Fraud Solicitors
Get fraud solicitors to help when you’ve lost money to a scam
Fraud is a growing problem, and unfortunately a lot of people have lost money to fraud in recent years. The sophistication of the scammers is only increasing, which is why members of the public lost $583.2 million to APP fraud in 2021. You’ll of course want to know how to get your money back when you’ve been scammed.
Many people's first step is to look for a specialist fraud solicitor. However, victims do not need to
use a fraud solicitor, and often the fees they charge are very high and/or hard to find out. Theft Refund
charges 15% plus VAT, and we are transparent that this is all you will ever pay! If you cannot find the fee
easily on their website, this may not be a company that you want to deal with.
If you have lost money to a scam and want to know if you can get your money back from your bank, our scam victim guide below walks you through the step by step process.
Your first steps
When you have lost money to fraud, your first steps should always be to:
We can do this for you or you can do this yourself. Your bank should try and get the funds back from the scammers bank and if they are unsuccessful, they should consider reimbursing you .
Action Fraud are the police and therefore they may look into this for you. Unfortunately, however, only a small number of frauds are ever prosecuted.
It is often worth you reporting the fraud to your bank yourself first before contacting a fraud solicitor or Theft Refund. We say this because in some rare cases, your bank will refund your scammed money and you won’t need to pay anybody a fee.
There is a much smaller chance that reporting the case to Action Fraud will get you your funds back but again, it’s something you should do if you want to increase your chances of getting your money back when you’ve been the victim of a scam.
If your bank doesn’t reimburse you
Even if your bank says no and seems confident it’s not at fault, don’t shy away from challenging their decision. Banks are getting this wrong all the time which is why we set up Theft Refund. To do this, a formal complaint will need to be made and then they will have to be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
You can either do it yourself or use a representative like solicitors or Theft Refund. If you would like to use us, you can start with a free consultation by filling in our scam refund claim form.
If you feel capable of managing your case yourself you should absolutely do this. The obvious major benefit of this approach is that if you win, you get 100% of your refund back. The only risk is that your case is presented in a way that harms it chances of winning. .
We completely understand that being scammed can have a huge impact on someone's mental health and confidence. A protracted battle with your bank about whether it should refund you or not, may not be something you want to, or feel able to do. Or, you may just be busy and want someone else to do this for you. Below are our tips on how to find help. .
Getting your money back from your bank
The most common way in which people get their money back when they’ve been scammed is from their bank. There are solicitors that can help you here but it is not a legal process as they will follow the same process as Theft Refund by fighting your case at the Financial Ombudsman Service.
To carry out the activity of helping you get your money back, anyone that helps you needs to be regulated by either the Financial Conduct Authority (like Theft Refund) or the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The difference is that at the time of writing, the FCA has higher standards on their firms than the SRA on fees and also how you advertise and find customers. This is why Theft Refund chose to be regulated by the FCA rather than the SRA. We previously wrote a lot more about how to choose a firm to help you get your money back from your bank when you’ve been scammed.
Using a Fraud Solicitor
If you know the scammer and you are confident they have lots of assets, you may wish to take legal action. This is because if you are successful, you may be able to get the fraudsters' assets frozen in order to recover your funds. However, you need to be prepared that this comes with a lot of risks. If the scammer has spent all the money or files for insolvency, it’s very unlikely that you will get all your money back if any at all. Therefore using a fraud solicitor is sometimes a fruitless process and results in extra costs to you.
There are a lot of follow up recovery scams where firms pretend to be able to help you. Always check that anyone you use is registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. To check if someone is regulated by the SRA, check here.
If you are interested in identifying and freezing someone's assets, get in touch with Theft Refund as we may be able to assist with a separate investigation.
Things to look out for
When choosing which company to use, make sure you watch out for warnings signs of fake refunds and other scams. Here are our top tips:
Is the company charging up front fees? If so, this may be a scam. .
Is the company transparent about what it charges? If you struggle to find their charges, they may not be an ethical company.
Is the company regulated by the FCA or the SRA? If not, they may be a scam.
It's a red flag if the company is not based in the UK are are representing you, especially if it’s pretending to be in the UK but isn’t. To conduct claims management activity you need to have a presence in the UK and you need to have a licence from the FCA or SRA. There are no exemptions or exceptions to this rule.
We have come across a lot of fraudulent companies or clones of real companies that say they can get your money back from a cryptocurrency wallet. If that is what you are being told, this might be a scam.
If a firm has contacted you to tell you they have located the money this is a clear indication it is a scam. The claims process can take a long time, and if a firm you haven't hired has already located the funds this is a scam.