Authorised push payment fraud

Authorised push payment (APP) fraud happens when someone's tricked into sending money via bank transfer to a fraudster’s account. This happens when the recipient of the money pretends to be someone they’re not or lie about what the money will be used for.

For example, a victim pays for something advertised online, but they never receive the product because the listing was a scam. APP fraud doesn’t include disputes with genuine suppliers about the supply or quality of services that have been paid for.

Unlike other types of fraud, with APP fraud, the victim voluntarily authorises the transfer of money — often through online banking or over the phone. This makes it very difficult to recover the stolen money. Some victims may even face legal consequences if they unknowingly transfer money that's linked to criminal activities.

With APP fraud on the rise, here are some key red flags to be aware of and some tips on how to avoid it.

Refunds for losses from APP fraud

If you’ve been a victim, you may be eligible for a refund for payments made in connection with APP fraud on or after 7th October 2024.

We’ll refund you if:

• you’ve been the victim of APP fraud;

• you’ve not acted fraudulently yourself; and

• you sent the money by Faster Payments to the UK bank account of a third party on or after 7th October 2024.

The money you’ve lost will be refunded within 5 business days of you contacting us. We may ask you for additional information to help us decide whether you’re entitled to a refund. If we do, this could result in a refund taking up to 35 business days.

Just so you know, you’re not entitled to a refund for payments sent outside of the UK or any payments using direct debit, cash or debit card.

As explained above, you should always act with caution when sending payments. With this in mind, you won’t qualify for a refund if we discover you’ve acted with a significant degree of carelessness, which includes:

• Ignoring warnings (including those from us or the police) that you may be the victim of fraud and continuing to send payments anyway.

• Failing to report that you’ve been the victim of APP fraud within 13 months of the date of the last fraudulent payment.

• Not responding to our reasonable requests for information.

• Objecting to us reporting the APP fraud to the police on your behalf or our request for you to report the APP fraud to the relevant national authority.

When reviewing your request for a refund, we’ll consider your circumstances as well as the fraud itself. If we believe you were vulnerable and therefore more susceptible to the fraud at the time you sent the payment, we won’t hold you to the above standard of caution.

Any refund we make is subject to a £100 excess, meaning that we won’t refund the first £100 you’ve lost. Refunds are subject to a cap of £85,000. The £100 excess won’t apply if you were vulnerable at the time you made a fraudulent payment.