I paid £70,000 to fraudsters – can Santander help?

I have been scammed out of £70,000 by fraudsters who posed as Citibank agents to sell me a high-interest savings bond.

I have multiple sclerosis and have had to retire early because of my worsening vision, and this episode has left me sick with worry.

In January I was contacted by email and phone by several individuals purporting to work for Citi. I was reassured because I found their names on the Financial Services Register, and the correspondence had the correct registration number, as well as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme logo.

I have banked with Santander for many years, and only my disability benefits are paid in each month, with my household expenses going out.

The individuals convinced me to buy a one-year fixed-rate bond supposedly paying 11%, and I transferred £70,000 in three payments from my bank account.

I reported this sad saga to Santander and Action Fraud. I have also cancelled my passport and notified the Land Registry, as I was worried about what they might do to my home. I don’t hold out much hope for the police, or Santander’s response.
SD, Ely

This is an awful story and, as a retired lawyer, you are devastated at having been duped. The criminals hooked you in with the promise of ultra-high returns and kept up the pretence in slick correspondence, which included a worthless “digital bond certificate”.

Investment scams are the second most common type of authorised push payment (APP) fraud, where the customer is tricked into authorising a payment to an account controlled by a criminal, with £61.2m stolen this way in the first six months of 2022 alone.

The criminals had gained information about your finances through either a direct phishing attempt or a third party, and then used the information to manipulate you, convincing you to pay them in instalments through your banking app. You smelled a rat when they tried to pressurise you into investing more.

In these kinds of cases, banks consider whether they could have done more to protect the customer, as well as whether the individual did enough to protect themselves, and after I helped to escalate your case, Santander has reimbursed your £70,000.

It says: “We have the utmost sympathy for SD and for anyone who falls victim to the criminals who carry out these scams. Upon reviewing the individual circumstances, we have made the decision to reimburse all the money taken.”

It added: “We would encourage all customers to double-check whether a service or offer is genuine, take time to check our help and advice pages on our website, and if in doubt get in touch by calling the Stop Scams number 159 before making a payment.”

This is obviously a great outcome but yet another chilling reminder of Britain’s fraud epidemic.

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