I was accosted in the street and forced to transfer £200 to my assailant’s bank account via my online banking app.
I reported the matter to the police and then my bank.
My bank says it cannot help and that it’s a police matter but the police say my bank should be sorting it out. Who should be helping me?
J. Wells, London.
Traumatic: A reader is being sent back and fourth between the police and her bank after she was accosted in the street and forced to transfer funds from her banking app (file picture)
Dean Dunham replies: New rules that came into effect on October 7 last year require banks to reimburse victims of APP fraud up to £85,000 within five working days, unless an exception applies.
Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud involves someone being tricked into sending money to a fraudster posing as a genuine payee.
The new rules do not apply if you are deemed to have been ‘grossly negligent’ (for example, if you failed to take notice of a relevant scam warning from your bank or the police); if the bank believes you are acting fraudulently; and, lastly, if your claim is in fact in relation to a civil dispute rather than a fraud.
In addition, you must make the APP scam claim no more than 13 months after the date of the payment. On the face of it, you meet this criteria and do not fall within any of the exceptions.
However, I think your bank has denied your claim as it has paid too close attention to the meaning of APP fraud.
Usually it is defined as when someone is tricked into sending money to a fraudster, but of course this is not the case here – you were forced, not tricked.
However, in my view, this does not matter. Even if you are forcibly compelled to send money to a fraudster, it is still considered an APP fraud.
The defining factor of APP fraud is that the victim authorises the transaction, even if under duress or due to coercion or deceit.
On the basis that you swiftly reported the matter to the police and the bank, this is a claim that should have been honoured by your bank.
Your next step is to ask your bank for a deadlock letter setting out its final position on denying your claim.
Armed with this, you should file a claim with the Financial Ombudsman Service (financial-ombudsman.org.uk).
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