Buenos Aires, January 21, 2026 – Total News Agency-TNA-Information about a multi-million dollar bank error in Córdoba and its recovery after a police operation in Chaco has been verified as accurate based on consistent reports from national and provincial media, as well as official data from law enforcement. According to police sources, the restitution was completed without resistance from the recipient, closing the administrative stage and leaving the door open for potential further legal evaluations. Cybersecurity specialists consulted by TNA highlighted that the case sets a significant precedent for recovering funds transferred in error, especially in a context of increasing use of digital wallets and instant transfers. The incident involved a 44-year-old woman who mistakenly transferred $3,426,153.42 by typing an incorrect bank alias, sending the money to the account of a man residing in the Chaco city of Barranqueras. The episode originated when the victim attempted to make a legitimate payment—according to various versions, destined for a local institution—through the Banco de la Provincia de Córdoba. A simultaneous error in typing the alias and selecting the recipient caused the funds to be credited to the account of a third party identified as G.N.M., who had no prior link to the sender. After realizing the mistake, the woman filed a formal complaint with the Córdoba authorities, activating the intervention of the Provincial Police's Cybercrime Department, which initiated an intensive digital investigation. In parallel, the recipient was assisted in regaining access to his accounts through facial biometric validation, two-factor authentication, and verification of trusted devices. The process was supervised by the Fiscal Team No. 13, under the direction of Prosecutor Víctor Recio, who formally ordered the full return of the funds and the incorporation of the receipts into the judicial file. They also emphasized the importance of strengthening prior recipient verification mechanisms, carefully reviewing bank aliases, and enabling automatic alerts for large-scale movements. This episode rekindled the public debate about other similar precedents, such as the one that occurred in San Luis in 2025, when a state million-dollar transfer made by mistake led to a criminal case for improper use of funds. In contrast, in this case, the coordinated action between the victim, law enforcement, the judiciary, and the financial platform allowed for a rapid, transparent, and permanent-patrimonial-loss-free resolution. Authorities reiterated the recommendation to users of digital financial services to double-check recipient data, activate additional security mechanisms, and immediately report any errors to maximize the chances of recovery. The operation included the use of open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools to trace bank alias records, virtual wallets, associated emails, phone lines, financial databases, and addresses linked to the receiving account. Based on this technical work, investigators managed to establish that the account holder resided in Barranqueras, Chaco, and coordinated joint tasks with the provincial police to conduct on-site verifications, neighborhood inquiries, and confirmation of the involuntary recipient's identity. When police personnel arrived at the residence, the man explained that he was unaware of the transfer, stating that he managed multiple accounts on the Mercado Pago platform, several of them blocked for not having completed the required security validation processes. This circumstance had prevented him from noticing the credit of the money. A key point of the procedure was the technical intervention of the financial platform. A Mercado Pago operator detected that the funds were in a blocked account and executed an internal refund, transferring the money to an active account of the holder to facilitate its immediate return to the affected woman.
