MSE News: Forcing banks to refund some scam victims 'cut payment fraud by £73 million' -

MSE_Abby

The number of bank transfer scams has fallen after banks were forced to start refunding some victims, an independent review has found. But the "inconsistent implementation" of these mandatory reimbursement rules means your likelihood of getting your money back can depend on who you bank with – which the regulator says it will look to fix through a new consultation…

Read the full story:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2026/07/push-payment-fraud-consultation/

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply.

dumpster_fire2025

Where is the evidence that refunding victims (and effectively insulating them from their mistakes) caused the reduction in payment fraud rather than the two being entirely unrelated (and perhaps at the same time an increase in messaging from banks about fraud)?

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054353#Comment_82054353

I suspect (and therefore agree that the reason for the reduction is not clear) that putting the banks on the hook for reimbursement has made them tighten their procedures/lower the tolerances and as a consequence increased (at least anecdotally) the number of 'blocked' transactions.

dumpster_fire2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054408#Comment_82054408

Which isn't the same as saying that "Forcing banks to refund victims cut bank fraud."

As I said, there has been an increase in messaging from banks, presumably as it is cheaper than refunding which I suspect is what has caused this so the headline (and article) seem to be quite misleading. The source from what I can tell doesn't make this claim so is not to blame.

Ergates

I wonder what has happened to the rate at which people complain that their bank blocked a legitimate transaction.

LightFlare

Surely if people are aware that the bank will refund any fraudulent transactions then that might lead to people being less aware and astute with their banking details etc

Maybe if the banks stopped refunding (or reduced the circumstances under which they will) then this might cause customers to be a bit more savvy and careful

All this does is increase costs to the majority of customers