Through working with case studies and our member helplines, we've investigated and advised on all kinds of strange, clever and callous scams.
Read on to find out how we've helped victims get their money back in 2023.
Which? scams support in 2023
Our scams research and investigations seek to uncover scams and shine a light on individual experiences, but the support Which? offers to scam victims is far more extensive.
Between January and November 2023, the Money Helpline handled 405 requests for help from our members about scams and fraud, which included helping members navigate the aftermath of scams. During this time, members reported to the Money Helpline team that they had recovered losses of £436,000.
Read more‘An investment scammer told me to take out a loan’
Emily, a pseudonym, invested £250 with a company she'd read about online in the hope that the money she made would enable her to buy a car. A few days later, she was told her investment was performing well and was encouraged to put in a further £2,250.
The requests for cash continued. Emily was contacted again and badgered to invest £10,000. When she told the caller she didn’t have that much, he said she should take out a loan to fund the investment. She declined.
A couple of months later, Emily attempted to withdraw her money but hit a stumbling block. She was told she must pay a 20% fee to transfer the money to her bank account, which she agreed to.
She was then informed the fee had mistakenly been added to her investment account and was told she must pay a further £750 to access her money. Again, she did so, but to no avail.
Finally, Emily was asked to pay a £2,000 ‘investment tax’ bill to withdraw her money. At this point, she realised she’d been scammed and ceased contact with the company, ignoring all subsequent calls.
In total, she lost £4,311. She contacted Which? and told us ‘I am spiralling into a black hole - I have very little money in my bank account and bills to pay’.
Emily came to Which? for help and we supported Emily in appealing to her bank, NatWest. She was then fully reimbursed.
Read more:‘I didn’t want to believe that I’d been scammed’
Amita, a pseudonym, was groomed by a romance scammer she met on an online dating app. Over eight months, the scammer repeatedly messaged her telling her he loved her and sent her gifts.
He posed as an intelligence officer working abroad and asked her not to reveal the relationship to anyone until he was back in the UK. This allowed him to lay the groundwork before claiming that his credit card had been stolen while working in Ukraine.
The scammer told Amita that nothing could be done until he returned to the UK, and he asked to borrow money in the meantime for expenses including living costs, laptop repairs and hospital fees.
There were warning signs – including his insistence on keeping the relationship a secret and repeatedly inventing new reasons to ask for money – but Amita fell victim to the scammer’s advances and sent a total of £26,000.
She told us: ‘I very much didn’t want to believe that I’d been scammed and was completely distraught when I realised. I honestly thought I was being asked for money for believable purposes’.
When Amita contacted her bank, Halifax, to ask for reimbursement, it ruled that she'd ignored a series of red flags and rejected her request.
We contacted Halifax citing Amita’s vulnerability due to circumstances including work-related stress, medical issues and living costs.
On further review, it decided to reimburse Amita in full.
A Halifax spokesperson said: ‘We carefully look at the individual details of each case reported to us in line with the industry code. We consider a number of factors, including whether the bank could have taken any additional steps to help prevent the scam taking place and if the customer took reasonable care when making payments. We will be providing Amita with a full refund.'
New APP fraud rules from 2024
Banks signed up to the CRM code commit to protecting their customers from APP scams and reimbursing blameless victims.
How to get your money back after a scam
When contacting your bank, make sure to provide as much evidence of the scam as possible, including any correspondence you have had with the scammer.
The guidance outlines four key drivers of vulnerability:
These factors affect many people at different times in their lives. So while you may not consider yourself to be vulnerable, you might have been vulnerable at the time you were scammed. If this could apply to you, you should mention this to your bank.
What to do if you're refused reimbursement
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/scam-cases-solved-how-we-helped-victims-in-2023-aA2mX1a7Bk7V