“I transferred 9,200 pounds to what I thought was my solicitor’s account on completion day. The bank says I authorised it. Do I have any way of getting it back?”
Yes, very probably. Since October 2024, UK banks and payment firms have been required to reimburse victims of authorised push payment fraud up to 85,000 pounds in most cases, within five business days, unless they can show the customer was grossly negligent. That reader was reimbursed in full. Most people in the same position do not know the rule exists.
Scam Signal is built around questions like that one. Each article starts with a real reader’s situation, stated in their words and anonymised but with the specifics kept: the sum, the timeline, the bank, what was said. It gives a direct answer in the first paragraph, then the caveats, then exactly what to do and in what order.
The site covers authorised push payment scams, impersonation and purchase fraud, investment and crypto scams, romance fraud, the reimbursement rules and how to use them, complaints to the Financial Ombudsman, and recovery routes when reimbursement is refused. It also explains how to report a scam so that the report actually goes somewhere.
Scam Signal is edited by Nadia Fenwick, who has spent years working with fraud victims through the reimbursement and complaints process. It is an independent UK publication and does not offer legal advice or recovery services, and it warns readers about firms that do.