We all know someone who has fallen foul to a scam, be it a window’s operating system engineer wanting access to your computer or a sophisticated email that obtains the password and log in details to a customer’s bank account.
Up until recently, banks and other institutions have refused to refund the money stolen as they have deemed the customer to be negligent or careless. Now sending £2,000 to a Nigerian Prince is one thing but some of the latest scams are extremely clever so the FCA via the Ombudsman, has tightened up the banks’ ability to refuse the refund.
Now they have to prove that the customer is grossly negligent, a subtle yet important difference to being careless.
The FCA is helping customers further by creating ScamSmart, an online tool that helps them avoid investment and pension scams. Customers can check the site to see if the scam they are being offered is legitimate and report if it isn’t.
We’ll never see the end of scams, but hopefully, we’ll reduce them dramatically and those African Princes will have to sit on their millions forever.
