TSB, which currently refunds 98 percent of fraud cases under its Fraud Refund Guarantee, is urging the regulator to reconsider its plans, pointing out that 20-40-year-olds account for over half (52%) of such cases, while one in six (17%) are over 60.

By monetary value, cases under £100 account for a small amount of overall fraud losses – at one percent. Yet this equates to a projected £5 million stolen from UK households every year on current fraud rates.
 
TSB is also calling on the regulator to scrap proposals for a £35 excess fee per claim – with concerns the excess would disproportionately impact financially vulnerable people amid a cost-of-living crisis.
 
The bank says that over one in 10 cases under the £100 threshold are victims of Advanced Fee Fraud – a category which typically targets the most financially vulnerable, often by exploiting a fee from victims trying to access loans that simply do not exist. 
 
TSB warns that if a £100 threshold is applied, it would exclude a significant number of consumers who have fallen victim on social media sites, where scams remain rife.
 
For example, Meta-owned platforms (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) account for four fifths (80%) of all purchase fraud at TSB alone. And UK Finance states that over two thirds (70%) of all push-payment fraud starts on online platforms.
 
Paul Davis, director of fraud prevention at TSB says: “We welcome these moves by government and regulators to increase customer protection from Fraud. However, many people simply cannot afford losing £100 to fraud – especially in the current economic climate – and deserve to be protected from increasingly complex scams that often take place on social media sites.”