When someone has money stolen from their bank account by scammers the banks can usually get away with blaming the individual  and not pay compensation.

In some cases that is reasonable – if people make no attempt to check who they are transferring money to or why then it’s not the bank’s fault.

But scammers are increasingly sophisticated in these attacks and many people are caught out even after taking what they think are the right precautions.

In a recent case ‘Victor’ believed he was talking to Santander’s  fraud department and gave the fraudsters the information they needed to access his account. The Financial Ombudsman believed he had acted reasonably and ordered Santander to repay the amount stolen – nearly £12,000.

If the bank refuses to pay after such a fraud – the victim has 6 months in which to complain to the Financial Ombudsman and there may be more such cases as people fight harder to make the banks pay up.

Of course, it is still the individual’s responsibility to act sensibly at all times and do their best to avoid fraud.

If you transfer money away without adequate consideration – that’s your fault and no-one else’s.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.