Recycled bank account number

I previously (about a decade ago) had an account with Standard bank which I had closed. For some reason, Standard Bank 'recycled' my account number, giving it to someone else. This resulted in an issue for me. Some money that was owing to me was recently paid into that account. Trying to resolve the issue with Standard Bank was totally unhelpful. I was basically told that nothing can be done for me in this case.