Banking scam help - advice needed

[Trepidfox]

Hi Everyone, please be gentle!

A family member has been scammed by phone. They received a call yesterday advising an unauthorised purchase had been made via amazon and then proceeded to get drawn in to downloading an App and having money taken from their account (I know, I know) Appreciate this is everything we are warned about but it's happened now and I am trying my best to assist rather than berate.

What we need is some advice if there is anything we can try to get any or some refund? As we understand it the banks will not entertain this but I was wondering if anyone had personal experience about if there is anyone else we can appeal to? The bank are currently washing their hands of it but I just wanted to see if there is any further action we can take before accepting the money is just gone and there is no recourse.

Accounts and phone has been secured, action fraud and 111 were called yesterday. I believe Action fraud will only be available from Tuesday to actually speak to a human. I have also advise to call Citizens Advice.

Many thanks for your help

My sympathies Op, the same thing happened with one of my relatives. Relative told them all sorts of information (but have blanked out with what exactly due to shock) but they rang the bank just before they transferred any money and bank confirmed it was a scam and intervened. I hope there is help available for your family member and that they don’t blame themselves too harshly, these scammers are extremely convincing. If they are elderly it might be worth ringing Age Uk and seeing if they have any advice or contacts

Which bank is it?

I think there have been many programmes on R4, you and yours in particular, highlighting these issues and what needs to happen next. I thought industry guidelines are such that banks need to look more carefully at their own lack of safeguards. I’d do some research, if it’s an elderly person Age UK might be a good starting point.

Thanks everyone, it honestly so upsetting and I am trying to focus on being of help rather than making them feel worse. Reading up I know new systems will be in place from Oct this year to be more helpful to those targeted.

It is Natwest/Revolut that we are dealing with and it's also not an elderly person.

Sorry you're going through this op. Similar happened to my ddad 3 years ago (just under £14k, sold his car, total nightmare) and the scammers were based in Nigeria and he was scammed into buying Google Play cards. Police, Action Fraud, SS all involved but because transactions were voluntary, nothing was recovered.

Found out last Monday similar is happening again so now we are awaiting an assessment for vascular dementia which as much as I don't want, I think would be for the best, as I have LPA and can safeguard him a lot more with a diagnosis. Your LA should have a department who can come out and put call blockers on phones etc if that helps.

Hope you get sorted

Are they vulnerable in any other way? Any mental health issues? ND at all?

NatWest is signatory to the voluntary code so I'd definitely push them to reimburse the fraud loss.

@merryandbrightdelight I am so sorry to hear this. I am very worried for my family members mental health, this has just been awful.

I wish the best for you and your Dad x

@mynameiscalypso thanks so much for this info, not vulnerable or any MH issues. I don't want to be too outing but they are in a very responsible job that deals with high pressure every day, just seems to have been caught at the wrong time 😥

It's so easy to fall victim to, especially if you're distracted or stressed. I'd put in a complaint to NatWest personally if they're refusing to reimburse. They're normally relatively reasonable and I think there's a chance of getting the money back as it sounds relatively sophisticated a scam.

Exactly the same happened to me 2 weeks ago, also NatWest/Revolut. I've 27 years service in the police force and I was still scammed. The fraudster was quoting a significant amount of very personal information such as my salary payment, direct debit and standing order amounts/dates/companies. I have had no luck so far being reimbursed via NatWest or Revolut. I have logged with Action fraud but no response yet. I am thousands out of pocket. I am furious as there has clearly been a data breach from NatWest, but they are not interested.

I got scammed by a Facebook post. I remember thinking just before I made the payment this is too good to be true. It wasn't a massive amount thankfully but enough to be annoying.
I worked in banking for over 40 years so it should never, ever have happened to me but it did.
Don't give up on the bank. Keep pressing.

Advise your relative to be on the alert for a few months. Scammers know that people will take a little while to get everything up and running again then may contact the same people another time, pretending to be the bank following-up on the case.

It may be possible to put a password onto the account so if anyone “from the bank” calls, they have to give the password before you share info with them.

@Justmemyselfandi999 I am so sorry this has happened to you too. Hoping some useful info will pop up on this thread for both of us. It's absolutely devasting.

@Fizzadora again so sorry this has happened to you too, thank you for the encouragement hoping we can try another avenue before giving up and accepting it

@SnowdaySewday thank you for the heads up, trying to ensure this never happens again 😥

This happened to me two years ago. I was lucky and my bank refunded everything.

@Trepidfox thank you, I hope you manage to get sorted. If you suspect anything with their mental health but don't have consent to speak to their doctor, ring the surgery and explain your concerns to the receptionist and ask them to pass them on - this is what I did before I had consent and the GP invited my dad down for an assessment.

It's really hard and it's draining, so remember to look after yourself too

@madamehooch that is encouraging, any advice on how you managed it or were your bank just able to assist you?

Money Box on Radio 4 has featured some of the most dreadful cases of this in its broadcast programmes. There may be some further information or advice on its website.

I rang them immediately. They were reassuring and sympathetic but they didn't categorically promised I would be refunded immediately. I got all my money back within a day or so though.

It was very traumatic. I certainly didn't just hand over my bank details. My bank told me that police officers and banking officials had also been caught out. Your relative is not stupid.

This happened to DD last year with Monzo Bank. Scammer took £1000 pretending to be from Monzo - he even credited her £20 claiming he had “noticed unusual activity on her account” so it seemed he was genuinely from the bank trying to help, before fleecing her of £1000.

DD went through Monzo official complaint procedure and they refused to refund saying she didn’t take enough care to avoid being scammed, the twats (she’s autistic and struggles on phone and stuff). So she went to the Financial Ombudsman and they did an investigation and ruled in her favour so Monzo eventually refunded her. Yay.

Financial Ombudsman

It’s called Authorised Push Payment fraud. Ring the bank you sent the money from, ask for their fraud department and tell it through with them. They should refund, if they don’t, make an official complaint. They have up to 8 weeks to respond. If they don’t find in your favour, take it to FOS who will almost certainly find in your favour. You’ll get the money back eventually, but it might not be quick

Thanks so much everyone for the assistance! All your comments are so helpful in navigating this mess! I will follow up with suggestions x

@DCIJackieDeering thanks so much for the info, very helpful x

@PuppyMonkey@PuppyMonkey

I am so sorry to hear that, unbelievable the amount of vulnerable people that are targeted. Thank you for the info x