Safe Account Scams: How They Work and How to Get Your Money Back

One of the most long-running tactics used by scammers in the United Kingdom is the “safe account scam”. Safe account scams have consistently made up a large percentage of the money lost by the U.K public to Authorised Push Payments (APP) scams and according to UK Finance £55.1 million was lost in 2025 alone.

Safe account scams, also known as impersonation scams, are becoming increasingly harder to spot, and victims are put into a state of urgency and stress to move their money. They can have a very damaging and stressful impact on a victim; however, it's important to know that you can recover from this.

In this article, we will discuss what safe account scams are, common examples, red flags to look out for and how to recover your money. 

What are Safe Account Scams?

Safe accounts happen when a fraudster impersonates an official figure such as your bank, the police or HMRC. They create a sense of urgency and convince you that your money is at risk and it needs to be moved to a ‘safe account’ you believe is your own account, only to find out later that the account is actually controlled by the scammer.  

The scammers can also pull a trick so that when they contact you, you see the bank’s telephone number through spoofing. This makes safe account scams particularly convincing.

How Does a Safe Account Scam Work?

Safe account scams often begin before the phone even rings. You may have previously responded to a fake SMS impersonating a delivery company like Evri or the Royal Mail, the HMRC or the NHS and entered some personal details without thinking much of it. The fraudsters now have enough information to sound convincingly like your bank when they call.

That said, they do not always need you to hand over your details directly. Personal data is routinely bought and sold on the dark web, and fraudsters may already know more about you than you realise before they even make contact.

When they do call, they will most likely have spoofed your bank's number. This means the call appears on your phone as a legitimate, recognisable number, or an SMS drops into the same thread as genuine messages from your bank. This is what makes safe account scams so difficult to detect, because every visual signal is telling you the contact is real.

The most important thing to understand is that spoofing is not sophisticated. It is widely available and fraudsters can replicate the numbers of banks, government departments, the FCA and virtually any other organisation at will.

Once they have you on the line, they present urgency to make you panic. They will read out a list of large transactions they claim have been attempted on your account. They tell you that you have not made these payments, but someone is trying to take your money right now and you need to act quickly. The goal is to create panic so your normal careful thoughts disappear. When someone believes their life savings are being drained in real time, rational thinking becomes very difficult. 

They then present the scam. Move your money to a safe account they will provide you with, immediately, to protect it. Believing you are following your bank's instructions, you make the transfer. That account belongs to the fraudsters and unfortunately the money is gone, and you have become a victim of what is known as authorised push payment fraud, or APP fraud.

The escalation: calls from your “other banks”

The scammers are usually well prepared and knowledgeable about how banks operate, which makes them convincing to talk to. During the call they will ask whether you hold accounts with any other banks. They will tell you not to worry, that banks work together on fraud cases like this, and that they will contact your other banks fraud departments on your behalf to make sure everything is protected.

You will start receiving calls from numbers that appear to belong to your other banks, each one confirming that your accounts there have also been compromised. In some cases, spoofed SMS messages will drop into your genuine bank threads, appearing to come directly from the bank itself and confirming the fraud alert. At this point, everything you are seeing and hearing is telling you this is real.

This is a common tactic by fraudsters to push the urgency and stress they have made you feel already. The more institutions appear to be involved, the more legitimate the situation feels, and the harder it becomes to stop and question what is actually happening. By the time victims realise something is wrong, they have often transferred funds from multiple accounts.

The "read me the code" variation

In some cases, they may also explain that in order to protect your account you are required to read out security codes to them. These will come through as text messages to your phone, again through spoofing the banks number. 

These codes are in fact one time passcodes that are used to authorise payments. This is the scammers making payments from your account, without your knowledge, and tricking you into reading out the codes for the payments to go through. These payments are unauthorised and should always be refunded by the bank under unauthorised fraud reimbursement rules. 

Red Flags: Is it Your Bank or a Scam?

• Your bank calls out of the blue, suggesting your account is at risk of fraud

• You have previously been victim of a phishing scam

• The person on the phone is asking you to share a code with them

• They are putting pressure on you to act quickly

• You are asked not to tell anyone about what is happening

• You are asked to read out or share codes sent to you 

• You are being asked to send money to a ‘safe account’

How to Protect Yourself From a Safe Account Scam

Here are some golden tips for staying safe and protecting yourself from safe account scams:

• Never trust the number calling you or the thread an SMS appears in. Spoofing means fraudsters can make contact look like it is coming from your bank, another bank, or any other organisation. 

• Your bank will never ask you to move money to a safe account, confirm codes sent to your device, or provide personal details over an unsolicited call. If anyone claiming to be your bank asks you to do any of these things, end the call immediately.

• If you are ever in doubt, hang up and call your bank directly using the number printed on the back of your card. Do not use a number provided to you during the call, and do not call back on the same line. Dial it yourself.

• Pay attention to how the person on the line makes you feel. If they are pushy, creating urgency or becoming threatening, that is a scammer. A legitimate bank or financial institution will never pressure you, rush you or make you feel that hesitating puts your money at risk. 

Been Targeted? How to Get Your Money Back

If you’ve been targeted by a safe account scam there are some steps to take to get your money back:

• Preserve all evidence -  emails, contracts, marketing material, transaction records, and any communications

• Report the matter to Report Fraud (previously Action Fraud)

• Tell your bank what happened

• Explore recovery options under APP fraud reimbursement rules

If you sent the funds through a UK bank account you may have options to recover your funds under APP fraud reimbursement such as the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM Code) or the Mandatory Reimbursement Model. 

If the payment was unauthorised then you have protections too under unauthorised fraud reimbursement rules.

Refundee can help you get your money back from your bank on a no win, no fee basis. We are authorised and regulated by the FCA, and specialise in fraud recovery, having successfully recovered over £130 million for our clients to date.

You can fill in our fraud refund claim form for a free consultation. 

Our fees are fair, industry-lowest, and straightforward. We only charge a fee if we’re successful, and there are no hidden or upfront costs. 

Remember you don’t need to use a company like Refundee, you could work your case yourself for free! If you’d like to get a refund yourself, you can do this by following our bank transfer refund guide.

FAQ’s

• Can people steal money if they have your account number and sort code?

  • Alone, your account number and sort code cannot be used to take money from your account. They can only be used to send money to you, which is why you share them freely when someone needs to pay you. The risk comes when this information is combined with other personal details, which is why fraudsters often use it as one piece of a larger picture to build credibility and gain your trust.

• What are the latest safe account scams going around in the UK?

  • Fraudsters are increasingly impersonating HMRC, the police and the FCA rather than banks alone, knowing that these carry a different kind of authority. We are also seeing a rise in scams that begin on WhatsApp or via email rather than SMS, and cases where AI-generated voices are used to mimic genuine bank staff. The spoofing technology available to criminals has become more accessible, which means these scams are becoming harder to distinguish from the real thing.

Conclusion

If you have been targeted by a safe account scam, it's important to know that you are not alone. Fraudsters are incredibly sophisticated and with the advancements in technology, safe account scams are becoming harder to spot than ever before.

Remember to stay aware of the rising threats of safe account scams so you can protect yourself and your loved ones.

The good thing to know is that recovery is possible and under UK banking regulations you may be able to recover your funds.