You probably won't get your money back if you're scammed, bank warns

Most victims of scams never get a penny of their money back, RBS has warned.

Between January and March this year, almost 5,000 of the bank's customers fell for a scam, at an average cost of more than £13,000 each - 40% more than last year.

And it's getting worse, with 900 cases reported last week alone, compared with 739 for the whole of September.

Scams tend to fall into two types, says Terry Lawson, RBS's head of fraud prevention. Many are small - and often not even reported - with people buying goods online that fail to turn up.

More serious are the scams where the fraudster builds up a relationship with the victim in order to gain access to a large amount of money.

"The fraudster often impersonates a member of the police or even a bank worker. Often they pretend your money is at risk if you don't act immediately," he says.

"As soon as you transfer the money into their account they transfer it away and recovery becomes almost impossible."

Lawson also highlights the growing phenomenon of 'romance fraud', in which victims are wooed by a 'perfect' partner online before being conned into handing over money.

RBS, like all UK banks, will never phone customers up and ask them to move money to a 'safe' account - the most common request of scammers pretending to be from the bank itself.

"Secondly, if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is!" he says.

"Investment scams and lottery scams often start by persuading you to part with a small amount of money in order to receive a huge sum in return."

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TalkTalk customers may want to be particularly on their guard at the moment, following the recent hack in which bank details appear to have been stolen. Some have already reported receiving phone calls purporting to be from TalkTalk, claiming to be from technical support or offering a refund.

And don't think it couldn't happen to you.

"There's an assumption that it's only elderly and vulnerable customers who fall victim to scams," says Lawson. "It's not. We've had doctors, police officers and even some of our own members of staff duped."

If you realise that you have been scammed, you should inform your bank immediately, as they may be able to recover or refund your money. Generally, though, the bank isn't responsible if you've been conned into handing over your details, authorising a payment yourself.