Can you get a refund after being scammed into buying crypto?

Whether you can get your money back after being scammed into buying cryptocurrency comes down to one question: how did the money leave your account? If you sent a bank transfer to a scammer, and that payment was made on or after 7 October 2024, the reimbursement rules apply. The maximum you can claim is £85,000, and your bank can deduct a £100 excess unless you are considered vulnerable¹.

If you bought cryptocurrency directly, or sent money overseas, the picture is much worse. Crypto payments cannot be recalled the way a card payment can, and cryptoassets are excluded from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme³. The rules that force banks to reimburse bank transfer scam victims do not cover cryptocurrency transfers, international payments or card payments⁵.

Between 7 October 2024 and 31 March 2026, 88% (£316m) of the money lost to authorised push payment scams was reimbursed to victims¹. That figure covers the scheme as a whole, not crypto cases specifically, and it shows that reimbursement is now the norm rather than the exception for in-scope bank transfer losses.

Refunds for crypto scams depend on how you paid

The reimbursement rules are built around payment systems, not around what the scammer said they were selling. You can ask for a refund under the FPS Reimbursement Rules if the payment was made using the Faster Payments system, or under the CHAPS Reimbursement Rules if it was made using CHAPS⁶. Most everyday bank transfers between UK accounts travel over Faster Payments, which is why the rules catch so many scam payments.

What matters is whether the payment is in scope. The rules require payment firms to reimburse all in-scope customers who fall victim to authorised push payment fraud in most cases, and the cost is shared 50:50 between the sending and receiving payment firms⁸. That cost-sharing matters to you only in one way: it removes the argument about which bank should pay, so you claim from your own bank.

Where the money went to a crypto exchange rather than to a private individual, the payment is still a bank transfer, and the rules can still apply. Where you bought crypto with a debit or credit card, or sent the money abroad, the reimbursement rules do not apply⁵. Card payments have their own protections, but they are different ones, and they depend on the type of transaction rather than on the scam rules.

The practical result is that two people who lost £10,000 to the same crypto scam on the same day can end up in completely different positions, because one paid by UK bank transfer and the other paid by card or by an overseas transfer.

APP fraud reimbursement: up to £85,000 per claim

The cap on a claim is £85,000, and it applies per victim rather than per payment¹. If a scam drained several accounts you hold with the same bank, the total you can recover under the rules is still capped at that figure. Losses above the cap are not covered by the scheme, and recovering them means pursuing the scammer or the receiving bank through other routes, which rarely succeeds.

The £100 excess works differently from the cap. Banks can deduct £100 from the refund they give you unless you are considered vulnerable under the rules, and some banks choose not to apply it at all⁶. The excess is per claim, so it is a fixed deduction rather than a percentage.

The rules also require firms to provide additional protections for vulnerable customers⁸. If the rules apply and you were particularly vulnerable to the specific type of APP scam, your bank or payment service provider must reimburse you⁹. Vulnerability here is about your circumstances at the time of the scam, not a permanent label, and it is worth explaining anything that affected your judgement when you make the claim.

Multi-step scams: when money went to your own crypto account first

Crypto scams rarely happen in one step. Criminals advertise schemes promising, in some cases, high returns through cryptocurrency investing or mining, and they are frequently advertised on social media, luring people in with adverts offering easy money quickly³. Once contact is made, they may make small initial payments or "returns" designed to build your trust and persuade you to invest more¹⁰.

That pattern is what makes these cases hard. You might make multiple or regular payments to the criminal and only realise when you try to withdraw your money from the "scheme"³. By then the money has often moved through several accounts, and the person you were dealing with has stopped answering.

The first thing to do is stop. Stop making payments to the person or company you think is scamming you, and cancel the Direct Debit with your bank if applicable¹¹. Every further payment increases the loss and complicates the claim.

There is a second trap in the multi-step structure. If you transferred money into a crypto account in your own name and then moved it to the scammer, the payment out of your bank may look like a transfer to an account you control, and payments made to another account you control are excluded from the reimbursement rules¹². This is why the route the money took matters so much, and why it is worth setting out the full sequence of payments when you contact your bank.

Where the reimbursement rules do not apply

The exclusions are long, and several of them bite in crypto cases. Under the fraud reimbursement rules, your payment provider may not reimburse you if one or more of the following applies: international payments, card payments, cryptocurrency transfers, payments to accounts the consumer controls, civil disputes, payments sent or received by credit unions, municipal banks and national savings banks, first-party fraud, gross negligence, payments before 7 October 2024, and claims made more than 13 months after the last payment⁵.

Two of those deserve spelling out. Payments made within the UK are covered, and you are not covered for a payment sent overseas². And the new rules do not apply if the payment was made by an internal transfer within the same bank or banking group, or if the payment was made before 7 October 2024⁶.

Cryptoassets sit outside the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as well, alongside peer-to-peer lending, money held on pre-paid credit cards, Christmas or other savings clubs, "boiler room" scam investments, losses arising purely from investment performance, some electronic payment services or currency bureaux, and several categories of insurance⁴. So even where a firm was involved rather than a private scammer, the compensation safety net that covers deposits does not extend to crypto.

How to claim a refund from your bank

Start by contacting your bank as soon as you realise what has happened. If you contact your bank, you may be able to recover money you have lost in unauthorised or unexpected payments¹³. Where a payment was unauthorised, the rules are stronger: the Payment Services Regulations require the bank to refund the amount of the unauthorised payment transaction to the payer and, where applicable, restore the debited payment account to the state it would have been in had the transaction not taken place¹⁴.

For payments initiated through a third-party provider under open banking, your bank must refund you immediately, unless it has grounds to suspect fraud or negligence, and if the third party was at fault the bank can recover the funds from them¹⁵.

For an authorised push payment, where you were tricked into sending the money yourself, the claim runs under the reimbursement rules. Your bank should provide you with the refund within five business days of you making the claim⁶. If the bank refuses, or applies the excess when you believe you were vulnerable, you can complain formally and then take the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The ombudsman does order refunds. In one case it ruled that a bank refund a customer the full £4,000, plus an additional £300 compensation for the trouble caused¹⁶. In another, the bank considered the case under the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code and refunded 50% of the loss, after accepting it had not provided a scam warning before the payment was made¹⁷. Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.

Spotting crypto scams and recovery room fraud

The scam that takes your money is often followed by a second one that offers to get it back. A recovery scam is when fraudsters target those who have been victims of scams and ask for a small fee to recover their lost funds¹⁸. Typically, recovery scammers promise they can get you your money back for a fee, but they cannot, and any money you pay them is gone as well¹⁹.

The scale is significant. A Freedom of Information request by TransUnion found that 17% of scams reported to the FCA in 2025 mentioned a recovery room scam, with 70% of those linked to cryptocurrency²⁰. The FCA classifies recovery room scams into three categories: recovery room (crypto), recovery room (non-shares) and recovery room (shares)²⁰.

The warning signs are consistent. You are asked to pay money to get your money back. You are contacted out of the blue after having money stolen. You are rushed to decide in a short timeframe. The person knows a lot of details about the scam¹⁹. Pension savers are a particular target: fraudsters approach pension savers who have been scammed, offering to help them get their money back for an upfront fee²¹.

Before sending money to any crypto firm, check it. Use the Financial Conduct Authority's Firm Checker to confirm the firm is authorised and help avoid scams²³, and look at the FCA list of unauthorised businesses, which shows businesses suspected of fraud and is updated often²⁴. Check the firm on the FCA Register, and if it is not listed, walk away²⁵.

Investment scams commonly involve cryptocurrencies, property or precious metals²⁶, and just over half of the investment scams the Financial Ombudsman Service has seen involve cryptocurrencies²⁷. Where a payment is requested online by bank transfer, a credit or debit card carries some rights to get money back, while a bank transfer leaves the customer to contact their bank immediately²⁸.

What if I was scammed before 7 October 2024?

The mandatory rules only apply to payments made on or after 7 October 2024². For bank transfer scams before that date, the voluntary Contingent Reimbursement Model applies²⁹. Whether you were refunded under it depended on whether your bank had signed up to the code and how it judged your case, which is why outcomes before October 2024 varied so much between banks.

The difference is visible in the published figures. Nationwide refunded 85% of the total value of money its customers lost to APP scams in 2024, for cases closed in 2024 before the new rules took effect³⁰. That was a voluntary decision by one bank, not a legal requirement, and other banks performed differently over the same period.

If your loss predates 7 October 2024, you can still complain to your bank, and you can still take a refusal to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The ombudsman looks at what the bank did and whether it treated you fairly, and it can order a refund even where the mandatory rules do not apply. The Contingent Reimbursement Model Code is the framework the ombudsman will often have in mind for those older cases.

Where to get free help

Several organisations offer free, impartial help and none of them will ask you for a fee to recover money. MoneyHelper, the Money and Pensions Service's consumer service, provides guidance on scams and what to do next. The Financial Ombudsman Service handles complaints about banks and payment firms when you have not been able to resolve the issue directly, and its service is free to consumers.

For debt problems caused by a scam, National Debtline and Business Debtline provide free guidance, including on dealing with fraud⁶. StepChange offers free debt advice and guidance on spotting and reporting scams¹¹. Age UK provides information for older people on investment scams and support for scam victims²⁶.

If you are in a position where a scam has left you unable to pay bills or debts, tell your bank and any lender early. Free debt advice services can help you set out your options, and they do not charge for it.