Fraud

If you're scammed into making a bank transfer to a fraudster, your bank MUST now refund you in most cases, under new industry-wide rules coming into force today (Monday 7 October). But you still need to be cautious when making payments, as you may have up to £100 deducted from your refund – and banks will be able to reject claims entirely if they find you were really careless.

If you get a text message from the Metropolitan Police in the next 48 hours asking for help fighting fraud, don't ignore it. The organisation is sending text messages to 70,000 people who may have been targeted by fraudsters using a sophisticated online tool to spoof the phone numbers of legitimate companies such as banks. 

MoneySavingExpert.com and its founder Martin Lewis have joined forces with a number of campaign groups and organisations to urge the Prime Minister to push the scams element of the Online Safety Bill through Parliament as quickly as possible in a bid to end the "constant perpetuation of online fraud".

Holidaymakers should watch out as new data from Lloyds Bank shows travel-related scams have increased by a third over the year to March, with fraudsters targeting those booking package holidays, flights, hotels and caravans. Here’s how to try and avoid them - and what to do if you've been scammed.

Thousands of First Direct customers have had bogus payments taken from their accounts from scammers posing as the Nando's restaurant chain. Some customers claimed that fraudsters had taken unauthorised payments of around £60, although the online bank said the average transaction was £30.

A grandfather of two, who was tricked out of £25,000 by fraudsters purporting to offer NHS Covid passes, has got his life savings back after MoneySavingExpert.com intervened. He's now warning others about the scam to make sure they don't get caught out.   

The financial watchdog has released a Christmas jingle as part of an anti-fraud campaign, launched today (9 December), to try and better inform and protect consumers from financial fraud related to taking out loans, which it says are particularly rife over the Christmas period. 

If you need to call your bank, just dial 159. That's the message MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis gave in the second episode of his new series of The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV.

The contactless payment limit, which is the amount you can spend on card without entering a PIN, will rise from £45 to £100 from 15 October, it's been confirmed. It comes after chancellor Rishi Sunak formally announced the plans in the spring Budget.  

HMRC says it's developed new technology which stops fraudsters spoofing its most commonly-used numbers to trick taxpayers into handing over money.