Protecting victims of authorised push payment fraud

What is Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud?

Fraud is perpetrated in many forms and one of the fastest growing types of fraud is known as ‘Authorised Push Payment’ fraud (‘APP fraud’ for short). APP frauds are scams which happen when victims are tricked into sending money to criminals posing as genuine payees.

The risk of this happening to you increases when you make a payment to a new payee for the first time, and when someone you’ve paid before tells you they’ve changed their bank account details and asks you to send money there instead.

Common types of APP scam include investment scams, bank and other trusted organisation impersonation scams, purchase scams, and email compromise invoice scams. Find out more information about how these scams work by visiting the ‘Fraud protection’ area of our website Know fraud | Investec fraud prevention advice.

How does Investec protect victims of APP fraud?

Looking after your security is a fundamental part of our business. As an Investec client, you already benefit from the combination of our expertise in security, risk, and fraud prevention. The threat landscape evolves every day, and we work hard to adapt our safety and security architecture to manage associated risks.

Under the new rules outlined below, if you’ve been a victim of an APP fraud, we may reimburse you for your loss if you meet the ‘Consumer Standard of Caution’.

The damage fraud does is huge. Organised criminals and other bad actors who commit fraud cause serious harm to individuals, businesses and society in the UK and around the world. While the financial services sector successfully prevented £1.2bn of fraud in 2023, £1.17bn was stolen across 2.97mn confirmed industry fraud cases.¹

¹ UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2024.

What’s covered under the reimbursement rules?

Covered	Not covered
Payments made within the UK Payments made using Faster Payments [2] Payments made using CHAPS [3] Payments made from personal bank accounts Payments made by micro-enterprises [4] and certain charities [5] Payments of up to £85,000 in value, per scam. This is the maximum amount you can claim.	You have acted fraudulently yourself, including if you have lied or misrepresented your circumstances for financial gain International payments (i.e. payments sent outside of the UK) If you have lost money in an APP fraud where you have shown a significant degree of carelessness (known as ‘gross negligence’). See below for more information on this. Payments made before 7 October 2024 as part of an APP fraud and where you tell us about the fraud more than 13 months after you made the final payment to the criminal Payments made using cash, cheque or a credit, debit or prepaid card Civil disputes (e.g. if you’ve paid a genuine retailer or business but you aren’t satisfied with the product or service you’ve received) Payments made to another account that you control Payments that are not authorised by you (known as ‘unauthorised payments’) Unlawful payments (e.g. if the payment was for an illegal item) Payments made to and from an account with a credit union, municipal bank or a national savings bank (i.e. a state-owned savings bank in the UK)

Covered

Not covered

Payments made within the UK
Payments made using Faster Payments [2]
Payments made using CHAPS [3]
Payments made from personal bank accounts
Payments made by micro-enterprises [4] and certain charities [5]
Payments of up to £85,000 in value, per scam. This is the maximum amount you can claim.

You have acted fraudulently yourself, including if you have lied or misrepresented your circumstances for financial gain
International payments (i.e. payments sent outside of the UK)
If you have lost money in an APP fraud where you have shown a significant degree of carelessness (known as ‘gross negligence’). See below for more information on this.
Payments made before 7 October 2024 as part of an APP fraud and where you tell us about the fraud more than 13 months after you made the final payment to the criminal
Payments made using cash, cheque or a credit, debit or prepaid card
Civil disputes (e.g. if you’ve paid a genuine retailer or business but you aren’t satisfied with the product or service you’ve received)
Payments made to another account that you control
Payments that are not authorised by you (known as ‘unauthorised payments’)
Unlawful payments (e.g. if the payment was for an illegal item)
Payments made to and from an account with a credit union, municipal bank or a national savings bank (i.e. a state-owned savings bank in the UK)

[2] The UK electronic payment system that provides near real-time payments as well as standing orders and forward-dated payments, operated by Pay.UK.
[3] The UK’s real-time, high-value payment system operated by the Bank of England.
[4] A micro-enterprise is a business that employs fewer than ten persons and whose annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total does not exceed €2 million.
[5] Charities are defined under the relevant legislation in the UK and registered as such. Charities in scope have an annual income of less than £1 million.

What is expected of you?

We will not ask you to verify or change any of your details as a result of these new regulations. If someone asks you to do so, it’s likely to be a scam – please contact us immediately.

When making payments, you must always be cautious. If you lose money to an APP fraud, we may not reimburse you if you’ve been grossly negligent. Under the rules, this is known as observing the ‘Consumer Standard of Caution’.

To meet the ‘Consumer Standard of Caution’:

You must follow any fraud advice you receive from us. This includes alert advice we may show you or send you about a payment when you’re setting up a new beneficiary and we think it’s likely to be a scam. It also includes any online / in-app pop-ups displayed when you log in. You must also follow any instructions received from the police or the National Crime Agency in relation to the scam.
You must report the fraud to us as soon as you discover it, and no more than 13 months after the last fraudulent payment was made.
You must respond promptly if we request any additional information or evidence from you regarding the fraud.
You should report details of the fraud to the police (or we may do this on your behalf with your consent).

What should you do if you think you’re a victim of APP fraud?

Contact us immediately on 0330 123 5985 or +44 207 597 2836 if you’ve lost money to APP fraud or if you’re concerned you may have been a victim. If you delay in reporting what’s happened to us, we may not be able to recover your funds.

You must co-operate with us fully when we’re looking into what’s happened to you. This means responding promptly if we ask you for any information or evidence like screenshots, emails, messages etc. You’re expected to consent to information being shared with police or other banks where we deem that necessary.

How long will it take to get your money back?

We will assess each claim for reimbursement on a case-by-case basis. As part of the assessment process, we will consider the evidence you share with us as well as any evidence provided by other parties involved and – where relevant – the police.

If we assess your claim as valid, in most cases you should be reimbursed within five business days of making a claim. Business days are Monday to Friday and exclude all UK bank holidays, although additional holidays in Northern Ireland and Scotland are included.

Sometimes it might take up to 35 business days for us to reimburse you. If this happens, it may be because we need extra time to gather information from you, or the bank that received the fraudulent payment under the APP scam. There may also be a delay if a statutory body such as our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, becomes involved.

What happens if you are vulnerable?

A vulnerable client is someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to harm.

When assessing your claim, we will consider your personal circumstances, including vulnerability.

If you are in a vulnerable circumstance, and this has had a material impact on your ability to spot or protect yourself from APP fraud, then the Consumer Standard of Caution does not apply, and you can still be reimbursed.

You can contact us to discuss your personal circumstances at any time, either over the phone or by email. This might include difficult life events or illnesses that impact your ability to manage your finances confidently.

How can you protect yourself from APP fraud?

Criminals are always looking for new ways to steal your money, so stop and think before making a payment. We’ve improved some of our online journeys to give you more time to consider, and to help make sure you’re asking yourself the right questions.

Remember, we will never ask you for your One Time Passcode, nor will we ask you to transfer money to a ‘safe’ account. If someone does ask for your One Time Passcode, they’re trying to defraud you.

If you’re unsure or suspicious, please contact us before making your payment.

In addition to following any fraud advice you receive from us when making a payment, you should stay up to date with our fraud advice about different types of scams on our Investec fraud website.

You can also find useful information and more advice about how to protect yourself from fraud on Take Five to Stop Fraud.

Where can you go for more support?

We understand that being a victim of fraud can be upsetting and if you get caught up in a scam, you might find it hard to recover from the experience. You can find further support through Citizen’s Advice Consumer Service, Age UK, or Victim Support.

How can you complain about how we’ve handled your claim?

If you have a complaint about the way we’ve handled your APP fraud claim, you should let us know and we will handle it in line with our existing complaints policy.

If you’re not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which is independent and impartial. They will review your complaint by weighing up all the facts. This is a free service. For further information please visit https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/.

Protecting victims of authorised push payment fraud

From 7 October 2024, our security programme has been enhanced to reflect new rules and guidance protecting victims of APP fraud in the UK.