Ultimate GUIDE to getting YOUR MONEY BACK

If the worst happens don’t despair, just read our...

MONeY MAIL routinely hears from desperate fraud victims whohave been denieda refund by their bank.

Here, we explain all the tips and tricks we have learned that will help you fight your corner if this happens to you.

Yourconsumerrightsdependonthetype of fraud.

If you are the victim of what is known as ‘unauthorised fraud’, your chances of getting your money back will be much greater.

This is where someone has stolen your money without you realising — by using yourbankdetailstogoonaspendingspree, for example.

Often, the first you will know about the crime is when you discover you do not have as much money in your account as you should.

Or your bank may have blocked your debit card after becoming suspicious about activity on your account.

As soon as you notice something is amiss, call your bank’s fraud helpline.

City watchdog the financial Conduct Authority says your bank should usually repay you in full by the end of the next business day.

But under the Payment Service R egulations, your bank can refuse to give you back the money if it believes you have acted fraudulently or have been ‘grossly negligent’.

This m ight m ean i t t hinks y ou h ave b een careless with your account passwords or shared your Pin with someone else.

NEW REFUND RULES

If T He b ank d isputes y our c laim, i t m ust have solid evidence that you have done something wrong.

Last y ear, 9 8 p c o f u nauthorised f raud o n payment cards was refunded by banks, according to the trade body UK finance.

There i s a 1 3-month t ime l imit f or r eporting unauthorised payments.

Things get trickier if you are the victim of so-called ‘authorised fraud’.

This is where you are conned into t ransferring your money to the criminals yourself.AndaswerevealonPage43,there is no limit to the deceitful and convincing tactics crooks will use to trickvictimsintomakingsuchpayments.

Until recently, if you lost money to one of these types of scams, your bank was not obliged to refund you.

But after a Money Mail campaign for fairer treatment of v ictims, a new code of conduct was launched on May 28, 2019.

Under the new rules, customers should be reimbursed provided they have taken reasonable care to protect themselves.

However, the new code is v oluntary. And while most major banks have signed up to it, many smaller firms have not.

Boththebankthatmadethetransfer and the bank that received the money must have joined for the new rules to apply.

Sofar,thisincludesBarclays,the Co-operative, HSBC, Lloyds, Metro, Nationwide, RBS/NatWest, Santander and Starling Banks. TSB has its own fraud guarantee, which promises to refund all innocent victims.

But even those banks which have signed up to the code are still t rying t o w riggle o ut o f r epaying some defrauded customers. TheLendingStandardsBoard,which g overns t he n ew s tandards, is s o c oncerned t hat i t l aunched a formal review in July.

DEVIL IN DETAIL

OfTeN banks will say the c ustomer did not take enough care o r c arry o ut s ufficient c hecks before making a payment.

But the new code states only thatcustomersneedtohavea‘reasonablebasis’forbelievingthe payee is whom they expect. So explain clearly why you believed the person you paid was legitimate. Did they know lots of personal information about you? Did t hey u se a f ake e mail a ddress almost identical to a real one?

The m ore d etail y ou c an p rovide to prove the scam was particularly sophisticated, the better chance you will have of getting your money back.

The new code also states that banks must provide customers with ‘effective warnings’ when they are making an unusual p ayment — such as when you’re paying s omeone n ew. I f y our b ank failed to do this, make sure you include this information within your complaint.

You s hould a lso t ell y our b ank i f you a re v ulnerable, b ecause u nder the new rules they are obliged to take extra measures to ensure you are protected.

This could be because you are older, unwell, recently bereaved or perhaps you just have an u nusually l arge a mount o f m oney in your account — following a house sale, for example.

ACT QUICKLY

IT I S v ital y ou r eport a ny s cam a s soon as you realise it has h appened to give your bank the best c hance o f r ecovering s ome o f the stolen funds.

You should also alert the bank that r eceived t he m oney, b ecause it may be able to stop the cash leaving the account.

If you don’t know where the money h as g one, y ou c an f ind o ut by entering the sort code on the faster Payments’ website(fasterpayments.org.uk/ sort-code-checker).

If you do not think your bank acted quickly enough, say so. Under UK finance’s Best Practice Standards, banks must c ontact the receiving bank as ‘soon as they have all the information necessary to do so’.

You should receive a letter within three days to confirm the details of your report, and the bank then has 15 days to decide whether or not to refund you.

If the bank refuses to co-operate, you can complain to the financial Ombudsman Service.

This is a free alternative to the courts, where an adjudicator will assess your case. It can order a bank to refund you if it finds in your favour.

Call 0800 023 4567 or complain online (financial-ombudsman. org.uk/contact-us/ complain-online).

You s hould a lso r eport t he s cam to Action fraud, part of the City of London police. Your case will be analysed for any leads identified t hat c ould h elp w ith a n i nvestigation. This will not help you get y our m oney b ack, b ut i t c ould help stop others being scammed by the same fraudsters.

If you are unsure about making a t ransfer, a t op M oney M ail t ip i s to send a random amount to the account in question — say 37p — and then call the recipient to check w hether t hey h ave r eceived it before transferring the rest.