A quarter of fraud victims may end up getting no refund at all despite new rules designed to force banks to reimburse money lost in bank transfer scams, according to new research from personal finance site Finder.

The new rules, which come into force on 7 October, apply to “authorised push payment” (APP) fraud - when a fraudster tricks you into sending money from your account to an account that they control, for example by selling items online that don’t exist or pretending to be from your bank. 

However, banks can choose if they make consumers pay the first £100 of any refund claim (unless the customer is classed as vulnerable) and when the personal finance site Finder contacted 21 major UK banks in July, only AIB confirmed that it won’t do so. Virgin Money said it would "consider APP fraud claims on an individual basis, with the outcomes dependent on the specifics of each case".

The rest said they were still considering the rules, or refused to answer. This is despite the fact the new refund requirements were confirmed last December and the scheme starts in less than 3 months.

Some industry insiders believe banks have already made up their minds, but are unwilling to say. 

A spokesperson for the watchdog bringing in the rules, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), told Finder: “We would have expected the payment service providers [which include banks] to have done a lot more by now in terms of educating people about the new rules and how they will be approaching them, including the £100 excess. There’s a lot more they can be doing.”

1 in 4 APP frauds below £100

In 2023, victims of APP fraud lost £459.7 million. The number of cases of APP fraud rose 12% to 232,429.  Since 1 in 4 APP fraud losses is below £100, these customers would not see any reimbursement if banks chose not to cover all of the amount.

Liz Edwards, money expert at Finder, said: “Based on 2023 figures, more than 58,000 cases would have resulted in no refund if all companies had applied the excess. £100 is a lot of money to many people, and banks need to be clear with customers where they stand. 

“Figures from the industry* also suggest that young people could be disproportionately affected if banks apply this excess.

“Banks do give fraud prevention advice but fraudsters are continually evolving, and deepfakes are a particularly worrying development. My advice is that if you get a call or message on an unknown number from someone claiming to be from an organisation you know, urging you to move money, be wary and call back on the official number. The same goes for messages from people who claim to be friends or family - call back on the number you know, to check. And if you think you’ve been scammed, tell your bank immediately.”