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Thousands of bank customers wrongly denied refunds – what to do if you’re owed money

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Thousands of bank customers wrongly denied refunds – what to do if you’re owed money

Thousands of banking customers were wrongly denied refunds after falling victim to fraud, new data from the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) shows.

Digital-only bank Monzo, wrongly denied 34% of 3,372 fraud and scam complaints, while NatWest incorrectly rejected 33% of 1,972 cases.

Multinational bank HSBC erroneously declined 32% of 2,535 fraud complaints.

Some £629.3 million was stolen through payment fraud in the first six months of 2025, up 3% from the same period in 2024, according to figures from UK Finance.

Authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where the criminal tricks customers into sending money, is one of the most common types of scams.

This included investment scams, romance scams, purchase scams and impersonation scams.

Customers lost £372 million to APP fraud in the first half of 2025, with just over 1.98 million cases being reported.

What to do if you think you’re owed money

New rules introduced in 2024 by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), mean that banks must repay customers who fall victim to APP fraud.

You can claim up to £85,000 back from your bank as standard, however, providers can choose to repay more than that on a case by case basis.

To start your claim, you’ll contact your back directly or call 159, which will connect you to your bank’s fraud team.

Refunds usually take around five business days from making the claim or up to 35 days if your bank needs more time to process the details.

If your claim is refused, you can file a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Servic,e which will review your case and could help to get your money back.

Clare West
Clare West Finance Editor

As a finance writer and editor, I can’t make decisions for you because only you know what’s right for you, and your personal priorities and goals. My role is to understand the things that are going to be important to you, remove anything that could work as a barrier to understanding, and then ensure you don’t miss a thing.

It’s an approach that has won me awards from professional bodies (‘Website of the Year’ at the Professional Adviser Awards 2021; Finalist – ‘Start Up of the Year’ at the UK FinTech Awards 2025) and seen me featured in the press as a commentator and expert.

Finances are about so much more than numbers on a page. Achieving your financial goals allows you to feel peace of mind, have confidence in your future, and achieve the things that matter to you. Financial wellbeing allows for life goal fulfilment.

I’ve spent more than a decade specialising in writing about financial services, so I know that in financial services, trust is absolutely vital. I am delighted, therefore, that everything we do at Investing Insiders centres around trust. Our mission is to write honest reviews based on our personal opinions and professional insights. We are not swayed in our opinions by incentives or influences from providers. Where we have a relationship with a provider that could affect our neutrality, we will let you know. But we are clear; whatever relationship we have with providers, our reader comes first. Simply put, we can’t be paid to change our opinion. My obligation is to you, the saver or investor, looking to build your wealth and protect your future.

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