Bank Will Not Refund Your Scam Loss? What to Do

If your bank has refused to refund a scam or unauthorised-transaction loss, or has not resolved it,
you do not have to accept its first answer. You can put a formal complaint to the bank’s Internal Dispute Resolution,
ask for a written final response by a deadline, and then take the matter to AFCA — the free, independent external
dispute resolution service — which reviews banking complaints at no cost to you.

What to do

1. Make a formal complaint to the bank’s Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR). Set out the
   transactions, the total loss and the timeline — when the transactions happened, when you realised it was a scam,
   when you first complained, and what the bank has said. Ask for a written IDR final response by a deadline.
2. Make sure the claim is framed correctly on the facts. If a scammer accessed your account, codes
   or device and moved money without you knowingly approving it, that is an unauthorised transaction, and the bank
   should investigate it under the ePayments Code — a voluntary code administered by ASIC — and apply the Code’s
   liability rules. If you made or approved the payment yourself after being deceived, there is no automatic refund;
   instead you ask the bank to review whether it met its scam-detection, monitoring, warning and duty-to-inquire
   obligations and whether it should have held or queried the payment.
3. Lodge a complaint with AFCA (the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) once you have the
   bank’s final response or the IDR deadline has passed. AFCA is free to complainants and independent. You can lodge
   online, by letter, by email or by phone. From 12 March 2026 AFCA can also examine the receiving bank and the ‘mule’
   account the money was sent to, even if you are not a customer of that bank — so if you know which bank received the
   funds, you can name it as well.
4. Set out the outcome you are seeking — reimbursement of the amount lost, and any directly
   related charges you have identified.

Recovering a scam loss is difficult and no one can guarantee a refund. AFCA decides complaints independently; a
formal complaint and an AFCA lodgement give your case a clear, documented footing, but no particular outcome is
promised.

Warning — money-recovery scams. After a scam you may be contacted by someone claiming they can get
your money back, sometimes pretending to be from the police, a government agency, a bank, a law firm or a ‘fund
recovery’ service. People who have already lost money are deliberately targeted. This is almost always a second scam.
Never pay an upfront fee, hand over more money, give remote access, or share codes or logins with anyone who contacts
you promising to recover your money.

Do it yourself, or have it drafted

You can write the complaint and lodge with AFCA yourself for free. If you would rather have it done properly, Claim
Done drafts two documents for a flat $49: a formal complaint to your bank’s Internal Dispute
Resolution asking for a final response by a deadline, and a ready-to-lodge complaint statement for AFCA. This does not
guarantee a refund, we do not lodge the documents for you, and we take no percentage of anything you recover — only the
flat fee.
Start your escalation pack.

Frequently asked questions