When Russia invaded Ukraine, Alina Bondaranko* agreed to safeguard her brother’s savings. She had arrived in the UK before war broke out; her brother, who is of fighting age, was banned from leaving his homeland. Fearing Ukraine’s banks might collapse, he transferred his money to his sister’s bank account.
Within weeks it was stolen in an online scam, along with Bondaranko’s own funds, and a loophole in consumer protection means she was ineligible for a refund from her bank.
Bondaranko works as a cleaner to support her one-year-old child, and has a limited grasp of English. Anxious to increase her income as prices soared, she responded to a Facebook ad offering home-based work for two hours a day. She was contacted by an agent from a fake investment firm who told her she would be buying and selling stocks, and charged her £250 for an online training course.
The agent schooled her in investment strategies, and won her trust over days of phone and video calls. He persuaded her to open an account in her name with the e-money service, Revolut, and to transfer the savings that she held with Barclays.
She was then tricked into making five debit-card payments totalling £32,000 to a cryptocurrency exchange platform. The crypto account belonged to the fraudster and the siblings’ life savings vanished.
Fraud victims tricked into authorising payments by bank transfer (known as APP fraud) are protected by the contingent reimbursement model (CRM) code. It is a voluntary scheme…
