Financial Ombudsman says bank scam victims not to be blamed for money lost

Moreover, banks have been warned that it is wrong to assume losses were due to customer carelessness in these situations. Also, the service, which resolves customer disputes, said victims who lost money had a good chance of being reimbursed.

In 2017, customers transferred nearly GBP 240 million to fraudsters, only a quarter of which was refunded by financial companies. Examples of the tactics used by fraudsters including creating fake websites which look identical to banks online systems - or text messages which look like they are from someones bank.

For example one customer called Brian contacted the Ombudsman service after his bank refused to refund him GBP 7,000 in a text message scam, according to BBC. Brian received a message he thought was from his bank and unwittingly gave out his security details and passcodes. As a result, the bank said he had been grossly negligent and refused to refund the money.

After reviewing the details, the Ombudsman decided it was a sophisticated fraud, and that the fraudsters had gained Brians trust and therefore his actions were reasonable.

As a result, they forced the bank to reimburse Brians GBP 7,000.