The fight against scammers

Over the past decade, Which? has been one of the leading voices in fighting scams. From working directly with the government to challenging big banks and businesses, our mission has been the same since 1957 – to make life simpler, fairer, and safer for everyone.

Scammers steal hundreds of millions of pounds from innocent victims every year, bombarding people with fraudulent texts, emails and calls. The government and businesses need to do more to protect us all from scams.

That's where we come in. We've been fighting your corner for years so that scammers can't get away with this any more and that the businesses we rely on everyday do more to protect us all from scams.

Confirmation of Payee checks

You may have noticed your bank doing this payee security check over the past few years now. It’s a vital check by your bank to ensure the name on the account matches the person or business you intend to pay, and it was introduced after Which? pushed the regulator to insist that all banks must do it.

Impact: This helps you be certain your payment is going to the right location, and the system has helped drive a reduction of more than 50% in the incidence of funds being sent to incorrect or fraudulent accounts.

Fraud reimbursement

Which? can issue “super-complaints” (official legal complaints we can use to force public bodies to respond to major consumer problems). Ten years ago we issued a successful super-complaint to insist that banks reimburse victims of scams committed by bank transfer where banks hadn’t done enough to prevent the scam.

Impact: In 2023 the resulting banking reimbursement scheme became compulsory by law for banks and other payment providers - putting as much as £170m a year back into consumers’ pockets after a scam.

Stop scam advertising

Which? campaigned for better protections against scam adverts in the 2023 Online Safety Act. In a big win for our campaigning, the Act made big tech platforms responsible for stopping scam ads appearing on their sites. The law has not yet been fully implemented so we’re continuing to push for platforms to do more now to prevent these ads.

Impact: The new regulations coming in after the Online Safety Act should reduce levels of scam advertising significantly and the government has estimated this could end up reducing consumer scam losses by more than £200m a year.

Exposing nasty scammers

Over half a million people subscribe to our Scam Alert service, a free weekly update on the scams you need to be aware of. The weekly Alert draws on our hard-hitting investigations and research which have exposed and put a stop to numerous scams over the years. It gives helpful tips for staying aware and staying safe.

Impact: In its first five years, this service has helped subscribers avoid more than £5.5m in scam losses and 90% of those who subscribe tell us that our advice has helped them feel more confident to stay safe from scams.

Scam Alerts that protect you now

And our story doesn’t stop there

The fight against fraud continues

We won’t rest till we take power out of the scammers' hands.

Recently, over 25,000 campaign supporters contacted their MP to demand that big tech be accountable for the wave of scams thriving on their websites. They must not continue to profit from our misery.

We make it easy for you to do your bit.

Sign the petition now.