Farron welcomes plans for new reimbursement scheme for people who fall victim to bank transfer scams, but calls for past victims to be helped too

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has welcomed the announcement from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) that they are looking into a new scheme to reimburse people who have lost money through bank transfer scams.

According to the PSR, during the first six months of this year, over 19,000 people lost money through bank scams totalling over £100million, of which more than three quarters have not been returned.

Last month, Tim put down a motion in the House of Commons calling on the banking regulator to impose fines on banks that don't help fraud victims, after being contacted by Jane and Stephen Caldwell from Arnside who had lost over £100,000 through a banking scam earlier this year.

The plans, if implemented, would come into force at the end of next September but would not look into cases that have already happened.

Tim said: "I'm very encouraged that the regulator has finally started to put the wheels in motion to reimburse people who have cruelly lost money through transfer scams.

"However, this is hollow news for people like Jane and Stephen who have already been through the trauma of losing money to heartless criminals.

"For the proposals to be fully effective, the PSR needs to allow people who have been victims of financial fraud in the past to be able to claim back their money."