How we reimburse you for APP scams

The Payment Systems Regulator introduced a regulatory requirement on 7 October 2024 to make sure, that in most cases, customers who become victims of authorised push payment scams (APP) are refunded.

On this page:

What is an APP scam?
What’s covered under the APP regulations?
Report an APP scam

What is an APP scam?

An authorised push payment (APP) scam is when a criminal tricks someone into making a bank transfer to them.

There are many types of APP scams but they all involve a scammer impersonating someone. It could mean tempting you with a fake offer or tricking you into paying into an account controlled by a fraudster.

UK Finance reported that £450.7m was lost to APP fraud in 2024.

Find the different types of APP scams and the warning signs to look out for on our common scams page.

What’s covered under the APP Reimbursement Regulations?

Make sure you still take care when making payments because a refund is not guaranteed in all cases and some exceptions do apply.

You will be covered for:

payments to UK accounts
payments made using Faster Payments (a quick way of sending money between bank accounts) or CHAPS
payments from personal accounts
Payments from personal accounts, or business accounts if made by micro-enterprises and certain charities:
- a microenterprise, which is a business (or a group of businesses of which it forms part of) whose annual turnover and/or balance sheet total does not exceed 2 million euros (or the equivalent in sterling) and employs fewer than ten people
- a charity whose annual income is less than 1 million pounds

There's no minimum amount you can claim for.

The maximum we’ll refund under the regulation is £85,000.

We reserve the right to apply a maximum of £100 excess for each claim.

You will not be covered for:

payments to international accounts
payments from business accounts which are not owned by micro-enterprises or certain charities
payments where you've been significantly careless by not taking the steps to protect yourself from being victim to an APP scam, such as ignoring advice from us
payments using BACS, cash, cheque, or a credit, debit or prepaid card
payments to another account that you control
payments that are part of a civil dispute, such as if you have paid a genuine seller but you are not satisfied with what you have received
payments where you've acted fraudulently yourself – including if you have lied or misrepresented your circumstances for financial gain
payments which are unlawful, such as for an illegal item
payments to and from an account with a credit union, municipal bank or national savings bank (state-owned savings bank in the UK)

Report an APP scam

Call us immediately on 159 if you think you have been a victim of a scam, even if you do not think you’ll be refunded. We review each report on a case-by-case basis in line with industry standards.

You must report the scam as soon as you can, and no more than 13 months after the last fraudulent payment was made.

To find more about reporting fraud, find our pages for:

What happens when I report a scam?

We may ask you for additional information about your claim so make sure you respond to these requests.

Once you've made a claim, we may ask you to report the details of the fraud to the police, or offer to do this for you – you'll need to consent to this.

Find out how to report fraud

When will I be refunded?

In most cases when you report an APP scam to us, we'll refund your account within 5 business days. In rare cases, we may need more time to investigate but we'll provide an outcome within 35 business days.

Protect yourself from scams

To help protect yourself, make sure you always:

follow our fraud warnings and guidance, such as alerts that the payment you're making could be fraud
follow any instructions from the police or the National Crime Agency
take the actions we recommend when trying to make a payment to make sure you’re not being scammed - make sure you do this before attempting to make the payment again

Explore more ways you can protect yourself from fraud