Which banks are most likely to refund you after a scam?

Even the savviest of us can be taken in by a scam, especially since they’re becoming more sophisticated.

If you’ve fallen victim to a scam, you’re probably wondering if, and how, you can get your money back. In most cases, you should approach your bank first, explain the situation and see if they’ll refund you.

Refunds after being scammed

New research from the Payment Systems Regulator shows some banks are better than others at reimbursing you.

Their latest report looked at how well banks are tackling authorised push payment (APP) scams – when a scammer tricks you into sending money to them by pretending to be someone else, like your bank or a relative – and which banks are better are refunding those affected.

The data considered the UK’s 14 largest banking groups plus 11 smaller firms that were in the top 20 highest receivers of fraud.

 

Banking group	Total % of customers refunded	% of customers who received a full refund	% of customers who received a partial refund
Nationwide	99%	96%	3%
TSB	98%	95%	3%
Barclays	94%	82%	12%
NatWest	92%	89%	3%
RBS	92%	89%	3%
Ulster Bank	92%	89%	3%
Santander	88%	69%	19%
HSBC	85%	81%	4%
First Direct	85%	81%	4%
Metro Bank	83%	72%	11%
Lloyds	84%	71%	13%
Bank of Scotland	84%	71%	13%
Halifax	84%	71%	13%
Clydesdale	77%	73%	4%
Virgin Money	77%	73%	4%
Starling	76%	72%	4%
Co-operative Bank	71%	55%	16%
Monzo	15%	9%	6%
Danske Bank	15%	7%	8%
AIB	4%	3%	1%

What the banks said

AIB NI said they investigated APP fraud “thoroughly” on a case-by-case basis to understand the causes and protect customers in the future, adding: “this goes hand in hand with our wider fraud preventive measures which saw us refund 100% of customers in cases of ‘unauthorised’ fraud last year”.

Monzo said they were working to stop fraud before it happened and that they’d stopped “55% more fraud since this time last year”.

They added that their customers were “disproportionately affected” by purchase scams, which mostly come from social media, saying that social media platforms need to step up to protect consumers.

Danske Bank said they received “a relatively low number of fraud cases” as a result of their “preventative measures and education to help protect customers and wider society from scams”.

Both Monzo and Danske assured they’re working towards complying with new regulations which will apply from October this year.