- Report the payments to your bank on a published number. Ask for a fraud complaint, not only a trace.
- Get a crime or Action Fraud reference.
- Write a timeline: date, amount, payee, what you believed, and what the app or caller asked.
- Save chats, ads, invoices, and any warning screenshot. Note whether confirmation of payee matched.
- Send that pack to the bank’s complaints address and ask for a written final response.
- If the response is no, or eight weeks pass, you can refer the complaint free to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Read your rights before you describe the payment. The words “I authorised it” and “someone else sent it” lead to different rules.