Get your money back after a payment scam

When you can get a refund

An authorised push payment (APP) scam is when someone tricks you into sending money to them, for example by changing a supplier's bank details on an invoice or pretending to be your bank. Banks and other payment firms must reimburse victims of these scams under rules set by the Payment Systems Regulator.

Microenterprise has a legal definition based on staff numbers and turnover or balance sheet, so ask your bank whether your business counts. Card, cash and cheque payments have their own protections. Payments from credit unions, municipal banks and national savings banks are not covered.

A bank can choose to pay more than the limit. You will not be refunded if you were complicit in the fraud.

Report the scam

If you are not covered or the bank says no

If your business is too large for the reimbursement rules, or the bank refuses, make a formal complaint to the bank. It has 15 days to answer a complaint about fraud, scams or payment services.

If you are unhappy with the final response, or get none in time, an eligible small business can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You must do this within 6 months of the bank's final response.

Cut the risk of a scam

Use Confirmation of Payee, the account name check your bank runs when you set up a new payee, and phone a known contact to confirm any change to a supplier's bank details before you pay.