In this new age of technology Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams are becoming more and more commonplace. But what is an APP? Well, these happen when you send money to someone who’s pretending to be trustworthy, like your child asking for cash for a new phone, or a fake builder demanding urgent payment for work they didn’t do.
Fortunately, The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is putting in place new rules, starting from 7 October 2024, that say if you have been a victim of an APP scam and you used the Faster Payments system (where most of these scams occur), you could get your money back.
What does that mean?
First, what’s the Faster Payments System? It’s a way to transfer money between bank accounts quickly, usually within seconds. It’s way quicker than the old system, which could take up to three days.
Until recently, if you got scammed through an APP, getting your cash back wasn’t easy. But things have changed. A while back, there was an investigation into protecting people from these scams. This led to something called the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code (CRM) in 2019. Basically, it said that banks should give back money to customers who were scammed and had done everything right.
The New Rules
The new rule makes reimbursement mandatory for all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) using the Faster Payments system.
Here’s the deal with the new rule:
- The sending PSP has to give back the money to the victim.
- Then, they can ask the receiving PSP (the one who got the money) to pay half the cost.
- If the stolen cash is recovered by the receiving PSP, they have to give half of it back to the sending PSP.
The idea behind this rule is to make PSPs work harder to stop these scams from happening in the first place. The PSR is also talking to the Bank of England about doing something similar with their transfer system.
Who does this rule cover?
It’s for all APP scam victims who used the Faster Payments system. This includes most transfers between UK banks for amounts under £1 million.
But there are some limits:
- It’s mainly for individuals, small charities, and small businesses.
- There’s a maximum amount you can get back, which is £415,000 per claim.
- There are also some rules about how long you have to make a claim and how much extra you might have to pay.
What could go wrong?
The bank doesn’t have to give you your money back if they can prove you were careless or you committed fraud yourself. But they’ll need strong evidence to back that up.
Have you been a victim?
So, if you’ve been a victim of an APP scam or you’re worried about it happening to you, we’re here to help AND on a NO WIN NO FEE basis!
Give us a call at 0151 637 2034 or send us an email at info@johnsonandboon.co.uk. We’re here to support you through this.