Santander - Fraud Reimbursement

SiliconChip

eskbanker said:

akashi said:

Surely they have set a precedent by reimbursing other customers of the same fraud? 

Not necessarily - it may be a timing issue, i.e. if, for the sake of argument, it was a legitimate business at some point (what was it that led you to spend £4K with them?) but later took payments in the full knowledge that there wouldn't be any travel supplied, then it's possible that some earlier customers might not be entitled to reimbursement if the activities weren't considered fraudulent at that point?

Surely the most likely explanation for some people getting reimbursed is that they paid by card and Santander either did a Chargeback or were jointly liable under S75 rules?

eskbanker

SiliconChip said:

eskbanker said:

akashi said:

Surely they have set a precedent by reimbursing other customers of the same fraud? 

Not necessarily - it may be a timing issue, i.e. if, for the sake of argument, it was a legitimate business at some point (what was it that led you to spend £4K with them?) but later took payments in the full knowledge that there wouldn't be any travel supplied, then it's possible that some earlier customers might not be entitled to reimbursement if the activities weren't considered fraudulent at that point?

Surely the most likely explanation for some people getting reimbursed is that they paid by card and Santander either did a Chargeback or were jointly liable under S75 rules?

Quite possibly, but we're all just speculating here - if they accepted payment by card (with all the protection that brings), why would OP have sent £4K by bank transfer?

MyRealNameToo

Woodstok2000 said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

If it was a legitimate travel agency business would it not have had ABTA cover? 

Or am I just being naïve?

ABTA only covers non-flight packages.  ATOL protection covers flights but only as part of a package holiday (doesn't seem to be the case here).

I wonder if OP has travel insurance that may cover this though, if it was a genuine business that went under....

Financial failure cover isnt very common these days but some do offer it and its most commonly on airlines (rather than hotels etc) if it exists. Certainly worth checking.

born_again

akashi said:

In July 2025, I made a bank transfer of £4,000 to a travel agency for flight tickets. 

The agency had an office which I was able to visit and I was provided with an invoice.

I never received the tickets and the office was closed some weeks later. 

I later found out this was a scam and hundreds of people were victims of fraud like myself.

I raised a claim with Santander, they rejected the claim and stated this was a civil matter. They said should the director of the travel agency be arrested or prosecuted, they will review the claim again.

I reported the fraud to Action Fraud and was later contacted by the Metropolitan Police. They informed me that close to 800 people have been scammed by this director and they were treating this as a serious crime. They also confirmed there was an arrest warrant on the director. The lead detective told me to raise a claim with Santander as other victims have been reimbursed by Santander to his knowledge.

I contacted Santander again and provided the lead detectives contact details and crime reference number. I also told them they have reimbursed other victims and they said they will review the claim.

Santander have rejected the claim again stating they will only review this if the director is arrested or prosecuted. They have given me the option to complain to the Financial Ombudsman service.

Any thoughts on this? Surely they have set a precedent by reimbursing other customers of the same fraud? 

Thanks in advance. 

 

Police will & often tell people what they want to hear. Get it all the time "police said bank would refund me". As a couple of other posts no one knows how any of them were made which makes a massive difference.

dumpster_fire2025

Woodstok2000 said:

marcia_ said:

akashi said:

In July 2025, I made a bank transfer of £4,000 to a travel agency for flight tickets. 

The agency had an office which I was able to visit and I was provided with an invoice.

I never received the tickets and the office was closed some weeks later. 

I later found out this was a scam and hundreds of people were victims of fraud like myself.

I raised a claim with Santander, they rejected the claim and stated this was a civil matter. They said should the director of the travel agency be arrested or prosecuted, they will review the claim again.

I reported the fraud to Action Fraud and was later contacted by the Metropolitan Police. They informed me that close to 800 people have been scammed by this director and they were treating this as a serious crime. They also confirmed there was an arrest warrant on the director. The lead detective told me to raise a claim with Santander as other victims have been reimbursed by Santander to his knowledge.

I contacted Santander again and provided the lead detectives contact details and crime reference number. I also told them they have reimbursed other victims and they said they will review the claim.

Santander have rejected the claim again stating they will only review this if the director is arrested or prosecuted. They have given me the option to complain to the Financial Ombudsman service.

Any thoughts on this? Surely they have set a precedent by reimbursing other customers of the same fraud? 

Thanks in advance. 

 

 I'm afraid I think your bank is right. As you paid by transfer rather than a card payment they are not liable. A police officer saying he thinks others have been refunded does not mean they have definitely. 

This is rubbish. Banks are liable for fraudulent bank transfers (Authorised Push Payment, or APP) under PSR regulations unless you've been grossly negligent, and thats a very high bar. It seems your bank are treating this as a legitimate company gone bust rather than a true scam  - what was the business called? 

You can see the reimbursement rules here: https://www.psr.org.uk/information-for-consumers/app-fraud-reimbursement-protections/

As others have said, escalate your complaint to the FOS (edited typo).

This isn't an APP scam though. There isn't any impersonation here (at least as far as the OPs post goes.) The money appears to have gone straight into the account of the business that it should have done, for the purpose that it was intended for. It's just that the business itself "may" have been fundamentally dishonest (or it could have just gone bump.)

That's not covered by the regs for APP scams.

Woodstok2000

dumpster_fire2025 said:

Woodstok2000 said:

marcia_ said:

akashi said:

In July 2025, I made a bank transfer of £4,000 to a travel agency for flight tickets. 

The agency had an office which I was able to visit and I was provided with an invoice.

I never received the tickets and the office was closed some weeks later. 

I later found out this was a scam and hundreds of people were victims of fraud like myself.

I raised a claim with Santander, they rejected the claim and stated this was a civil matter. They said should the director of the travel agency be arrested or prosecuted, they will review the claim again.

I reported the fraud to Action Fraud and was later contacted by the Metropolitan Police. They informed me that close to 800 people have been scammed by this director and they were treating this as a serious crime. They also confirmed there was an arrest warrant on the director. The lead detective told me to raise a claim with Santander as other victims have been reimbursed by Santander to his knowledge.

I contacted Santander again and provided the lead detectives contact details and crime reference number. I also told them they have reimbursed other victims and they said they will review the claim.

Santander have rejected the claim again stating they will only review this if the director is arrested or prosecuted. They have given me the option to complain to the Financial Ombudsman service.

Any thoughts on this? Surely they have set a precedent by reimbursing other customers of the same fraud? 

Thanks in advance. 

 

 I'm afraid I think your bank is right. As you paid by transfer rather than a card payment they are not liable. A police officer saying he thinks others have been refunded does not mean they have definitely. 

This is rubbish. Banks are liable for fraudulent bank transfers (Authorised Push Payment, or APP) under PSR regulations unless you've been grossly negligent, and thats a very high bar. It seems your bank are treating this as a legitimate company gone bust rather than a true scam  - what was the business called? 

You can see the reimbursement rules here: https://www.psr.org.uk/information-for-consumers/app-fraud-reimbursement-protections/

As others have said, escalate your complaint to the FOS (edited typo).

This isn't an APP scam though. There isn't any impersonation here (at least as far as the OPs post goes.) The money appears to have gone straight into the account of the business that it should have done, for the purpose that it was intended for. It's just that the business itself "may" have been fundamentally dishonest (or it could have just gone bump.)

That's not covered by the regs for APP scams.

We don't know enough to confirm that,but it doesn't change the fact that banks are responsible for scams involving bank transfers, in contrast to the original response I replied to.

akashi

The company was called YK Tours Ltd.

I paid via bank transfer as this was the only payment option available.

akashi

Will the FOS be able to find out if Santander have reimbursed other customers who were victims of the same fraud? If yes, then should this set a precedent?

Eyeful

akashi said:

The company was called YK Tours Ltd.

I paid via bank transfer as this was the only payment option available.

 . 
Try typing "What is known about YK Tours Ltd" into the AI chat bot of your choice.
Suggest : https://www.perplexity.ai/

It can save you from the type of problem you are now experiencing.

Best done before handing over payment, to a company you know nothing about 

Eyeful

akashi said:

The company was called YK Tours Ltd.

I paid via bank transfer as this was the only payment option available.

This by itself, should have been a red flag to you.
Why did you not just go somewhere else. If it was because the price was much lower than elsewhere, that a second red flag.