Financial Scam & Fraud FAQs

A scammer pretends to be a trusted organisation or person, such as a bank, police officer, government department, delivery company, relative or colleague. They may create urgency or claim your money must be moved to a “safe account”. A genuine bank or authority will not ask you to move money to protect it.

These scams involve fake online shops, non-existent goods, counterfeit items or messages claiming a parcel fee is due. Check the seller independently, read reliable reviews, use secure payment methods and avoid paying by direct bank transfer to an unknown seller.

Fraudsters may promise guaranteed or unusually high returns, use fake celebrity endorsements, display fabricated account profits or pressure you to invest quickly. Check the firm and its permissions using the FCA Firm Checker, and use the contact details shown there rather than details supplied by the caller or website.

A scammer builds trust online and later asks for money, gifts, investments or financial help. Never send money or share financial details with someone you have not independently verified, especially when there are repeated excuses for avoiding an in-person or live-video meeting.

Warning signs include paying upfront for training, equipment, checks or visas; being asked to receive or transfer money through your account; vague job details; and contact from personal email addresses. Verify the employer using independently sourced details before sharing identity documents or bank information.

If you have fallen victim to a scam and lost over £3,000.00, our experts, can help you recover your lost funds.

As well as this, we will assist in offering educative measures and advice for you to use to protect yourself going forward.

As a firm of regulated solicitors, we will never ask you for funds upfront. Therefore, there is no risk to yourself by making a claim.

All of our financial fraud claims are run on a no win no fee basis. This means that, if successful, we will deduct 25% (inclusive of VAT) and you will be left with the remaining 75%

As well as claiming for the money lost, we can also claim interest (8%) and compensation for inconvenience and stress.

This means you may claim back more than you have lost. 

Be very cautious. People who have already lost money are often targeted by “recovery” scammers who promise to retrieve funds in return for an upfront fee. Verify any firm independently and never pay because of pressure or a guarantee.

Compensation can only be recovered from the scammer directly if criminal proceedings are undertaken, upon conviction the Court can award compensation.

However, more often than not, it is very difficult to track down scammers. The funds are usually dispersed from the receiving account almost instantaly after the money was deposited. 

Because of this, we look to recover your funds from the bank.

The bank has a duty to protect its customers from falling victim to scams by:

• conducting robust security checks and
• data protection measures,
• constantly monitoring customer accounts to identify unusual and out-of-character payments as well as
• vulnerabilities that may make customers more susceptible to falling victim to a scam.

If your bank has failed to conduct these robust security checks to keep your money safe, you may be entitled to compensation. 

To recover your money from the bank, contact your bank making a formal complaint on your behalf. Upon receiving a decision, if the bank is reluctant to award compensation in the first instance, we will then refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

You can make a claim for scams that have occurred within the last 6 years or from 3 years of the date of the knowledge of the scam.

Alternatively, if you have received a final letter of response from the bank, a claim must be brought within 6 months of the date of the letter.

Therefore, it is important to begin the claim as soon as possible. So we have the best chance of helping you get your money back. 

If the bank is willing to settle and award compensation in the first instance, we may be able to recover your funds within as little as a few of weeks.

If your claim is referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service, the timescale may vary to up to 12 months depending on the Financial Ombudsman Service’s response time.

However, we will work as quickly as we can upon receiving your claim to ensure that no unnecessary delay is incurred. 

Victims of fraud/scam will often believe that they were at fault by authorising the payment and the bank may have confirmed this upon the scam being reported to them.

However, nobody is better placed than the banks to identify potential scams. They have both a moral and legal obligation to protect consumer funds. 

We have conducted extensive research into the rules and regulations governing banks. We will be able to identify whether or not the bank has breached its obligations to you as a customer. 

If you did not enter information, download a file or install software, stay alert for unusual account activity. If you entered passwords, change them immediately anywhere they were reused and enable two-step verification. If you installed software or gave remote access, disconnect the device from the internet, run a full antivirus scan and seek trusted technical help.

Contact your bank immediately using the number on your card, statement or official app. Ask it to secure your account and explore whether the payment can be stopped or recovered. Keep records of messages, phone numbers, payment details and screenshots, but do not continue engaging with the scammer.