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<p>The Government recognises the growing threat posed to consumers by Authorised Push
Payment (APP) fraud, with increasingly sophisticated scams that can be detrimental
to people’s lives. The Government is committed to tackling fraud within payments networks.
That is why the Government has introduced legislation as part of the Financial Services
& Markets Bill to enable the PSR to require payment service providers to reimburse
APP scam victims. The Government believes this will ensure more consistent and comprehensive
reimbursement for future APP scam victims.</p><p> </p><p>Currently, data relating
to the amounts lost and returned following APP scams is collected by the Payment Systems
Regulator (PSR) and by UK Finance. The latter regularly issues this data in publications
such as its Annual Fraud Report: in 2021 for instance, UK Finance recorded gross annual
losses of roughly £583 million, an increase of 39% by value over 2020, of which roughly
£271 million (46%) was returned to victims. Due to changes in how APP scams are identified
and reported, UK Finance note that data for years prior to 2020 is not directly comparable.
More comprehensive data on APP scams can be found in UK Finance’s 2022 Fraud Report:</p><p>
</p><p><a href="http://www.ukfinance.org.uk/policy-and-guidance/reports-and-publications/annual-fraud-report-2022"
target="_blank">www.ukfinance.org.uk/policy-and-guidance/reports-and-publications/annual-fraud-report-2022</a></p><p>
</p><p>More specific data regarding the impact of APP scams on individual payment
service providers does not usually form a part of these publications. However, as
detailed in its 2021 consultation on APP scams, the PSR has proposed requiring the
12 largest groups of UK payment service providers (including the main High Street
banks) to publish a balanced scorecard of APP scam data on a six-monthly basis, setting
out their individual performance in relation to APP scams. This would include their
APP scam rates, their rates of reimbursement for customers scammed, as well as comparative
data on the providers receiving APP scam payments. The PSR expect the provision of
this data to provide strong reputational incentives on payment service providers to
reduce APP scam losses incurred by consumers, both through preventing APP scams and
reimbursing those who are scammed. The PSR will respond to this consultation in due
course.</p>
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