I lost £500 to Winter Fuel Payment scam but my bank won’t reimburse me

I lost £488.88 as a result of a scam and now can’t reclaim the money from my bank.

It happened in August, I was rushing out somewhere when I received a text about the ‘winter living allowance’, saying if I didn’t submit my application by the next day then I would be waiving my subsidy.

I was in a hurry, but saw gov.uk in the link they sent, which looked legitimate.

It asked me to fill in my bank details, which I did.

A few hours later, someone suggested it might have been a scam. I called HSBC straight away, but it said there was nothing it could do because the payment hadn’t yet cleared.

It eventually sent me a replacement debit card, but I didn’t get the money back.

Surely if HSBC cancelled my card when I first informed it about the scam then the money wouldn’t have gone through? I have appealed the decision but to no avail. L.G

Harvey Dorset, of This is Money, replies: Unfortunately these Winter Fuel Payment scams have been all too common this year in the run-up to the colder months.

This is Money warned about the scams in early October, with figures indicating that some 14 per cent of those targeted had lost money or personal data.

The Government put out its own warning the week after, saying Winter Fuel Payment scams peaked in June, before surging in September, weeks after you were targeted.

With winter now beginning to bite in full force, it is easy to see why so many fell victim to these scams.

The £300 payment is crucial for many pensioners, helping them to afford heating over winter. 

So when you saw a text message warning you that you might lose yours, you were quick to take action you believed necessary to prevent that from happening.

In reality, Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically to those eligible. Any text message telling someone they need to apply is fraudulent. 

Scammers take advantage of the confusion over this, however, manipulating victims into thinking they could lose out.

As a result, the fraudsters behind the false text message were able to steal some £489 from you – more than the total Winter Fuel Payment – leaving you in difficult position ahead of the winter.

You weren’t automatically eligible for a refund from HSBC. 

The only circumstance in which banks have to reimburse someone is if they have fallen victim to an authorised push payment or APP scam. 

This is where a fraudster pretends they are someone else in order to trick the account holder into sending them money. 

If you hand over money to a fraudster in this scenario and did not act with ‘gross negligence’, then you are entitled to be reimbursed up to the value of £85,000 under rules introduced in October last year. 

However, it appears you were targeted by a phishing scam, where fraudsters trick people into visiting a link and typing in their bank details and passwords, enabling money to be spent from their account.  

However, I am pleased to say that when This is Money contacted HSBC on your behalf, it agreed to repay you in full the £488.88 that you had lost as a result of the scam.

The scam, it says, is outside of its usual reimbursement policy, with the transaction not being automatically refunded as you shared a passcode with the scammers.

A spokesperson for HSBC UK told This is Money: ‘We’re very sorry to hear that L.G was the victim of a phishing text scam.

‘Sadly, scams of this nature are increasingly common.

‘For this instance, we will be providing a gesture of good will to the value of what has been paid away by L.G, and hope this provides a positive resolution.

‘We would urge all customers never to share passcodes with any third party, even if a message or call appears to be from an official organisation, as this is a common tactic used by scammers.’