£236m lost last year in bank transfer scams

A total of £236 million was lost last year due to people and firms being tricked into transferring money to a fraudster, new industry figures have revealed.

Financial providers were unable to return nearly three-quarters (74%) of the total value of these losses to victims.

Trade body UK Finance has for the first time compiled annual data on losses due to authorised bank transfer scams – also known as authorised push payment (APP) scams.

This type of scam was the subject of a “super-complaint” made in September 2016 to regulators by consumer group Which?, which has been calling for banks to shoulder more responsibility when victims are tricked in this way.

Which? made the complaint over concerns that, unlike many other payment methods, victims conned into transferring money by bank transfer to a fraudster have no legal right to get their money back from their bank.

UK Finance’s figures show there were 43,875 reported cases of APP scams with a total value of £236m.

Nearly nine in 10 (88%) of this total were consumers, losing an average of £2,784. The remainder were businesses who lost on average of £24,355 per case.

Financial providers were able to return £60.8m (26%) of the authorised push payment scam losses in 2017.

Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: “Fraud is an issue that affects the whole of society, and one which everyone must come together to tackle.”