Customers are getting inconsistent outcomes when they report an APP (Authorised Push Payment) scam to their bank or building society. For example, some automatically reimburse in full, others may only make a partial reimbursement leaving victims to bear part of the loss, and others will only accept claims subject to very narrow circumstances. That’s according to a first report on such crime by the Payments Services Regulator, the PSR.
By volume of cases (where there was full reimbursement, theTSB fully reimbursed 94pc of the APP scam cases reported to it, followed by Nationwide which fully reimbursed 91pc of cases and Barclays which fully reimbursed in 79pc of cases. Only 6pc of cases reported to Monzo were fully reimbursed, while Danske Bank fully reimbursed 7pc, and AIB fully reimbursed 12pc.
By value of APP losses, TSB reimbursed 91pc of APP fraud losses to customers in 2022. Nationwide reimbursed 78pc and HSBC reimbursed 73pc of APP fraud losses. AIB Group reimbursed 10pc of APP fraud losses. Danske Bank reimbursed 20pc of APP fraud losses. Monzo reimbursed 22pc of APP fraud losses.
Chris Hemsley, Managing Director of the PSR said: “This is the first time we can see at an individual level how well banks and payment firms are dealing with APP fraud. This represents a substantial improvement in transparency. This provides better information for customers on how firms handle APP fraud and encourages these firms to take more action to tackle it.
“Our approach is working because we know there is a greater focus across many more firms on preventing fraud. Our commitment to transparency and the forthcoming mandatory rules are key to strengthening efforts to prevent these frauds from happening in the first place. Over the coming months, we will be bringing all payment firms into new reimbursement arrangements to give more consistent protection across the board. This is important because we can see from today’s report that this has not always been the case.”
The PSR in June 2023 announced mandatory reimbursement requirements in place for victims of APP scams to come into force in 2024.
Some background
The trade body UK Finance recently released its fraud report for the first half of 2023; APP fraud losses were £239.3m, down one per cent compared to last year. This comprised £196.7m of personal losses and £42.6m of business.
