My granddaughter fell for a £2,000 tax refund fraud, but Chase Bank won’t cover her losses: SALLY SORTS IT

My granddaughter fell victim to a scam in July and lost almost £2,000. Can you please help as her bank, Chase, doesn’t want to know. She is 21 and graduated from Bristol University this year and is working hard to get some money behind her. She is desperate.

JP, Devon.

Sally Hamilton replies: In your email you included a note from your granddaughter describing what happened. My heart sank when I read the opening paragraph: ‘On 20 July I received an email from the gov.uk website stating that I was owed a tax refund of approximately £480.’

There is talk of a ‘tax refund’ scam, intended to deceive those who rightly expect money back from the tax authorities. Victims receive an email or text message that looks official and contains a link they can click to request a tax refund.

However, it links to a web page set up by fraudsters. When victims enter their details – thinking it is a tax refund – they give them directly to fraudsters, who can then plunder their bank accounts.

Your granddaughter thought she had clicked to the official gov.uk website. She entered her details and received confirmation that her details had been submitted correctly and that they appeared genuine.

She was even more convinced when the scammers assigned her a ten-digit ID for future use – just as she would expect from an official service. Everything seemed fine and she thought her tax refund would be due soon.

Two days later the horror story began to unfold. She received a call claiming to be from the fraud department of Chase, her bank.

The caller said someone was trying to buy something on her account at Argos in Aberdeen for £300. They then asked if she had received emails from Amazon, eBay or gov.uk.

She looked more closely at the government email and realized it didn’t look like an email from an official sender. The caller told her to delete it from her inbox to protect herself. He then claimed that her savings account was not safe and that she should transfer the balance to her checking account.

She immediately transferred £2,099.95. The scammer told her that all she had to do was authorize the transfer in the Chase banking app so that any fraudulent transactions on her account could be refunded.

She never doubted that it was Chase on the line, as the caller continually assured her that their actions would protect her from fraud.

However, a minute later £1955.76 was transferred from her account to ‘Travel FX’. She expressed her concern, but again she was told not to worry and that the amount would be refunded within a few days.

The next day the doubts increased. She called Chase and to her dismay the bank said the last contact with her was in December 2023. Upset, she explained the events and the bank opened a fraud case. After two weeks it said no money would be returned as in their view she had not done due diligence.

She filed a complaint, emphasizing that she was now in dire financial difficulties. The case was reviewed, but with the same result: no refund.

After you saw how angry your granddaughter was, you came to me. Some readers may wonder why I would take on a case where a customer failed to carry out checks before handing over money. But I could tell that your granddaughter had been pressured by a scammer who used sophisticated social engineering techniques to scare her into moving her money to a “safe” place. She was the victim of an unauthorized fraud, so I decided to pursue Chase about the case.

Despite my efforts, the bank remained unmoved and reiterated its position that it had failed to conduct due diligence and ignored the bank’s warnings.

A Chase spokesperson said: “We take our commitment to helping customers stay protected from fraud and scams incredibly seriously. When the customer attempted to verify the payment, we provided clear warnings about the card transaction and stated that Chase will never call a customer to ask them to transfer money or authorize a payment.

‘Unfortunately, despite these warnings, the customer still proceeded to authorize the debit card payment on the fraudster’s account.’

I am hitting a wall, but urge your granddaughter to take her case to the impartial Financial Ombudsman in the hope that he will take a different view. In the meantime, if you receive an email or text message offering a tax break, it doesn’t mean Christmas has come early: delete it immediately to avoid your savings becoming a gift to a scammer.

And be wary of calls from your bank that come out of the blue.

Giles Mason, of the UK’s funded anti-fraud campaign Take Five, said: ‘Criminals will manipulate customers into revealing personal details to steal money. Be careful with personal information and never share one-time access codes.’ More at takefive-stopfraud.org.uk.

I have been rejected twice for a costs claim against Aldi after breaking my dentures on pitted green olives. It said it was sorry but would not help with the repairs – totaling £187.99 – because there was a warning on the container. I’m almost 75, have diabetes, suffer from glaucoma and have had seven eye surgeries, so small print like that is hard to spot. Please help.

AM, Shrewsbury.

Sally Hamilton replies: Aldi was extremely courteous in denying your claim. It said that finding a stone in a pitted olive was ‘rare’, but not unheard of, and this was stated on the packaging. You sent me the label and I agree that the print is minuscule and the warning is challenging to read.

You told me you spend £100 a week in Aldi, so I thought it was the least you could do to contribute to your new gnashers.

After my intervention, Aldi acted quickly and sent you a shopping voucher worth €188 – the full cost of your dentures. You said you were happy about this and could now laugh again.