How to report a scam in the UK — and try to get your money back

159 is a short code run by Stop Scams UK that connects you directly to your own bank's fraud team. It cannot be spoofed or intercepted, which is its whole purpose: if someone claiming to be your bank calls you, hang up and dial 159 to check. Most major banks participate.

Say clearly that you have been scammed and want the payment stopped or recalled, the account secured, and a complaint reference number. Ask specifically for four things: an attempt to stop or recall the payment, a block on further payments to that payee, a review of the account if you shared credentials or gave anyone remote access, and confirmation in writing.

If you gave someone remote access to your device — through AnyDesk, TeamViewer or similar — say so. The bank will then treat the whole account as compromised rather than treating the single payment as the problem.

If you paid by card rather than bank transfer, ask about a chargeback and, for purchases between £100 and £30,000 made on a credit card, about a Section 75 claim. Section 75 makes the card provider jointly liable with the seller and is a stronger right than a chargeback.

This is the most significant change to UK fraud victims' rights in a decade and it is not widely known. Since October 2024, under rules made by the Payment Systems Regulator, banks and payment firms must reimburse most victims of authorised push payment fraud — where you were tricked into sending money yourself — for payments made through Faster Payments and CHAPS.

Reimbursement is shared equally between the sending and receiving firms, which gives receiving banks a direct financial incentive to stop fraudulent accounts being opened. Claims must be made within 13 months of the final payment, and firms must generally reimburse within five business days.

There are limits. Firms may apply an excess, there is a maximum claim value, and reimbursement can be refused where the customer acted with gross negligence — a deliberately high bar, not mere carelessness. Customers classed as vulnerable are protected from both the excess and the gross negligence exception.

The rules do not cover international payments, payments between your own accounts, or civil disputes that are not fraud. They also do not cover card payments, which have their own chargeback and Section 75 routes.

If your bank refuses reimbursement, ask specifically which ground it is relying on and request the decision in writing. That is what an ombudsman complaint is built from.

Action Fraud is the national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It does not investigate individual reports — it collates them for the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, which assesses cases for police action. The practical value to you is the crime reference number, which banks, insurers and credit reference agencies frequently require before they will act.

In Scotland, fraud is reported to Police Scotland on 101 rather than to Action Fraud.

Forward suspicious texts to 7726 — free on all UK networks, spelling SPAM on a keypad — and suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk, run by the National Cyber Security Centre. Both feed takedown operations, and the NCSC has removed millions of malicious sites through this route.

Report scam adverts and websites to the platform, and to the Advertising Standards Authority for adverts. Since financial promotion rules tightened, platforms carry more responsibility for paid-for scam advertising than they used to.

If identity documents were exposed, consider Cifas protective registration, which places a marker on your credit file requiring extra checks before credit is granted in your name. It carries a small fee and lasts two years.

Banks must have an internal complaints process and respond within eight weeks. If you are unhappy with the outcome, or eight weeks pass without a final response, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge.

The Ombudsman is funded by the industry, free to consumers, and its decisions bind the firm if you accept them. If you reject a decision you keep your right to go to court. That asymmetry is why complaints that stalled internally often resolve quickly once the Ombudsman is involved.

You generally have six months from a final response to complain to the Ombudsman, so do not let the letter sit.

For scam calls and texts, complaints about how a telecoms provider handled them go to the Communications Ombudsman or CISAS depending on the provider's scheme.

Finally, secure everything else. Change your email password first — it is the recovery route for every other account — and enable two-factor authentication using an authenticator app rather than SMS, since SIM-swap fraud defeats text codes across every service at once. The psychological impact of fraud, particularly romance and investment fraud, is real: Victim Support offers free confidential help on 08 08 16 89 111.