No email following a donation

[ali.as]

After I donated, no subsequent email with link to download the Donation Edition arrived.

[xCSxXenon]

Check spam folder?
After donating, it should have also taken you directly to your download page. Check browser history?

[ali.as]

/Check spam folder?
Of *course* I checked all the folders.
/ After donating, it should have also taken you directly to your download page. Check browser history?
Nope. Didn't happen. And of *course* I checked.

[ali.as]

Still nothing, nowhere.

[totonico]

Même problème malgré plusieurs mails (2) de mise en demeure.
J'ai vérifié dans les spam et suivi les étapes proposées rien n'y fait ARNAQUE ?

[ali.as]

Même problème malgré plusieurs mails (2) de mise en demeure.
J'ai vérifié dans les spam et suivi les étapes proposées rien n'y fait ARNAQUE ?

Seems like it. Well, lesson learned, I suppose :) Never trust anyone on the internet.

[Plerry]

Why assume that FreeFileSync (FFS) suddenly went rogue after 18 years?

Simply drop Zenju, the FFS author and admin of freefilesync.org, an E-mail at zenju [at] freefilesync.org .
Normally Zenju reacts fast to these sort of posts (it is just a single day now),
and perhaps he is temporarily unavailable (sick, away for a long weekend, ...)

[ali.as]

/ Simply drop Zenju, the FFS author and admin of freefilesync.org, an E-mail at zenju [at] freefilesync.org .
Done it on Sunday morning. It's Wednesday afternoon now.

[Zenju]

Same problem, despite sending two formal notices via email.
I checked my spam folder and followed the suggested steps, but nothing works—is this a scam?

You have failed to confirm your donation so it was cancelled by your bank:

A payment for €5.00 was canceled       
9/3/26, 7:31:56 AM

An attempt to fulfill the payment for €5.00 failed       
9/2/26, 7:36:45 AM

payment for €5.00 failed       
9/2/26, 7:36:45 AM

The payment for €5.00 requires the customer to take action in order to complete the payment   
    9/2/26, 7:35:39 AM
   
A new payment  for €5.00 was created
9/2/26, 7:35:37 AM


[Zenju]

After I donated, no subsequent email with link to download the Donation Edition arrived.

You would need to provide at least *some* details in order investigate this. The only donation attempt for your email was in 2024 and it was cancelled.

[Zenju]

Normally Zenju reacts fast to these sort of posts (it is just a single day now),
and perhaps he is temporarily unavailable (sick, away for a long weekend, ...)

Turns out I was busy programming! :D And no, I don't give any guarantees with regards to email response times or even answers as in 99.9% of "email not received" cases, the issue lies with the recipient side.

[ali.as]

After I donated, no subsequent email with link to download the Donation Edition arrived.

You would need to provide at least *some* details in order investigate this. The only donation attempt for your email was in 2024 and it was cancelled.

I sent an e-mail to you (zenju [at] freefilesync.org) on Sunday, where I enclosed a payment order (PAYMENT ORDER NO.1788077793130 DEBIT ADVICE) The status (according to the bank) is: it has been already sent to beneficiary.

[totonico]

Hello,
Your reaction and comments demonstrate how seriously you handle things. Unfortunately, I cannot provide any explanation for the refusal you mentioned. My bank processed your QR code, but I cannot give you any further information regarding the rest. I am not sure if I will try it again... I am still thinking it over. All the best, and thanks again for your professionalism.

[xCSxXenon]

QR Code?
It sounds like the people with issues possibly got scammed by a fake site?

[ali.as]

QR Code?
It sounds like the people with issues possibly got scammed by a fake site?

For as long as https://freefilesync.org/donate is not a scam site, I highly doubt this. I operated from this site, I followed the banking requisites from this site.

[ali.as]

6 days have passed. What's the sitrep?

[Zenju]

The status (according to the bank) is: it has been already sent to beneficiary.

Bank transfers are not instant—even for your €1 transaction. Unlike PayPal or credit cards, bank transfers take several business days to arrive. You just need to wait.

[ali.as]

The status (according to the bank) is: it has been already sent to beneficiary.

Bank transfers are not instant—even for your €1 transaction. Unlike PayPal or credit cards, bank transfers take several business days to arrive. You just need to wait.

9 business days for a bank-to-bank standard SEPA. I believe that even for the most AML-suspicious transfer, this is more than enough. The payment has been sent to your beneficiary bank and has not been returned (quoting my bank).

[Zenju]

I've asked Stripe (the payment processor) for support regarding your IBAN transaction and will report back.

[Zenju]

Stripe was not able to find any bank transfer activity for this IBAN.
In order to check and confirm, could you provide a bank statement with a written confirmation that the funds were actually debited from your bank account to the IBAN of FreeFileSync?

[ali.as]

As this statement contains sensitive information, I will e-mail the requested info to your e-mail ASAP.

[Zenju]

Our banking partners at Citi have reviewed the details and confirmed that there is no record of a payment received matching the provided transfer information for the Virtual IBAN.

Because Stripe has no visibility or record of these funds reaching our accounts, please ask the customer to contact their sending bank to initiate a trace on their side. Their bank will be able to verify the routing status of the funds, confirm whether the transfer was rejected, or determine if it has been returned to their account.

Stripe Support Team

[ali.as]

Considering the following:
Transaction number RMO3273518* (hidden for privacy)
Fee for request 20,00 EUR

consider the issue closed.
I know I have paid.
I have provided you with all the possible documentation I can.
I suppose I have learned a rather inexpensive lesson: Never donate.

[Zenju]

I have never seen a case where an IBAN payment didn't arrive. I suspect the payment bounced back at some time for reasons only your bank can explain.

[ali.as]

If it 'bounced back, why haven't it 'arrived back'? The status on my part is, as I have numerous times stated, 'already sent to beneficiary.' No chargeback of any kind has arrived. My account statement, which proves it, contains too much sensitive data to post it / send it.

[Zenju]

Clearly this isn't about the money (1€). If I were you I'd be curious to find out where the money went. But the ball is on the side of your bank.

[ali.as]

New development. Today, I received a KYC/AML request from a correspondent bank regarding a detailed purpose of payment to FFS. I compiled a letter in English and replied.

[ali.as]

Final update. The amount was returned to my account. To quote the accompanying document: 'Regulatory reasons'. Suppose that's it. Sorry for the whole mess.

[Zenju]

So, you took the time, wrote a letter for this tiny € amount, someone at the bank (an intermediary?) looked at it and said: NOPE! And this after weeks of radio silence. No reasons given. WTF

[m.ramsch]

@Zenju: As a relatively new security measure, the bank now checks whether the recipient name provided for SEPA transfers matches the name on file with the receiving bank for that IBAN.
I’m supposed to use “FreeFileSync.org” as the name and IE58…241 as the IBAN for the donation, but my bank is warning me that the names do NOT match. In this case, they recommend not making the transfer, and I’m following that advice.

So what is the correct account recipient name that matches the provided IBAN?

And I would recommend displaying this correct name on the website for potential donors as well.

Kind regards, Martin Ramsch