'A fake film reviewer job has lost me nearly £8k'
Earlier this year I fell victim to a scam, losing £7,800. A fraudster posed as a representative of the cinema chain Cineworld and messaged me on WhatsApp to offer me work (which I now know was bogus) as a film reviewer.
At first I was paid small amounts. But things soon turned, and I found myself being persuaded to make payments myself and even took out a loan in order to get the money to ‘release’ my earnings.
Santander has returned £919 but won’t repay my full losses. Please help get my money back.
Nathan Davies
Faye Lipson, Which? senior researcher, says:
I asked you about when the scammer first approached you, and you explained that it was during a period of exceptional stress and financial pressure. You had been falsely accused of misconduct at work (gladly you have now been exonerated) and had been suspended without earnings. This led to you receiving treatment for anxiety.
On hearing your story I felt you had been experiencing significant vulnerabilities at the time of the scam, making you particularly susceptible.
Vulnerability is an important part of the authorised push payment (APP) code, which Santander is signed up to. The code states that if it would not be reasonable to expect the customer to have protected themselves at the time the scam happened, they should be reimbursed. With your consent, I shared this information with Santander.
On hearing your story, it said it would reimburse an additional £900, taking its total reimbursement to £1,837.
Santander said: ‘In response to Mr Davies’ initial claim, we reimbursed half of the payments he made. Having now been made aware of additional and specific detail in relation to his case, we have reimbursed the remaining half of his loss.’
Sadly, you’re still thousands of pounds out of pocket because much of the money was not sent directly from Santander to the fraudsters, but via a series of accounts or digital wallets held with other providers. This took those payments out of the remit of the voluntary code, as those providers were not signed up.
I still urge you to request reimbursement and appeal to the Financial Ombudsman Service if firms refuse.
New rules coming into force in mid 2024, after years of our campaigning, will make reimbursement mandatory for scams victims tricked into sending money. Sadly this comes far too late for you and many others.
