How to make a claim to be reimbursed if you think you’ve paid a scammer
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud is the most common type of financial scam in the UK. It involves fraudsters tricking individuals and businesses into sending them money.
You’ll likely realise you’re a victim to this type of scam when you’ve made a payment to an individual and the goods or services promised haven’t turned up or the person you’ve paid is no longer contactable.
APP fraud reimbursement rules
If you’re a victim of APP fraud, you may be eligible to get your money back.
How to report APP fraud
Make a claim to be reimbursed
Contact us
Call us on 0330 024 0924 (from abroad call +44 207 153 8940) as soon as you realise you may have paid a scammer, so we can create and investigate your claim.
Check your statements
Make sure you have all the details of the unrecognised payments. Please include everything that took place as this will assist the investigation and help us try to recover any money.
Contact Action Fraud
Get in touch with Action Fraud (the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime) via their website or on 0300 123 2040.
We’ll provide an update on your claim
We’ll contact you to provide an update on your case within five working days. From time to time, we’ll require additional information.
Report fraud to the Police
You should report all instances of fraud to the Police, and obtain and provide us with a crime reference number. We may, with your permission, share the case details with the Police after you have raised a claim to be reimbursed.
How we review APP fraud claims
Claims will be processed within 5 working days and, if approved, reimbursed within this time.
In some cases, we’ll require extra information, for example, from you or another bank, which means it can take up to 35 business days to resolve a claim. Regardless, we’ll still provide you with an update within the first 5 working days.
We consider the following when assessing each claim:
- Whether there is evidence of first-party fraud (where you’re behaving fraudulently)
- Your vulnerability
- Whether there is any evidence of gross negligence
- Whether the claim qualified under the reimbursement requirement
We may, with your permission, share relevant information like personal or account details with the receiving firm to help resolve the claim.
If you’re not satisfied with our assessment
Please reach out to our complaints team in the first instance. If you don’t feel that we’ve been able to reach a satisfactory resolution to your complaint, you may contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
FAQs
A scam is where you’re tricked into giving money to a scammer. Scammers impersonate people and organisations, through emails, phone calls, and texts that seem genuine.
The rules apply to individuals, microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees as well as turnover and/or annual balance of up to £2m), and charities who fall victim to APP fraud.
Yes, the rules only apply to payments made on or after 7 October 2024. APP fraud claims must be raised within 13 months of the final payment made to the fraudster as part of the same scam.
Yes, we will charge a levy of up to £100 per claim which would be deducted from your refund.
If you have a vulnerability that has a material impact on your ability to protect yourself from a scam, you won’t be required to pay any excess on the claim.
Yes, the maximum claim amount for an APP reimbursement claim is £85,000 (this applies to any related payments considered to be part of the same scam).
The maximum claim amount applies to all customers, including vulnerable customers.
The rules apply to any Faster Payment made from one UK account to another (both accounts must be in the UK, and can send or receive money through Faster Payments) or any payment made through CHAPS to another CHAPS account in the UK.
Payments won’t be considered for reimbursement where a ‘standard of caution’ is not met. The customer standard of caution requires a customer not to act with gross negligence. Gross negligence could be ignoring warning messages given when trying to make a payment or not notifying us in a timely manner if you suspect you are a victim of a scam.
If you have a vulnerability that has a material impact on your ability to protect yourself from a scam, you won’t be subject to the standard of caution.
No, not all APP scams qualify for reimbursements. The following exclusions to the reimbursement rules apply:
- International payments - If the bank accounts involved are outside of the UK.
- First party fraud - If you are found to have been behaving fraudulently.
- Gross negligence - If you don’t show reasonable care and diligence to protect your account. For example, if you ignore warning messages when making a payment.
- Payment made using cheques or cash.
- Payments which are not made through Faster Payments - Faster Payments arrive within seconds and don’t include card payments or BACS.
- Payments which are not made through CHAPS - CHAPS is same-day bank transfer system for high-value transactions in Pounds Sterling. For example, it can be used for house purchases.
- Civil disputes, for example a non-criminal dispute such as a breach of contract where goods were not delivered as promised etc.
- Payments made to another account of yours or to another of an additional account holder.
- Payments that are not authorised by you or the additional account holder. For example, if someone else makes a payment from your account.
- Payments sent or received by credit unions, municipal banks and national savings banks.
- Payments made for unlawful purposes.