SOME major banks are getting decisions about certain customer scams and reimbursement wrong in around eight in 10 cases seen by the ombudsman, according to Which? consumer magazine.
A “reimbursement lottery” leaves many victims facing an uphill struggle to recover their money when they have been targeted by criminals, the consumer group said.
Many banks have signed up to a voluntary reimbursement code on bank transfer scams, also known as authorised push payment fraud (APP), which instructs them to reimburse customers who are not at fault and provide them with adequate support.
However, the number of new authorised fraud complaints – the vast majority of which relate to APP scams – made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) more than doubled in 2020-21, from 3600 to 7770. Three-quarters (73%) were upheld in favour of the customer. Authorised fraud also includes some card fraud.
Which? said figures it had obtained from the FOS show NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) – which are part of the same banking group – are getting it wrong in 86% of cases, with Santander (82%) and Bank of Scotland (81%) following.
NatWest told Which?: “At NatWest, our proactive stance and relationship with FOS has brought forward the settlement of many of our cases earlier than required. As a result of this our overturn rate for the period is inflated, we do however expect to see this normalise in 2022.”
Jenny Ross, Which? Money editor, said: “Fraud can have a devastating financial and emotional impact on victims, so it’s shocking that so many banks are failing to handle cases correctly, often wrongly and unfairly denying victims reimbursement.”
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