Getting your money back after a scam

If you were tricked into transferring money to a scammer, you may well get it back. The UK rules on this changed and most people still do not know, which means they do not ask.

This page is the order of operations. It is worth reading before you need it.

What is covered

The rules cover authorised push payment fraud: you were deceived into making a bank transfer yourself. That covers most of what actually happens to people — the fake invoice, the "safe account" call, the marketplace item that never arrived, the family emergency message.

Under the mandatory reimbursement regime, banks share the cost between the sending and receiving firm, and claims are assessed to a deadline rather than left open indefinitely. There is an upper limit, and there may be an excess. Those figures are set by the regulator and have been changed before, so check the current ones rather than trusting a number on any web page, including this one.

Not covered: card payments, which have their own and often better protection. If you paid by card, you have chargeback rights, and for anything over £100 on a credit card you also have Section 75, which makes the card company jointly liable. Say which you used, because it changes everything.

Also not covered: buying something that turned out to be poor rather than fraudulent, and paying someone you genuinely meant to pay.

The order, and the order matters

1. Ring your bank now. Not tomorrow. Use the number on your card. Say the words *"I have been the victim of authorised push payment fraud and I want to raise a reimbursement claim."* That phrasing gets you to the right team without an argument.

2. Ask them to attempt a recall of the payment. If the money has not moved on, it can sometimes be stopped outright.

3. Get the claim reference in writing, and the date. The assessment clock starts now.

4. Report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and the FBI's IC3 and keep the crime reference. Your bank may ask for it.

5. Write down what happened while it is fresh. Times, numbers, what was said, screenshots. If you have to escalate, this is what decides it.

6. Change any password or login you gave away, from a different device.

If they say no

You are not finished. Banks decline claims that should be paid, and the appeal route works.

Ask for the decision in writing, with the reason. The common reason given is "gross negligence", which is a high bar and means far more than being fooled. Being taken in by a convincing scam is not gross negligence, and that distinction is the whole argument.

Then complain formally to the bank. They have eight weeks.

Then go to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It is free, you do not need a solicitor, and it overturns bank decisions regularly. Do not pay anybody to do this for you.

The scam that comes next

Within weeks of losing money you will be contacted by someone offering to recover it for a fee. Sometimes claiming to be from your bank, the police, or a law firm. Victim lists are sold, and this is the most reliable follow-up in fraud.

Nobody legitimate charges an upfront fee to recover stolen money. The Ombudsman is free. Your bank is free. the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and the FBI's IC3 is free.

The thing worth saying

People delay reporting because they are embarrassed, and delay is the only thing that reliably reduces the chance of getting the money back. The person taking your call has heard it several times already today, from people exactly like you.