Get-rich-quick and refund scams

Criminals are advertising get quick rich and refund schemes that ask you to cancel your Direct Debits for services you use. These might suggest you can get a refund or save money on your payments. These are fake, but if you follow the advice below this can help you stop these.  

You’ll see an advert or be contacted on social media about how you can make some quick, easy money.

Then you’ll be told you can claim back refunds on your Direct Debits via your bank.

Criminals will ask for your bank account or personal details, which they’ll use to make a Direct Debit refund request with the bank.

The refund will be made and the criminal will take a cut of this money as payment for letting you know about the service.

Unfortunately you’ll still owe the money to your service provider because this was a false claim. 

Your service provider will reinstate the Direct Debit and your payments will restart, plus whatever you owe as a result of the scam.

You’re also left out of pocket from the ‘fee’ you paid to the criminals. 

They’ll make sure you can’t trace them, but as they have all your details, your account could be at risk until you contact your bank to secure it. 

• Watch out for approaches or adverts on social media offering schemes to make quick, easy money – these are a scam.
• Criminals will ask you to lie to the bank regarding any payment requests. If you’re being told to lie to the bank, it’s a scam.
• Never reveal your bank account information, including login details, passwords, or One-Time passcodes, to anyone.
• Remember, if a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is.
• If you’re worried about a fraud or a scam, you can get in contact with us via one of the numbers on our report fraud pages. You can also dial 159 to be safely directed to your bank.