Guide
How to share your bank details safely
Sending an account number, IBAN, or sort code? Here's how to do it without leaving a permanent copy behind.
Is it safe to email or text bank details?
Sharing your account number, IBAN, or sort code is often necessary — for rent, an invoice, splitting a cost, or paying a friend back. But the usual ways of sending them are riskier than they feel:
- Email keeps a permanent record. Your bank details stay in both your "Sent" folder and the recipient's inbox forever, and both get backed up automatically.
- Chats get seen by others. A partner, family member, or coworker scrolling through a shared or borrowed device can stumble on your account info.
- Forwarding spreads it. The person you sent it to might forward the email, and now your details are in a thread you can't see or control.
Bank details on their own usually can't be used to withdraw money, but they're valuable to scammers for impersonation, fake invoices, and targeted phishing. The less they linger, the better.
How to share bank details safely, step by step
- Open SecretDrop. Nothing to install, no account needed.
- Paste your bank details — account number, IBAN, sort code, routing number, whatever's needed.
- Generate the one-time link.
- Send the link by text, email, or chat. The link isn't your bank info, so it's safe to send anywhere.
- The recipient opens it once, copies the details, and it's gone. The link can't be reused.
Best practices
- Add a short note in a separate message so the recipient knows the link is legit and expected (scammers rely on people not verifying).
- Confirm the recipient before sending, especially for large payments — verify who you're paying through a channel you trust.
- Don't include extra sensitive info you don't need to (like online-banking passwords — those are never required just to receive a payment).
- Watch for invoice scams. If someone emails you "new" bank details for an existing bill, call the company to confirm before paying.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to send bank details by email?
It works, but the details stay in both inboxes permanently and can be forwarded or exposed in a breach. A self-destructing link avoids leaving that lasting copy.
Can someone steal money with just my account number and sort code?
Generally they can't withdraw funds with those alone, but the info can be used for scams and impersonation. Keeping it from lingering online reduces that risk.
What's the safest way to send my IBAN?
Paste it into a burn-after-read link so it's revealed once to the recipient and then deleted, rather than saved in an email thread.
How do I know a request for bank details is genuine?
Verify through a separate, trusted channel — call the person or company directly. Be especially cautious of emails claiming a supplier's bank details have "changed."