If you’re the blameless victim of a bank transfer scam, you’re now more likely to get your money back under a new reimbursement scheme introduced at the end of last month.
Bank transfer scams, also known as ‘authorised push payment’ (APP) fraud, happen when you’re tricked into sending money to a fraudster from your bank account. The fraudster may be pretending to be someone else or be selling goods or services that don’t exist.
This type of fraud affects thousands of people every year, with most victims never able to recover the money they lost. In the first half of 2018, over 34,000 people lost a total of £145.4 million due to authorised push payment scams and only one-fifth of the total amount lost was returned to customers.*
The new reimbursement scheme is a voluntary code, which came into effect on 28 May 2019 and has already been adopted by several major banks. Now, if you’ve been the victim of an APP scam, providing that you took sufficient care and heeded any warnings the bank will reimburse you for the money that you lost.
The following banks have already committed to the code:
- Barclays
- Lloyds Banking Group
- HSBC
- Metro Bank
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Santander
- Nationwide
TSB has even gone one step further, pledging to refund victims, regardless of the circumstances.
It’s important to note that the code is only valid from 28 May so will not apply to scam payments made before this date.
What to do if you’ve been scammed
If you believe you’ve been the victim of a bank transfer scam you should contact your bank.
You can also contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline for help and information. You can phone them on 03454 04 05 06 or click here
For more information on how to protect yourself from scams, click here
*Figures taken from UK Finance 2018 Half Year Fraud Update