VICTORIA BISCHOFF: At last! Finally, banks are being made to admit fraud in refunds










At last! Last but not least, the banks have to be honest about fraud refunds.

The law will also make mandatory the current voluntary code that requires businesses to pay victims of scams without recompense.

It is a major victory for the Mail’s Stop the Bank Scammers campaign, and means those High Street giants intent on wriggling out of doing the right thing by their customers will soon have nowhere to hide.

Refund ruling: The existing voluntary code of conduct that requires firms to repay blameless scam victims will be made mandatory by law

Refund ruling

It’s just a shame it has taken so long to get here.

We’ve known for years that the fraud refund scheme is not working. Only yesterday, the Financial Ombudsman revealed that complaints about ‘authorised fraud’ — where crooks trick customers into transferring money — soared by 30% between July and September. Six out of ten cases in these instances were ruled in favor of the customer.

It is clear that the banks continue to make errors when it comes dealing with fraudulent transactions. This is only the beginning of the problem, as many customers don’t take their concerns to the Ombudsman.

This might be because they don’t know they can, are too ashamed, or simply because their bank has done such a good job of making them think they are to blame.

Official fraud data indicates that only half of victims of scams are paid back. Over a period of three months, only 1 percent of scam victims received refunds.

Scammers have become more sophisticated and this is unacceptable. Fraud has spiralled out of control since the Covid crisis began, with criminals stealing a devastating £4 million every day in the first half of the year. 

There is little chance that Christmas shopping events like Black Friday will slow down, as they offer easy prey to online scammers.

Under new proposals laid out by the payments watchdog last week, major firms will be made to publish data every six months, spelling out exactly what proportion of scam victims are left out of pocket — and face fines if they do not treat their customers fairly.

The recipient will have to also declare the number of fraudulent payments they received and sent.

These are the exact steps needed to make banks take fraud much more seriously. We have repeatedly reported that too many fraudulent transactions continue to be allowed to pass unchecked.

The only way to really incentivise them is by making banks pay for these losses.

Of course, other organisations urgently need to ramp up their efforts, too — not least internet giants such as Google and Facebook, which routinely allow fraudsters to advertise scams online.

However, banks play a vital role in fighting fraud and protecting our cash.

They will be forced to improve their customer service by naming and shameing the people who consistently disappoint customers. It is not for their benefit.

Blooming cheek!

Over just six weeks I’ve received no fewer than 15 emails from flower delivery firm Bloom & Wild. Be it autumn, Halloween, Christmas or World Kindness Day (whatever that is), there is no tenuous hook the company hasn’t used to market its wares.

I find it irritating that discounts codes as a thank you for being such a loyal client are usually only valid for 24hrs. 

And if there is one thing I hate, it’s being pressured into making a quick purchase for fear of missing out on a bargain.

You can see how I feel about Black Friday. It is an entire day or week dedicated to tempting shoppers to buy on impulse.

As we report, these supposed ‘cut-price’ deals are often nonsense, with many retailers artificially inflating prices in the run-up so items look cheaper on the day.

This means you won’t be able to tell if the deal you are really getting is good value unless your tracking the price over the last year.

Shopping doesn’t need to be this stressful. Call me a party-pooper, but I’ll be steering well clear.

v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk

Advertisement