What should I do about fraudulent payments on my account?

Seeing payments you don’t recognise on your bank or credit card statements can be unsettling, but there are clear steps you can take to help put things right. Here’s what to do next:

Contact your card provider as soon as possible

As soon as you notice a payment you didn’t authorise, get in touch with your card provider. Under UK law, banks are obligated to refund unauthorised transactions – but make sure you reach out within 13 months from the date of the payment, or you may not be able to file a claim.

After reporting the transaction, they may ask some preliminary questions to establish what happened, but this shouldn’t slow down the process and, in most cases, you’ll be refunded by the end of the next business day, including any extra fees or interest you may have paid.

If you haven’t reported the loss or theft of your card, you may have to pay up to £35 of the unauthorised transaction, but this only applies if they can prove you didn’t take reasonable steps to keep your card secure.

Who is responsible for a refund?

For unauthorised transactions – where someone else took money without your approval – your card provider is normally responsible for issuing a refund under the Payment Services Regulations 2017.

There are dedicated processes in place to investigate and resolve things like this, and they’ll be able to support you in recovering payments. They must prove that you acted intentionally or with ‘gross negligence’ to refuse repayment – so the burden is on them, not you.

If they refuse to issue you a refund, you can appeal by escalating your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service who will make their own ruling. They can settle disputes and force firms to pay compensation after carrying out their own investigation.

What if you were tricked into making a fraudulent payment?

Authorised push payment (APP) fraud is a type of fraud where customers are tricked into transferring their money into a fraudulent account, for example, by a fraudster falsely claiming to be from your bank and saying you urgently need to send money. New UK rules that came into place in October 2024 require banks to refund victims of APP fraud up to £85,000 within five days.

See any fraudulent activity that has been logged across your file.

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