Electronic Funds Transfer: Fraud
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the maximum reimbursement limit for victims of authorised push payment fraud.
Answered by Emma Reynolds
The Government is committed to tackling fraud and protecting victims from this appalling crime. The Government has committed to introduce a new and expanded fraud strategy to create a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and industry to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.
In October 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) introduced a mandatory reimbursement regime for authorised push payment (APP) scams which take place over the Faster Payments system. This requires payment service providers to reimburse victims for losses up to £85,000. The details of the reimbursement regime are a matter for the independent PSR, but it has committed to carry out an independent evaluation of the reimbursement requirement after the rules have been in place after 12 months.
The Government has also introduced legislation to allow payment service providers more time to investigate payments where there are reasonable grounds to suspect APP fraud. This gives firms more time to engage potential victims and break the spell of fraudsters.
The Government also recognises the importance of working with the technology and telecommunications sectors to prevent fraudsters abusing their platforms and networks. In November 2024, the Chancellor wrote to leading companies in these sectors to challenge them to go further and faster to reduce the scale of incidents and losses from fraud taking place on their platforms and networks. The Government will continue to work with these sectors as part of its upcoming fraud strategy.
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