31/08/2026
Sneaky debit and credit card scams are on the rise.
Fraudsters are increasingly manipulating victims into approving malicious card payments by posing as your bank and convincing you to share security codes or approve payments in your banking app.
Worryingly, you don't have the same refund protections offered to victims of bank transfer fraud or unauthorised card fraud when you approve card payments yourself, even when you’ve been tricked into doing so by misleading ads and underhand tactics.
With this type of scam on the rise, we’re calling on banks to improve defences and publish their own data on debit and credit card fraud.
In the meantime, we submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Financial Ombudsman Service to see which banks prompted the most complaints related to authorised card fraud in 2025. Find out how your bank compares and how to protect yourself from this nasty type of scam.
