TSB is ignoring the fraudsters gambling with £4,150 of my money

You recently featured a case of a reader whom TSB had refused to refund after £1,000 was taken from his account by fraudsters using gambling sites.

I find myself in an even worse position. TSB has refused to refund me for 70 transactions totalling £4,150, all made over 10 days to a betting company.

I most certainly did not make these payments, and feel very let down. TSB did not flag the unusual spending patterns to me.

I have had the same bank account since 1997 and have never made any payments to a gambling company, let alone 70 transactions over such a short space of time.

As with your previous victim of fraud, initially payments of £30 were taken. However, they then grew in size, including three of £300 and four of £250 in one day.

TSB has similarly refused to refund me because of its “zero policy” on gambling and fraud. During the call, there was even an insinuation from TSB staff that, because I hadn’t spotted it earlier, it was my fault.

Does the bank expect me to monitor my account 24 hours a day?

JM, London

TSB can have a zero policy of repaying fraud on gambling sites all it likes but the rules are straightforward: it must refund fraudulent payments that were not authorised by the account holder, whether to a gambling site or anywhere else.

The Financial Conduct Authority says if you have reported an unauthorised payment a bank “must refund the payment without unnecessary delay”, unless it has reasonable grounds to suspect that you acted “fraudulently”.

I asked TSB to take a second look at this. It told me that cases such as this can be complex and often require staff to speak to the betting company to find out more about what has occurred. However, it has now agreed to refund you in full.

“We’ve apologised to the customer for the experience she has had,” it says. “She’s been fully refunded and has been offered compensation for the inconvenience caused.”

In the meantime, it is worth noting that many banks offer customers the chance to block payments to gambling sites, although this doesn’t currently include TSB, the bank with the zero policy.

This is designed to help problem gamblers, but there is nothing to stop anyone else doing it. Fraudsters are clearly targeting these sites as a way to launder cash stolen from account holders.

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