FPS/CHAPS scam payments reimbursement rules

What is an authorised push payment scam (“APP Scam”)?

An APP Scam happens when you believe that a person has used a fraudulent or dishonest course of conduct to manipulate, deceive or persuade you into sending funds to an account outside of your control through the use of the Services provided by Convera.

Summary of Changes

If you believe that you have been the victim of an APP Scam in the context of your use of Convera’s payment services, you may now be eligible for reimbursement under the new rules. These protections cover a wide range of accounts and payment types.

  • Eligibility criteria:
    • You are a Small Charity or a Micro-Enterprise;
    • You believe that you have been the victim of an APP Scam in relation to a payment that has been:
      • Made using Convera’s payment services;
      • Processed by Convera using the Faster Payments Scheme or CHAPS;
      • Sent to a relevant account in the UK , relevant account means an account that is provided to a service user, is held in the UK and can send or receive payments using the Faster Payments Scheme or CHAPS).
  • Time limits: the requirement applies only to payments made on or after 7 October 2024. You must have raised your claim within 13 months of the final payment made to a fraudster as part of the same scam.
  • Excess: any claims following a scam may be subject to a £100 excess. For example, if you make a claim of £1,000, you will get £900 back. You may not get any money back if your claim is under £100.
  • Maximum claim limit: the maximum claim limit applicable to an APP scam claim is GBP 85,000.
  • Exclusions: all other cases in which the reimbursement requirement does not apply. See ‘Exclusions’ below.

Every claim will be assessed on a case-by-case basis: considering the evidence presented by you and any information available from the receiving Payment Service Provider, or where relevant a third party such as the police.

How the rules apply to vulnerable consumers: where the consumer is vulnerable, and the vulnerability has a material impact on their ability to protect themselves from the scam, the consumer standard of caution and the excess do not apply. Assessment of vulnerability will also consider the financial impact of levying an excess on consumers with low financial resilience, and exempt consumers from the excess where its application will lead to financial stress.

Exclusions to the reimbursement requirement

These include:

  • First party fraud
  • Gross negligence
  • Time exclusions (e.g. claims made before 7 October 2024 and APP Scam claims submitted more than 13 months after the final payment to the fraudster)
  • International payments
  • Payments which take place across other payment systems
  • Scam payments made using cheques and cash
  • Payments made to an account that you control, or payments that are not authorised by you (‘unauthorised payments’)
  • Civil disputes
  • Where payments are sent or received by credit unions, municipal banks and national savings banks.

There will be a maximum repayment claims limit of £85,000 for a valid APP scam. If your loss is more than the limit, you might not receive any more. But if we manage to recover more, we will return it to you.

These rules apply to faster payments, third-party transfers and CHAPS payments. They don’t apply to overseas payments or any payments using cash, cheque or card payments.

What you can expect

  • We expect of you to exercise the consumer standard of caution when making payments, including that you:
    • follow any warnings Convera or a competent national authority has given, such as an alert that the payment you’re making could be a scam;
    • promptly report the scam to Convera upon learning or suspecting of falling victim to a scam;
    • comply with appropriate information requests from Convera to support the assessment of the claim;
    • report to the police or allow Convera to do so on your behalf, if required.
  • To raise a claim, you should:
    Email – [email protected]
  • We will endeavour to respond to your claim within five (5) business days.
  • We may ask you for additional information about your claim. You need to make sure you respond to these requests by the deadline we give you.