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Last reviewed: June 2026 · For use in England & Wales · eLitigant is a Community Interest Company (No. 16566612), not a law firm and does not give legal advice.
Quick answer
Since 7 October 2024, if you were tricked into authorising a bank transfer to a scammer (known as APP fraud), your bank must reimburse you — usually within 5 business days, up to £85,000. It’s free to claim. The most important thing is to report it to your bank straight away.
Last reviewed: 25 June 2026 · UK
Being scammed into sending money used to mean you’d lost it. Not any more. New rules force banks to refund most victims of authorised push payment (APP) fraud. Here’s how to claim what you’re owed.
What the new rules say
- Your bank must reimburse you for money lost to an authorised scam, up to £85,000 per claim.
- Reimbursement should usually happen within 5 business days (the bank can pause to investigate in some cases).
- The cost is split 50/50 between your bank and the bank that received the money.
- It covers payments made by Faster Payments and CHAPS on or after 7 October 2024.
Who qualifies (and the exceptions)
Most consumers, micro-enterprises and charities are covered. You may not be reimbursed if you acted with gross negligence (the “consumer standard of caution” — e.g. ignoring a specific scam warning from your bank) or were complicit in the fraud. A £100 excess may apply. Importantly, those protections don’t apply if you’re a vulnerable customer.
How to claim — step by step
- Report it to your bank immediately and ask for reimbursement under the APP reimbursement rules. Speed matters.
- Report the scam to Action Fraud and keep the reference.
- Set out clearly what happened, when, who you paid and why you were deceived (Chris can draft this for you).
- If the bank refuses or doesn’t pay, escalate free to the Financial Ombudsman — see our guide on challenging a refusal.
If it gets that far, our full guide to taking a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service explains the eight-week rule, the six-month time limit and what a strong complaint sets out — and the ombudsman service costs you nothing to use.
📄 Reimbursement claim (copy, personalise, send to your bank)
Dear [Bank],
On [date] I was deceived into authorising a payment of £[amount] from my account [number] to [recipient]. This was an authorised push payment (APP) scam. I am requesting reimbursement under the mandatory APP reimbursement requirement.
[Briefly: how you were deceived and why you believed the payment was genuine.] My Action Fraud reference is [ref]. Please reimburse me and confirm within 5 business days. If you decline, please give your reasons in writing so I can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman.
Yours faithfully, [name · contact details].
Official sources
- Action Fraud — Report fraud and cybercrime
- Financial Ombudsman — Make a complaint
- Citizens Advice — Scams
- FCA — ScamSmart
Your bank must refund authorised-scam losses — for free.
But how you word the claim matters. Chris drafts your reimbursement claim — and the Ombudsman complaint if the bank refuses. You keep 100%.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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