Consumer help

<h1>Consumer help</h1>

PrimarySurface

Guides

Flight cancelled?

<p>If your flight has been cancelled, you can choose between:</p>
<ul>
<li>the earliest replacement possible</li>
<li>a refund for the flight that was cancelled. If your outbound flight has been cancelled, you&rsquo;ll get a refund for the full return ticket.</li>
</ul>

Flight delayed?

<p>If your flight is delayed for more than five hours, you can get a refund. Again, if your outbound flight has been cancelled, you&rsquo;ll get a refund for the full return ticket.</p>

Stuck at the airport?

<p>If you&rsquo;re stuck at the airport waiting for a replacement flight or a delayed flight, your airline has a duty of care to look after you.</p>
<p>They should provide:</p>
<h3>Food and drink</h3>
<p>If you&rsquo;re waiting more than two hours for a short-haul flight, three hours for a medium-haul flight or four hours for a long-haul flight, your airline should provide food and drink, or vouchers to buy them. If it doesn&rsquo;t, buy your own, keep the receipts and claim the money back. There may be information on the airline&rsquo;s website about what is covered. They&rsquo;re unlikely to cover the cost of alcohol.</p>
<h3>A bed for the night</h3>
<p>If you&rsquo;re kept waiting overnight, the airline must provide accommodation and travel to and from that accommodation. Airlines might book you into a hotel but you may find there&rsquo;s no-one around to help. If this is the case, book your own hotel and keep the receipts. Make sure you don&rsquo;t spend more than is reasonable. Airlines can refuse to cover the cost of a luxury hotel stay.</p>
<h3>Regular updates</h3>
<p>The airline may provide updates via social media or the email you used when booking. If not, ask at a check-in desk if you need any information.</p>

Can you get money back for your trip?

<p>If you&rsquo;ve arranged flights and accommodation separately, you may struggle to get a refund for the accommodation. Check the booking conditions. If you can&rsquo;t get a refund, see what cover&rsquo;s available under your travel insurance.</p>
<p>If you&rsquo;ve booked a package holiday and your flight can&rsquo;t be rearranged or your plans are significantly disrupted, your travel company must offer either:</p>
<ul>
<li>an alternative holiday; or</li>
<li>a refund of the full price of your holiday &ndash; not just the flight</li>
</ul>
<p>A change of more than 12 hours on a two-week holiday is generally considered significant disruption.</p>

Can I claim compensation for the inconvenience/distress?

<p>The general rule is if the airline wasn&rsquo;t at fault, you can&rsquo;t claim compensation. Flight cancellations and delays caused by &ldquo;extraordinary circumstances&rdquo; will not qualify for compensation.</p>

Will my travel insurance pay out?

<p>Travel insurance doesn&rsquo;t usually cover things the airline is legally required to pay for e.g. food and drink and overnight accommodation.</p>
<p>Some policies pay a set amount for cancellations or delays of more than a set length.</p>
<p>Check your policy to see what you can claim for.</p>

Delayed or cancelled flight? Find out your refund rights

Arrivals/departure board showing lots of delayed flights

A guide to your rights if your flight is delayed or cancelled

<p>Has your flight been delayed or cancelled? Find out what your rights are when it comes to refunds and compensation.</p>
<p>The following advice relates to flights leaving the UK/EU on any airline or arriving in the UK/EU on a UK or EU airline.</p>
<p>If you&rsquo;re coming from outside the EU to the UK with a non-UK/EU airline, you&rsquo;ll need to ask the airline you booked with for information on possible refunds or compensation. Or you could try your travel insurer.</p>

The Post Office

<p>Customers of nearly all banks, including Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, &nbsp;Lloyds, NatWest and Santander, can go to any of the Post Office&rsquo;s 11,500 branches to:</p>
<ul>
<li>withdraw or deposit cash</li>
<li>deposit a cheque</li>
<li>check their balance</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.postoffice.co.uk/everydaybanking">Go to the Post Office website</a> and select your bank from the dropdown list to see what options are available to you.</p>

Banking hubs

<p>This is an initiative set up to fill the gap left by the widespread closure of local banks across the UK. Under the scheme, several banks all operate from the same building. You can go there to speak to someone from your bank and manage payments like Direct Debits.</p>
<p>You can also withdraw and deposit cash from a banking hub, regardless of who you bank with.</p>
<p>Banking hubs work on a rota basis. This means staff from different banks will be there on different days.</p>
<p>The banks currently taking part in the banking hub scheme are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Bank of Ireland UK</li>
<li>Barclays</li>
<li>Danske Bank</li>
<li>HSBC</li>
<li>Lloyds</li>
<li>Nationwide Building Society</li>
<li>NatWest</li>
<li>Santander</li>
<li>TSB</li>
<li>Virgin Money</li>
</ul>
<p><span dir="ltr">Banking hubs are being opened across the UK all the time, so</span>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.postoffice.co.uk/bankinghubs" rel="follow">check to see if there's one near you</a>.&nbsp;</p>

Mobile and pop-up banks

<p>Many of the big players - including Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, RBS and TSB - also offer mobile or pop-up banks. These are typically there to give face-to-face advice and don&rsquo;t usually offer cash or counter services.</p>
<p>To find out more, go to your bank&rsquo;s website.</p>

Cash machines (ATMs)

<p>If you just want to withdraw cash, the easiest option if probably a free ATM. Use <a href="https://www.link.co.uk/consumers/locator/">Link&rsquo;s free cash locator</a> to find the one nearest to you.</p>

Your local shop

<p>Over 1,000 local shops offer a cashback without purchase scheme. You can withdraw anything from 1p to &pound;50 without buying anything. Most shops don&rsquo;t charge a fee but they can, so check first.</p>
<p>To find your nearest shop offering this service, use <a href="https://www.link.co.uk/consumers/locator/">Link&rsquo;s free cash locator</a>.</p>

Online banking

<p>If it&rsquo;s an option for you, online banking or banking through an app on your phone can make life a lot easier.</p>
<p>It allows you to carry out a whole range of banking from the comfort of your own home or while you&rsquo;re on the go. Services include:</p>
<ul>
<li>managing payments, like Direct Debits</li>
<li>depositing cheques</li>
<li>transferring money</li>
<li>applying for credit cards, loans and savings accounts</li>
</ul>
<p>Visit your bank&rsquo;s website to find out what online services they offer.</p>

Where to do your banking if your local bank shuts down

Sorry we have closed signs in bank window

Local bank branch closing? Find out where to withdraw cash, talk to someone from your bank, manage your payments and deposit cheques.

<p><span dir="ltr">Since 2015, thousands of bank branches have shut down across the UK. Over 600 closed in 2023 alone &ndash; and more are set to follow.</span></p>
<p>So what do you do if your local bank has closed down? Find out where you can withdraw cash, deposit cheques, manage your payments and get face-to-face advice from someone from your bank.</p>

Five common ways scammers target you online

<p>Online scams range from the unsophisticated classics &ndash; like the Nigerian prince offering you millions to help him out &ndash; to the advanced and highly targeted. We&rsquo;ve pulled together a list of five of the most common ones to be aware of.</p>
<h4>Romance scams and fake online dating profiles</h4>
<p>Romance scams involve criminals creating fake profiles on online dating sites or apps with the hope of preying on your vulnerabilities and creating a quick emotional connection they can profit off. For example, in military romance scams, fraudsters pretend to be stationed far away and unable to meet in person.</p>
<p>But that won&rsquo;t stop them from quickly building an online relationship and telling you they love you. Once a scammer has you &lsquo;hooked&rsquo; in an online relationship, they&rsquo;ll start asking you to send them money, gift cards, or expensive gifts. If you catch on, they&rsquo;ll delete their accounts and vanish.</p>
<h4>Messages claiming to be from someone you know</h4>
<p>Sometimes fraudsters will send emails, texts or social media messages claiming to be someone you trust.</p>
<p>The scammer might impersonate your boss and ask you to send them your work login information or they might pretend to be one of your children who has lost their phone and needs you to transfer them some money.</p>
<p>If you send money, that&rsquo;s a quick win for the scammer. And sending information &ndash; like account passwords or credit card numbers &ndash; may allow criminals to steal your identity. Clicking on a link sent by a con artist may download malware or ransomware onto your device.</p>
<h4>Online shopping scams</h4>
<p>There are various types of online shopping scams, so it&rsquo;s best to keep your wits about you before paying for goods, even from generally trusted platforms such as Amazon.</p>
<p>In one common type of online shopping scam, a seller offers luxury goods at a steep discount &ndash; usually over social media sites like Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat (often using hacked accounts to avoid detection). But even though you receive a confirmation email and payment is taken from your account, nothing shows up. Or if it does, it&rsquo;s not what you thought you were paying for.</p>
<h4>Crypto scams</h4>
<p>With tales of people becoming overnight millionaires after investing in cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, the industry has become a rich hunting ground for scammers - nearly 15 scams are attempted every hour.</p>
<p>One type of cryptocurrency scam involves someone tricking you into giving them access to your online wallet and stealing your coins. Recently, there has also been a surge in fraudulent crypto recovery services, where scammers claim to help you recover lost crypto but really steal even more.</p>
<p>In other scams, you might get contacted by someone claiming to have insider information about something called a new initial coin offering (ICO). This involves you investing in a new coin, but after an initial rise in value, the coin&rsquo;s worth plummets and you&rsquo;re left out of pocket while the scammers get out at the top. Be especially careful if you regularly use Telegram, as crypto scams have been running rampant on the platform for years.</p>
<h4>Social engineering attacks</h4>
<p>Nearly every type of online scam relies on a form of social engineering.</p>
<p>Social engineering involves taking advantage of your emotions to manipulate you into giving up money or sensitive information that can be used for identify theft and fraud.</p>
<p>One of the oldest examples is the Nigerian prince scam. In this fraud, a &lsquo;prince&rsquo; sends an emotional plea for help.</p>
<p>If you can help, he says he&rsquo;ll be able to remove vast sums of money from his home country and he offers to reward you with a percentage. All you need to do is wire him money to cover the legal costs or pay for bribes.</p>
<p>Any message like this is a scam and should always end up in the trash.</p>

Ten warning signs you’re dealing with a scammer	

<h4>They use authority to build trust&nbsp;</h4>
<p>Online scammers use organisations and names you trust to encourage you to lower your guard. Be wary of anyone who messages you out of the blue and claims to be from the government or a major company.</p>
<h4>They prey on your emotions</h4>
<p>Online dating scams are one of the best examples of a scam that preys on your emotions. A scammer will quickly tell you they&rsquo;re &lsquo;falling in love&rsquo;. The same goes for veterans&rsquo; charity scams, where fraudsters claim to be victims in need.<b></b></p>
<h4>They create a sense of urgency</h4>
<p>Online scammers try to get you to act quickly before you realise what they&rsquo;re up to. They&rsquo;ll often create a sense of urgency so you don&rsquo;t have time to check any of their claims.</p>
<h4>They're threatening and aggressive</h4>
<p>Threats are another way online scammers convince you to do what they say e.g. pretending to be from the police and claiming that you&rsquo;ll be arrested if you don&rsquo;t do as they ask.</p>
<h4>They contact you unexpectedly&nbsp;</h4>
<p>If you receive any messages, phone calls, or emails from someone you don&rsquo;t know, check they are who they say they are by contacting the business/ organisation they&rsquo;re claiming to be from directly.</p>
<h4>They ask for sensitive information</h4>
<p>If someone contacts you claiming to be from your bank and asks for your PIN or online password to &lsquo;secure&rsquo; your account, the chances are it&rsquo;s a scammer. Your bank will never do this.<b></b></p>
<h4>They overpay for goods or services</h4>
<p>It&rsquo;s also possible to be scammed if you&rsquo;re selling online. Sometimes, someone will claim to have mistakenly sent you more than you&rsquo;re asking for. They&rsquo;ll then send a fake PayPal receipt and ask for you to send back the overpayment along with their product.</p>
<h4>They offer something that seems too good to be true&nbsp;</h4>
<p>Scammers use our desire to find a good deal against us. If something seems too good to be true, there&rsquo;s a good chance someone&rsquo;s trying to scam you.</p>
<h4>A loved one acts in an unusual way</h4>
<p>Online scammers will sometimes impersonate friends or family. Don&rsquo;t trust a message just because it comes from an account you recognise or appears to be from a loved one. If the person is acting slightly out of character and especially if they&rsquo;re contacting you from a number/account you don&rsquo;t know, stop and find a way to check the message is genuine.<b></b></p>
<h4>They ask you to use unusual payment options</h4>
<p>Most online payment options offer protection against scammers. If someone pushes you to pay them through an untraceable or non-reversible option, it could be a scam. This includes wire transfers, gift cards, and cryptocurrency.</p>

I think I’ve been scammed. What should I do?

<p>What you need to do depends on exactly what&rsquo;s happened. But the three key things you need to do are:</p>
<ul>
<li>protect yourself from further risk</li>
<li>check if you can get your money back</li>
<li>report the scam</li>
</ul>
<h4>If you&rsquo;re in danger</h4>
<p>If you feel threatened at any point, report this to the police immediately by calling 999.</p>
<h4>If you&rsquo;ve given the scammer access to your computer</h4>
<p>Sometimes scammers ask to access your computer so they can control it remotely e.g. they might pretend to be from your internet provider and say they need to deal with a technical problem.</p>
<p>The scammer might infect your computer with a virus, or steal passwords and/or financial information. If this happens to you:</p>
<ul>
<li>reset passwords</li>
<li>let your bank know your financial information might have been stolen</li>
<li>make sure you update your anti-virus software</li>
</ul>
<p>You could also get an IT professional to check your computer.</p>
<h4>If you transferred money to the scammer in the last 24 hours</h4>
<p>Tell the police immediately by calling 101.</p>
<h4>If you think your account details or PIN have been stolen</h4>
<p>Contact your bank immediately so they can protect your account.</p>
<p>After you&rsquo;ve told your bank about the scam, keep an eye on your bank statement and look out for any unusual transactions. Also check your credit report to see if there are any applications for credit you don&rsquo;t recognise.</p>
<h4>If you think your passwords could have been stolen</h4>
<p>Change your passwords as soon as possible. If you&rsquo;ve used the same passwords on any other accounts, you should change these too.</p>
<p>Make sure you create a strong password e.g. using numbers and special characters.</p>
<p>Some sites let you add extra security to your account. This is known as &lsquo;two factor authentication&rsquo;.</p>
<h4>If you think one of your accounts has been hacked</h4>
<p>If a scammer has stolen your passwords, they could hack into your email, social media or online bank accounts. If you&rsquo;re worried about this, you can find out what to do from the <a href="https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/recovering-a-hacked-account">National Cyber Security Centre</a>.</p>

Can you get your money back?

<p>If you&rsquo;ve lost money because of a scam, there might be things you can do to get it back. What you should do, and whether you&rsquo;ll get a refund, depends on what happened.</p>
<p>Contact your bank immediately if there&rsquo;s a payment you don&rsquo;t recognise &ndash; this is known as an &lsquo;unauthorised transaction&rsquo;, or you&rsquo;ve used your debit card and more money was taken than you expected.</p>
<p>Explain what&rsquo;s happened and ask if you can get a refund. If you&rsquo;re not happy with how the bank deals with your claim, you should make an official complaint to them. Find out how to do this by checking their website.</p>
<p>If it&rsquo;s eight weeks since you complained, and you haven&rsquo;t got your money bank, contact the Financial Ombudsman. You can also contact the ombudsman if you&rsquo;ve had a letter from the bank saying it&rsquo;s not going to take any action. This is known as a financial response letter.</p>
<p>If the ombudsman decides you&rsquo;ve been treated unfairly, it&rsquo;s got legal powers to put things right.</p>
<p>Sadly, not all money lost through scams can be reclaimed. If you&rsquo;ve been left in debt following a scam, get in touch with us and we&rsquo;ll help you with <a href="https://www.moneywellness.com/debt-advice" rel="follow">free debt advice</a>&nbsp;and support.</p>

Who should you report a scam to?

<p>It&rsquo;s a good idea to report a scam &ndash; even if you&rsquo;ve got your money back &ndash; as it can prevent it happening to someone else.</p>
<p>Don&rsquo;t be embarrassed about reporting a scam &ndash; scammers are clever and anyone can fall for a scam.</p>
<p>You can report the scam to Citizens Advice who pass all the information on to Trading Standards and they&rsquo;ll decide whether to investigate or not. Depending on what they find, they can take legal action against the scammers or stop them operating.</p>
<p>All scams should also be reported to Action Fraud, the UK&rsquo;s national reporting centre for fraud.</p>
<p>Action Fraud can get the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to investigate scams. They&rsquo;ll also give you a crime reference number, which can be helpful if you need to tell your bank you&rsquo;ve been scammed. You can report a scam to Action Fraud at <a href="http://www.actionfraud.police.uk">actionfraud.police.uk</a> or call 0300 123 2040</p>
<p>If you receive a scam email, you should forward it to <a href="mailto:report@phishing.gov.uk">report@phishing.gov.uk</a>. It will go to the National Cyber Security Centre and might stop other people being scammed.</p>
<p>Online scam adverts should be reported to the <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint/report-an-online-scam-ad.html">Advertising Standards Authority</a>. You may also be able to report an advert directly to the platform hosting it e.g. Google, Facebook and Instagram.</p>

How to outsmart online scammers

A fishing hook dragging stolen credit cards across a computer keyboard

How do you spot a scam and what should you do if you think you’ve been conned?

<p>Whether you&rsquo;re looking for love, shopping or applying for a job online, there&rsquo;s always a risk of getting scammed. Over &pound;1.2bn was stolen through fraud in the UK in 2022, the equivalent of &pound;2,300 every minute, according to UK Finance.</p>
<p>This figure is set to rise in 2023, with con artists looking for opportunities to make extra money as the cost of living continues to increase.</p>
<p>So, how do you spot a scam and what should you do if you think you&rsquo;ve been conned?</p>

How to outsmart online scammers 

What are energy scams?

<p>The cost-of-living crisis has provided numerous opportunities for scammers to take advantage of people worried about money. Energy scams come in many different forms, but they generally involve trying to trick you into handing over money or personal details. Scammers often try to con people by promising grants, cheap energy, or ways to improve energy efficiency.</p>

How scammers are likely to approach you

<p>Scammers approach their targets in various ways. They might:</p>
<ul>
<li>text you</li>
<li>call you</li>
<li>email you</li>
<li>knock at your door</li>
<li>get in touch via social media</li>
<li>use a website pop-up</li>
</ul>

What to look out for

<p>A lot of scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated so it&rsquo;s important to stay vigilant. It&rsquo;s not always easy to spot a scam but there are a few tell-tale signs that may suggest you&rsquo;re being targeted by con artists. So, stop and think twice if:</p>
<ul>
<li>you feel under pressure to pay quickly or in an unusual way</li>
<li>you&rsquo;re being asked for pin numbers or passwords</li>
<li>something seems too good to be true</li>
</ul>

Common energy scams

<p>Fraudsters are constantly coming up with new scams, so we can&rsquo;t provide a comprehensive list. However, there are some common scams doing the rounds that you should be aware of.</p>
<p><strong>Ofgem scams</strong></p>
<p>Someone claiming to be from the energy regulator Ofgem may contact you asking you for certain personal information or to change your bank details so that you can get a grant or cheap energy. Remember, Ofgem won&rsquo;t:</p>
<ul>
<li>ask you for bank details or personal information</li>
<li>sell you energy</li>
<li>come to your house</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Energy bills discount scam</strong></p>
<p>There is another scam doing the rounds that centres on the government&rsquo;s &pound;400 energy bill discount scheme. Targets are sent an email or a text message inviting them to apply for the discount. They are then instructed to follow a link to a fake Ofgem website where they are asked to set up a Direct Debit in order to get the money. In actual fact, all payments that make up the &pound;400 discount are automatic and you don&rsquo;t need to apply.</p>
<p><strong>Green scams</strong></p>
<p>You may be approached by scammers trying to get you to sign up for fake energy-efficiency schemes. In one such con, people have reported being offered the green homes grant, which came to an end in 2021.</p>
<p><strong>Fake refund scams</strong></p>
<p>Another common scam involves getting a text or email that appears to be from your energy supplier and says you are due a refund. You are then instructed to follow a link to a form that asks for personal information including your bank details. Your energy supplier will never ask you to provide information in this way, so you can be sure emails and text messages like this are being sent by fraudsters.</p>
<p><strong>Debt collection scams</strong></p>
<p>Scammers have also taken advantage of the collapse of some smaller energy companies over recent years. They contact the customers of collapsed suppliers posing as debt recovery firms. Targets of the scam are told they have an outstanding balance that needs to be paid. This scam can be very convincing as the fraudsters involved know their target's names and their previous energy supplier.</p>
<p>It's useful to be aware that if your energy supplier goes out of business, it will be taken over by an Ofgem-appointed company. You should check any request for payment with that company before handing over any money.</p>
<p><strong>Energy-saving device scam</strong></p>
<p>One particularly worrying scam involves an online advert for an energy-saving device. The piece of tech involved, which looks like a plug, goes by various names, including Voltbox, Voltex and Motex. According to the advert, the product can cut a &pound;251 monthly bill to just &pound;15. There is no evidence the device actually works and, more worryingly than that, it doesn&rsquo;t even pass the Which? basic safety test so could cause fires or electric shocks.</p>
<p><strong>Meter key scams</strong></p>
<p>This scam targets people with prepayment meters. The fraudsters clone meter keys with credit on them and sell them door-to-door at a drastically reduced price. Once an energy supplier realises you&rsquo;re not actually paying them for your energy, you end up paying again at the full price.</p>

What to do if a scammer targets you

<p>If you suspect someone may be trying to con you before you hand over any money or personal information, you can <a href="https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/contact-us/">contact Citizens Advice for help</a>.</p>
<p>If you&rsquo;ve made a payment or given away any personal information, you should talk to your bank or card company as soon as possible. Citizens Advice also provide a <a href="https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/scams/reporting-a-scam/">list of the organisations you should report scams to</a>.</p>

What genuine support is available?

<p>If you&rsquo;re struggling to pay your energy bill, there may be financial support available. See our guide <a href="https://www.moneywellness.com/blog/rising-energy-prices-what-support-is-there">Rising energy prices: what support is there?</a></p>

Energy scams - how to avoid getting tricked

The word scam spelt out in red on wooden blocks with other wooden blocks with letters on them scattered nearby

As gas and electricity bills soar, the number of energy scams has also rocketed.

<p>As gas and electricity bills soar, the number of energy scams has also rocketed. Research by Citizens Advice shows more than 40 million people were targeted by scammers last year and 12% of the cons were energy related. So, how do you spot an energy scam and what should you do if you&rsquo;re targeted?</p>

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