What happens when you report a case of fraud?

Don't let the online scammers make a monkey out of you (Picture: Adobe)

Fraudsters and scammers are everywhere these days. From emails allegedly from a friend or family member who is “stranded abroad” to text messages saying your bank account has been breached, criminals have become creative.

According to UK Finance, £1.17 billion was reported stolen through financial fraud last year. However, the good news is that £1.2 billion in fraud was spotted and prevented. Because fraudsters can trick you into clicking on a link or handing over passwords so easily, here’s my guide on what to do if you need help after being scammed.

What happens when I need to report a fraud?

The moment you realise you may have been a victim of fraud, it’s easy to feel a bit lost. If money has left your account, report it to the bank, card provider or e-payment service (like PayPal) urgently. Follow these three simple steps – and if you know someone who might be more vulnerable, share this article with them.

1. Hang up on any phone call or cut off any contact with someone who is telling you about the fraud – chances are they are the fraudster if the call or message has come out of the blue. Make sure the phone call has terminated and you have a dial tone before calling your bank.

2. Get the correct fraud/emergency/card loss telephone number from the official website of the business. Triple check you are on the right website – Google still allows fake firms to lurk on its search results.

3. If you are in a rush, feeling a bit flustered or have been tricked into transferring a large amount of money, call the Stop Scams number – 159 – and you will be transferred to your bank or card provider.

In order to get the best and most effective help you need, have a think about what has gone wrong. There are loads of different types of fraudulent activity so ask yourself:

• Have you received goods you haven’t ordered but can’t see a payment for them on any of your accounts yet?
• Are there transactions on your account you don’t recognise?
• Have you lost your card or has it been stolen?
• Do you think your account or personal details have been hacked?
• Have you been tricked into transferring money or handing over your online banking details?

Asking yourself these questions matters as different kinds of fraud require different solutions.

What happens when you report a scam?

If you are disputing a single transaction or there’s a dispute over goods or services you’ve bought, then your card provider can “charge back” the cash. This can either be done immediately, or on completion of a short form.

When a fraudster has got hold of your account details, “clusters” of fraud usually occur. This is pretty low-tech. Usually the fraudsters change the address on the account they hacked and buy as much as they can purchase. This is an obvious pattern of fraud and most financial businesses will spot and intercept these patterns of suspicious transactions.

In situations like this, you’ll usually be refunded everything that’s been stolen, unless you’ve been particularly lax around reporting a lost or stolen card.

However if the card provider feels that you’ve been “grossly negligent”, participated in the fraud or allowed your private card or online banking details to be compromised, they can refuse to refund you. Perhaps inevitably, some businesses are more reluctant to refund when the amount stolen hits the thousands.

In situations like this, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is the organisation you go to if you are unhappy with the way a complaint about financial services has been handled. The ombudsman is free and impartial and can (and does) tell financial businesses to refund you if they think you’ve not been treated fairly – and they can award up to a whopping £430,000!

Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner, TV and radio presenter and journalist. Read more from Martyn here.