With Christmas in the rear lights and dismal January upon us, now is the time that many householders are looking to cheer themselves up – whether booking the Summer holiday, perhaps looking at home improvements or upgrading the car, or indeed looking at anything which involves expenditure.
It would be nice to think that scammers take a rest from their plotting, but sadly that is not the case. So, normal rules apply when looking to recognise a scam –
- Is it too good to be true – for example, a holiday that’s much cheaper than you’d expect
- someone who claims to know you contacting you unexpectedly
- are you actually dealing with a real company – for example, if there’s no postal address
- you have been asked to transfer money quickly, often with the suggestion that otherwise you will lose your “bargain”.
- you have been asked to pay in an unusual way – for example, by iTunes vouchers or through a transfer service like MoneyGram or Western Union
- you have been asked to give away personal information like passwords or PINs
- you have not received any written confirmation of what’s been agreed
The use of the word scam can sometimes make light of an offence, but when we talk of scammers let there be no mistake that what they are doing is committing fraud.
Recently, regulations covering what is known as Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud have formalised what banks and financial institutions must do when consumers are tricked by a criminal into sending money by bank payment to an account that they control and which you do not.
APP covers areas such as –
- purchase fraud, where criminals pretend to sell things that don’t exist.
- impersonation fraud, where criminals claim to be someone from a bank, the police or another trusted organisation to steal money.
- investment fraud, where you’re convinced to move your money into a fictitious fund or to pay for what later turns out to be a fake investment.
- romance fraud, when criminals use a fake dating profile to start a relationship with you and then ask for money.
- invoice fraud, where fraudsters send false invoices.
A guide on APP fraud with the rules on how banks and other payment service providers reimburse victims can be found at the website www.ukfinance.org.uk and a link to it can be found below –
However, although consumers have these protections there is also an expectation that they will take all reasonable precautions to protect themselves from becoming a victim of APP fraud by a scammer.
Most of those precautions are as detailed above, but of particular importance are taking heed of the automated bank warnings given in circumstances where consumers are making online payments to someone new.
If you feel you have been scammed, in addition to the above details, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via actionfraud.police.uk.
Further advice can be obtained by emailing trading.standards@croydon.gov.uk