Own Your Refund
Fraud Detection and Prevention
Monday: 12:00 to 13:30 , Tuesday: 10:30 to 12:00 , Wednesday: 19:30 to 21:00 , Thursday: 16:00 to 17:30 , Friday: 10:30 to 12:00 , Saturday to Sunday: Closed
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If you have been affected by Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, I can provide a 90-minute, online consultation to explore your options. During the session, I will walk you through a bespoke process, tailored to your situation, for when you contact your bank to request a reimbursement.
I am Jeff Hillier, a Refund Consultant with over 15 years of experience working within the banking and financial services industry. I am not a claims management company, and I do not take over your claim or deal with the banks on your behalf. My service is to support you by sharing my knowledge of regulator rules and industry guidance, so you can submit your refund application in a clear, structured manner, including the types of evidence required by the bank.
Should your claim be rejected by the bank, you can take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). During your consultation, once you have constructed your letter, we will put a plan together for you to follow procedures and deadline dates, should it be necessary to escalate your case to the FOS.
I will be completely transparent, explaining everything clearly and avoiding industry jargon. APP fraud comes in many guises, and some cases are more straightforward than others. I will be totally honest with you regarding your chances of a refund, based on my experience. However, although I am aware of, and will explain, the types of situations where banks may be expected to reimburse you, I can never guarantee that your claim will be successful. My goal is to enable you to manage your own refund.
If you would like an APP Refund Consultant appointment, book a date and time for an online Zoom meeting. You will be asked to complete a form and email it to me prior to the meeting, so I can prepare.
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This appointment is a structured, one-off, 90-minute online Zoom consultation for individuals affected by Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.
The session focuses on:
Constructing your timeline
Reviewing the bank’s reasoning
Identifying procedural and evidential gaps
Structuring your complaint clearly and proportionately
During the session, I guide you on how draft a professionally structured letter, using regulatory guidelines and critical decision making guidelines. This is consultation drafting support only. You remain fully responsible for submission and escalation, but I ask you to diarise certain critical dates, so you can follow up any next steps with clarity.
We will:
Review your completed Discovery Form (you will receive this via email prior to the Zoom)
Reconstruct the factual timeline
Identify strengths and weaknesses
Structure your complaint logically
Draft the letter live, during the session
Share a Word document on screen which can be amended in real time (you will receive clear instructions beforehand, explaining how this works.)
At the end of the session:
The document will be refined
A final review will be completed
A clear action plan will be set
Time-critical dates will be identified
You must have your diary or calendar available, as if the bank refutes your complaint, strict deadlines will apply. These dates must be logged immediately in your calendar, and on your mobile device.
Go to the ‘Book a Zoom Meeting’ page, or click one of the ‘Book Online’ buttons on my website.
A calendar will appear showing available dates and times. Pick the option that best suits your schedule and click ‘Continue’.
You will be asked for basic details – usually your name, email address, and phone number.
Click the ‘Confirm Appointment’ button.
You should see a confirmation screen immediately. Shortly after, you will receive an automated confirmation email.
You will need to:
Complete and email a Discovery Form to me, at least 48 hours prior to your zoom meeting – this will be emailed to you, once you have booked an appointment
Provide copies of relevant correspondence
Have access to your mobile phone, calendar or diary to log critical dates
Technical requirements:
Using a laptop or desktop computer is strongly recommended. A tablet can work, but is not ideal. These sessions cannot be conducted via mobile phone.
Joining a Zoom meeting is quite simple, and you do not necessarily need to have a Zoom account to participate. Most people use the Zoom Workplace app, but you can also join through a standard web browser such as Google Chrome or Safari.
The easiest way to join is to simply click the link provided in your invitation.
If you have the Zoom app installed: Your device will ask for permission to open the link in the app. Click Allow or Open.
If you do not have the app: Your web browser will open a page. You can choose to download the app then and there, or look for a small link at the bottom that says ‘Join’ from your browser – this allows you to participate without installing any new software
Enter your name: You will be asked to type in the name you want other participants to see
Once you click the link, you will often enter a preview screen or a waiting room.
Video: You may see a preview of your camera. Click ‘Join with Video’ to let me see you
Waiting Room: If you see a message saying ‘the host will let you in soon,’ just wait a moment – I needs to click a button on my end to admit you
Audio: Once you are in the meeting, a pop-up box will appear – you must click ‘Join with Computer Audio’ so that you can hear me, and I can hear you
Once the meeting has started, you can find your controls by moving your mouse or tapping your screen.
Mute/Unmute: Click the microphone icon in the bottom-left corner – it is standard etiquette to keep yourself on mute when you are not speaking to avoid background noise
Start/Stop Video: Click the camera icon next to the microphone to turn your webcam on or off
Chat: Click the speech bubble icon to type a message to the group
Leave: When the meeting is over, click the red ‘Leave’ button
The session cannot proceed without Zoom access. You will receive instructions in advance, to ensure the shared document process works smoothly.
You do. The letter is constructed using:
Professionally structured paragraphs developed during the consultation
Selective sections relevant to your circumstances
Any appropriate freeform explanation you wish to include
The document is refined and checked live to ensure it is proportionate, clear and professionally structured. You send the final version yourself which must be sent via recorded delivery for an audit trail.
Your consultation session includes logging critical dates. If the bank refutes your complaint, we will have already put together an action plan for the next procedural step.
If you prefer, another session can be booked on my calendar to compile a response to the Financial Ombudsman.
A final Financial Ombudsman’s decision typically concludes the complaints process. This service does not include litigation consultation.
However, a Financial Ombudsman referral is a 2-step process, so there are a few chances to construct further points. Once a final Ombudsman’s decision has been issued, this service unfortunately cannot help any further.
Unfortunately, I cannot provide a percentage for likelihood of success. Each case depends on:
The specific facts
Timing
Bank conduct
Vulnerability factors
Available evidence
No consultation service can responsibly guarantee a refund. Equally, no Claims Management company can provide a cast-iron guarantee of a refund. Outcomes always depend on facts and institutional decision-making. This service improves structure and clarity. It does not guarantee outcomes.
This is one of the most common areas of confusion.
If you invested money in a project or business that later failed, ran out of money, or simply didn’t work out, that is usually classed as a failed investment or business deal, not a scam. In those situations, banks generally will not refund the loss. Financial losses from genuine investments that go wrong are normally considered a risk the investor accepted. However, there is a narrow grey area that many people are unaware of. In some circumstances a failed investment can fall within the definition of an Authorised Push Payment scam. This is when someone is persuaded to transfer money themselves to a fraudster.
This may apply where evidence shows that at the time the payment was made:
The project was already insolvent or financially unviable
Important facts were misrepresented or concealed
The money was never used for the stated purpose
The transaction was effectively doomed from the start
You have evidence that proves the above
In these cases, the loss may not be caused by the business failing later, but by the fact that the situation was already fundamentally misrepresented when the payment was made. These cases are not common, and outcomes are never guaranteed. They depend heavily on the documents, timeline of events and financial reality at the point the payment was sent. This is why some situations that appear to be a failed investment may still warrant a closer look before deciding there is no possible route to recovery.
Yes. I retain:
A copy of the drafted letter
Case information for compliance and record-keeping, should your case need to be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
I operate in a General Data Protection act compliant manner, and hold an ICO registration. ICO Registration Number: ZC105575. Your information is not sold, shared nor used beyond this service.
This service provides structured consultation and document drafting support only.
It does not constitute:
Legal representation
Regulated claims management
Financial advice
Litigation services
No guarantee of outcome is made or implied. You remain fully responsible for:
The content you submit
Decisions taken
Deadlines
Escalation actions
This consultation assists with structured presentation only. Booking constitutes acceptance of these conditions.
This is a structured consultation service only.
You remain responsible for:
Submitting your complaint
Responding to correspondence
Meeting deadlines
Escalation decisions
Clear boundaries protect both parties.
There is nothing stopping you from handling the case without my guidance. However, complaints frequently fail because:
Key points are not directly addressed
Vulnerability is not clearly framed
The bank’s reasoning is not engaged with
Self-submitted complaints without expert guidance, sometimes lack structure
This consultation focuses on letter presentation, aligned to professional assessment criteria.
This service:
Does not act on your behalf
Does not contact banks or the Financial Ombudsman directly
Does not take a percentage
Does not provide ongoing representation
When you utilise my APP Refund Consultant service, you retain full control of your complaint. My service is a transparent, fixed-fee consultation.
Many Claims Management companies charge a success fee, framed as a ‘no-win, no-fee’ service, which can prove extremely costly for you. If you are considering a Claims Management company, I urge you to establish the ‘no-win, no-fee’ percentage, plus any contracted terms/conditions and fees should you decide to not continue with their service.
Many Claims Management companies operate using a high-volume enquiry ‘funnel.’ Advertising generates a large number of enquiries, and the firm then assesses which cases are suitable to pursue Commercially, on a no-win-no-fee basis. Because the firm carries out the work involved in pursuing the claim, the fee is typically charged as a percentage of any money recovered.
Some firms publish fee structures that can be around 25% of the recovered amount for smaller claims, sometimes reducing for larger recoveries.
Example refund:
(Approximate fee 25%)
£10,000 recovered
£2,500 fee
£20,000 recovered
£5,000 fee
£30,000 recovered
£7,500 fee
It is also worth noting that referring a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service is free for consumers. The Ombudsman charges a case fee to the financial firm, not to the customer.
How this service is different
This service does not operate as a Claims Management company, and does not take a percentage of any refund. Instead, a fixed-price Zoom session (£250) explains how the complaint process works; the evidence that banks and the Financial Ombudsman require, and how to structure a complaint, so that you can decide how you wish to proceed with your own submission.
Yes, in many cases they can. Although the consultation focuses mainly on authorised push payment (APP) scam situations, a lot of what is explained relates to how complaints are generally handled by organisations authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, often referred to as FCA-reportable firms.
During the session, we look at how complaint processes typically work within these types of organisations, including how timelines are considered, why clearly setting out a sequence of events can be helpful, and how publicly available complaint outcomes can sometimes help people understand how similar situations have previously been assessed. Understanding these general principles can be useful knowledge if you ever need to raise a complaint with a financial organisation about poor service, or where you believe compensation may be appropriate. The consultation is simply designed to help people understand how complaint processes work. It does not provide Claims Management services, and I do not pursue complaints on behalf of clients. Any complaint you choose to make remains entirely your own responsibility.