An unfortunate cash-send mistake became a heartwarming moment for Saskia when the person behind the wrong number she had sent money to responded with honesty, accountability and did the right thing.
Cape Town, South Africa (01 September 2026) – Sending money to the wrong person is enough to make anyone’s heart nearly stop. Saskia experienced this recently when, in an effort to help a staff member who needed money to buy new keys for a work-related door lock, the cash-send payment she made unfortunately went to the wrong number.
While Saskia was waiting for confirmation that the staff member had received the payment, she received a message from the number she had sent the money to – and quickly realised it was not the staff member in question.
“I suddenly started receiving messages from the number given for the cash send, indicating that they would send their brother to withdraw the money. I didn’t think anything of it. Until the person texted again asking: ‘who is this?’ my heart stopped,” Saskia tells us.
Saskia knew at that moment that the funds had gone to the wrong person.
Within minutes, the staff member concerned confirmed that she had made a typing error when sending Saskia the phone number.
But the stressful money mishap took an interesting turn.
The man behind the wrong number, Mr Bheki Shongwe, was originally from Newcastle but had relocated to Mpumalanga due to the lack of work in the area. He assured Saskia that although his brother had already withdrawn the money, he would personally repay it the next day.
“True to his word, he asked for my bank account info and repaid it,” a relieved Saskia says.
And although the amount in question was not large, Saskia was most moved by Bheki’s honesty and integrity.
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What also made Saskia’s day was that the staff member she had intended to send the money to owned her mistake.
“There are few staff these days who own their error and stand up for the mistake.”
And with the matter finally put to bed, Saskia acknowledged and applauded Bheki’s honesty, while also commending her staff member for showing strength of character.
“We all make mistakes; it is how we recover from them that is the learning,” she shares.
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