Every year thousands of people within the UK fall victim to scams. Scammers are professional fraudsters who set up well-organised scams to steal personal and financial information. This is a multi-million pound industry with new scams being developed and evolve constantly. It is therefore extremely important to be vigilant and aware of when something is likely to be a scam.
Shropshire Council’s Trading Standards team has a dedicated Scams Officer who is visiting community groups and alerting people to the dangers of scams generally, and offering support and guidance on scams that are current to that time and geographical area.
Scams can take many forms including cold calls, text messages, emails and letters and can often appear genuine. They normally involve telling the victim they have won a competition, often with a prize of cash, jewellery or other high priced items. As soon as you provide ANY details to one of these scams they will be passed on to others and you could be at risk to more junk mail and nuisance calls.
At Shropshire Council we are dedicated to raising awareness within the community of Shropshire to pre-arm people against these scammers, and providing various platforms where people can share their experiences to prevent scams being repeated.
How can you recognise a scam?
There are some key questions you can ask yourself to help recognise and avoid scams:
- Does it seem too good to be true?
- Is the offer unsolicited?
- Am I being asked to send money up front?
- Do I have to respond immediately or urgently?
- Do I have to give my bank account or bank card details?
- Do I have to send money to a PO Box or by money transfer, Ukash voucher or similar?
- Am I being asked to keep it a secret?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes then it is probably a scam.
How can you protect yourself from scams?
There are some simple steps you can take to protect yourself from scams and fraud:
- If the answer to any of the above questions is ‘yes’ DO NOT RESPOND
- Find out more about phone services that can help tackle nuisance calls
- Register with the Telephone Preference Service
- Consider investing in a call screening device to stop unknown numbers calling you – there are several of these devices available on the open market
If you think you have received communication which may be a scam or fraud you can report it directly to Action Fraud or Trading Standards. If you are worried that you or someone you know may be a victim of scammers, or you need further advice, you can also contact us.
To support the work of National Trading Standards, Community Protection are now a Friends Against Scams partner.
Friends Against Scams is designed to inspire action, highlight the scale of the problem, change the perceptions of why people fall for scams and make scams a community, regional and national topic.
By attending a Friends Against Scams awareness session or completing the online learning, anyone can learn about the different types of scams and how to spot and support a victim. With increased knowledge and awareness, people can make scams part of everyday conversation with their family, friends and neighbours, which will enable them to protect themselves and others.
For more information, please contact Community Protection or visit the Friends Against Scams website.
Advice for businesses
With more employees than ever working from home, fewer opportunities to talk to colleagues and a different working environment, criminals have more opportunity to use these changes to commit fraud. Employees are having to make decisions on their own without verification from their colleagues, making businesses more susceptible to scams and fraud. There are a number of practical steps companies can take to reduce the risk of falling victim to a scam. For more information, take a look at the Businesses Against Scams website.
Helping scam victims get money back from their bank
New schemes brought in by the banks mean that victims are now much more likely to get some money back from their bank if they fall victim to a scam. It’s important that the report is made as soon as possible as the bank may be able to recover some of the money before it's removed from the receiving account.
Even where the bank is unable to recover money, it will investigate to check that it did everything it could to protect the customer from becoming a victim. This includes where the payment wasn't made by bank transfer but there were occasions where bank staff could have intervened – such as a large cash withdrawal in branch.
Each bank has a dedicated fraud reporting number which you can find on their website, or most now can be contacted by simply calling 159, then the system will transfer you to your bank. Victims should then ask to make a claim using the reimbursement scheme.
The bank will complete their investigation as quickly as possible, normally within 15 business days of receiving the claim. If the victim isn't happy with the outcome of the fraud claim – for example if the bank has refused reimbursement or has only offered a partial reimbursement – please follow the steps below.
If the victim or the person dealing with the claim on their behalf isn't happy with the outcome of the fraud claim, they should make a formal complaint to the bank. You can find out how to do this on the bank website or by asking a staff member in branch.
The complaint will go to a different team (the complaints team) from the original fraud claim, and they'll assess whether the fraud claim was handled properly. They may also assess any additional evidence you provide and/or your response to the outcome of the fraud claim.
If the victim isn't happy with the bank response to the complaint, or it hasn't been answered within the time frame (in most cases 15 days), they're entitled to take their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. They'll be notified by their bank of their right to do this.
There's no cost to the victim for taking their case to the Ombudsman. There have been several cases recently where the Ombudsman has ruled in favour of the scam victim and required the bank to reimburse the customer, so this route may help those who have been turned away by their bank.
You can find more information on the process on the Financial Ombudsman website.
How will the bank make a decision on reimbursement?
Banks have no legal liability for authorised fraud, otherwise known as scams, where a victim is tricked into transferring or giving money to criminals under false pretences, such as paying for a product that doesn’t exist.
However, several voluntary schemes exist which have an impact on how banks process fraud claims.
Contingent reimbursement model for authorised push payment scams (CRM)
Banks which have signed up to the CRM, which includes the seven biggest banks, follow the rules in the CRM when determining whether to make refunds to customers who have been a victim of authorised push payment scams. Only transactions to UK accounts which were made by bank transfer (online, on the telephone, or in branch) after 28 May 2019 (the date the code came into force) are eligible.
The bank must investigate APP scam claims and determine whether the sending and receiving bank have fulfilled their obligations under the code, as well as whether the customer has followed the standards of care set out within the code.
You can find more information about the code, including a consumer guide and the full document, on the LSB website.
TSB fraud refund guarantee
On 14 April 2020 TSB launched their fraud refund guarantee. The fraud guarantee means that if a TSB customer has clearly been the victim of either an unauthorised or authorised fraud they'll get their money back. TSB will only decline to refund a customer if the customer appears to be complicit in the fraud, or have repeatedly ignored scam warnings.
More information about the TSB Fraud Refund Guarantee is available on the TSB website.
Banking Protocol
The Banking Protocol is a process where bank branch staff are encouraged to question customers about any suspicious or out of character transactions, and to call the police to the bank if they remain suspicious that the customer is being defrauded.
If the Banking Protocol could have prevented a customer from losing money but was not invoked by bank branch staff, then this may influence the bank’s decision on whether to reimburse the customer.
It's worth remembering that criminals often give their victims convincing cover stories to tell bank staff who ask questions about the purpose of the transaction. In these cases, it can be difficult for bank staff to spot the scam. Similarly, some victims are so convinced by the criminal’s story that they'll insist the bank releases their money – in these circumstances it's difficult for staff to prevent the transaction.