way I know that is not reversible. Bank transfers are reversible; don't think you have it just because it arrives in your bank account. Talk to your bank about what all can happen. If you make the deal, when you send the bike, think about insuring it (and make him pay for that too). That way, you are out of any loss risk. Of course it is a scam.  They don't need your password to give you money. Even giving them the rest is enough information for them to try and withdraw money from your bank by automatic transfer. They want my online banking username and password. I don't know if it's a scam. It can't be any more obvious than that. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER give your online banking password to ANYONE. Not your lawyer, not your bank's local branch manager, not your best friend, not your wife, not your mother, and certainly not some random person on the street/Facebook/the Internet.