Home buyers who are scammed by fraudsters posing as estate agents or conveyancers into parting with their purchase money are part of the focus of a super-complaint made by Which?
The consumer organisation says that at the moment, no one falling victim to a bank transfer scam has a legal right to get their money back from a bank.
Which? wants banks to offer the same protection that credit card fraud victims receive.
Which? is making a super-complaint to the Payment Systems Regulator and alerting the Financial Conduct Authority. The regulators have 90 days to investigate and respond.
Which? is calling on regulators to investigate the scale of bank transfer fraud and how much it is costing consumers.
Which? research found that six in ten people had no idea they had no consumer protection from their bank if they were scammed into making a bank transfer.
Christopher Mills, from York, was tricked into sending a £10,000 deposit for his new home to a fraudster after receiving an email that appeared to be from his estate agent.
In the case, highlighted on BBC News, his bank refused to cover the loss.
Mills said: “It is just like being burgled at home; something is missing and you can’t get it back.
“The scammer was so clever in that the first email had exactly the same details that came from the estate agent.”
Scam emails have reached an almost epidemic scale. I warn my Bold Legal Group member firms about new scam emails etc two or three times a week.
Whilst I accept that anyone scammed should (in most cases) have a right to claim compensation, the public also need to be made more aware and become more careful.
Making claiming too easy and the banks the fall guys, will not stop the cause. In fact it could increase the problem.
If you are burgled because you left a door or window open, then it is, pretty much, your fault. Isn’t not having the right security and anti-virus software on your computer similar?
There is some good advice out there, including advice from Which?
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/scams?gclid=CMH2gIr0rs8CFUoq0wodCJsMcw
and Martin Lewis:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/stop-scams
Prevention is better than cure.
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I wonder if Which? will come to the aid of investors who were duped by estate agents floating on the stock market using figures that would make a senior Tesco accountant baulk.
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Just brilliant Mark!
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Superb. Gets my vote for the comment of the week. Maybe even comment of the year!
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As the scammer’s victim says, “It is just like being burgled at home; something is missing and you can’t get it back.” Most people, as Rob points out above, have the sense to lock their doors and windows. They also insure against the risk. Without insurance, there is nowhere else to turn for recompense after a burglary.
It’s understandable that people want to blame someone else when they’ve been gullible, but the methods used by these scammers are old-fashioned confidence tricks – nothing more, nothing less. Should you blame the bank if a trickster persuades you to part with your wallet? Or to leave your valuables lying around and your home unlocked?
Which? is misguided, and if regulators were to switch responsibility for these losses to the banks, we can all expect banking costs to rise as we subsidise people who are too careless to look after their own money properly.
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