Gathering Evidence
So you've signed up with Refundee,
what next?
We will be asking you to provide supporting evidence/documentation for your claim to help us present your case to the bank and FOS.
While this may seem like a hurdle or time consuming, we want to make it as easy as possible for you. This is all part of the usual procedure, and doing it now will save time down the line.
We have summarised how to gather the key pieces of evidence below:
Statements
Bank statements
We will be asking for 12 months of bank statements from before you made the first payment to the scam and up to that initial payment.
E.g. If you made the first payment on 30 June 2023, provide statements from 30 June 2022 to June 2023.
If your account has been open for less than 12 months, please just send over all statements.
If you can’t provide these statements, simply let us know why.
Below are details on how to access statements from:
Cryptocurrency statements
The bank and the Financial Ombudsman also like to look at the cryptocurrency statements to assess the payments and returns in relation to the transactions shown on your bank statements.
Below are details on how to access statements from some regularly used cryptocurrency exchanges:
We only need a single recent crypto exchange statement, not the full 12 months.
Conversations with the scammer
The bank and the Financial Ombudsman Service will also request to see all conversations with the scammers. This is likely the most important piece of evidence that the FOS will need to see as it shows that a third party directed you to send those payment.
If the chats with the scammer cannot be provided, we would need you to outline:
Why they cannot be provided and what steps you have taken to locate them
Any evidence showing this e.g screenshots of error messages or screenshots showing you are blocked from the chat with the scammer
Below you will be able to find information on how to export whole conversations to send to us to keep on file.
We’ve summarised this below, but you can read a full article about this here.
Android; Suitable for non-iPhones
We have included some guidance below that should help you download and export the WhatsApp chat transcript:
Open WhatsApp
Click on the chat you want to download
Tap the three vertical dot
Select More
Click Export Chat
iPhone / iOS
We have included some guidance below that should help you download and export the WhatsApp chat transcript:
Open WhatsApp
Click on the chat you want to download
Tap the person's/ group's name at the top of the page
Scroll down
Click Export Chat
Telegram
There’s a good article on how to export conversations that you had via telegram.
Check it out here.
Emails
You can learn how to save an email as a PDF using this article.
Document types we can accept
We accept a wide range of document types.
pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, csv, txt, rtf, html, zip, mp3, wma, mpg, flv, avi, jpg, jpeg, png, gif
If you are having any trouble with the above, please get in touch with us.
How to recover deleted chats
Whatsapp has a guide here on how to recover any chats you have deleted.
Frequently asked questions:
What if I can’t get the information or evidence you’ve asked for?
If you’re unable to get it, please just provide a detailed explanation of why and evidence showing any issues. We can then let the FOS know. (E.g. your account has been blocked, you’ve lost your phone etc.)
Will it harm my case if I don’t get this information?
This depends on how the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) interprets the reason why you’re not able to provide the evidence. It is important that you provide any evidence that you can showing why the evidence cannot be provided.
It could potentially damage your case if the FOS deem the reason to be weak. (E.g. if you didn’t have time, or forgot your password)
Will this be all the evidence that you need?
It’s possible that the FOS may require additional evidence about your case, and it depends on what happened in your individual circumstances. We’ll let you know in due course if anything further is needed.
How should I send this evidence to you?
We have likely sent you an email specific to your case that explains exactly what we need from you, and contains a link to form where you can submit your evidence. If you are not able to find this evidence, however, you can submit your evidence using this general evidence gathering form.