Consumer watchdog Which? has revealed the banks that are most often found to be treating transfer scam victims unfairly.

Among the findings, Which? revealed that for some firms nearly nine out of 10 decisions related to scams and reimbursements were wrong.

Most major banks have signed up to a voluntary reimbursement code on bank transfer scams, also known as authorised push payment fraud (APP), which instructs them to reimburse customers who are not at fault and provide them with support.

The number of new authorised fraud complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) more than doubled in 2020-21, from 3,600 to 7,770.

Watford Observer: The number of new authorised fraud complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) more than doubled in 2020-21 (PA)The number of new authorised fraud complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) more than doubled in 2020-21 (PA) (Image: PA)

Which banks are on the list?

Banks such as NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland, which are part of the same group, are getting the fraud decisions wrong 86 percent of the time.

Santander and Bank of Scotland followed closely behind at 82 percent and 81 percent respectively.

A Santander spokesperson said: “We have a great deal of sympathy for all those who are victims of the criminals who carry out fraud.

“We invest a great deal in protecting our customers against fraud, raising awareness of scams and fraud, and working closely with FOS, as well as other industry bodies, to ensure customers are treated fairly.”

Starling also had a high complaint uphold rate, but this is based on a much smaller number of closed cases than other banks.

Lloyds Bank, Revolut and Nationwide also had a high number of fraud complaints upheld in favour of the victims.

Here are the percentages of cases upheld in consumers’ favour from April 1 2020 to March 31 2021 iby the FOS after complaints were made relating to authorised fraud, according to Which? 

– RBS, 86%

– NatWest, 86%

– Santander, 82%

– Bank of Scotland, 81%

– Starling Bank, 80%

– Lloyds, 78%

– Revolut, 77%

– Nationwide Building Society, 74%

– Monzo, 73%

What does this mean for fraud victims? 

These figures highlight how banks are dealing with bank transfer scams and which customers are unhappy with their banks’ response.

In some cases, it can take banks and the FOS more than a year to settle authorised fraud complaint, meaning victims of fraud are left to suffer.

Jenny Ross, money editor at Which? said: "Fraud can have a devastating financial and emotional impact on victims, so it’s shocking that so many banks are failing to handle cases correctly, often wrongly and unfairly denying victims reimbursement."

In one case study revealed by Which? a woman lost £7,000 in just four hours after a scam caller, claiming to be a BT engineer, warned her that her IP address had been hacked, but reassured her that they could remotely fix the problem.

The woman installed TeamViewer onto her computer to help the scammer supposedly fix her IP address and was then told to log in to her email, shopping and bank accounts to ensure that these were secure.

Santander initially refused to refund her as they believed she made the payment, so she took her complaint to the FOS, who ruled the bank had to refund her in full, plus 8% interest as compensation.