While every scam is different, every scammer has one common goal – to separate you from your money. Sometimes, though, it’s not immediately obvious that you’ve been scammed. The following could be signs that you have been:

• You’ve transferred money for investments or financial services and you’re unable to retrieve it
• You’ve transferred money to a person or company and now they can’t be contacted
• Items you’ve purchased don’t arrive.

Identity fraud means you don’t even have to engage directly with the scammer – watch out for the following tell-tale signs:

• You find unexplained transactions on your bank account or credit report that you don’t remember actioning
• You’re rejected for credit even though you’ve got a good credit history – it’s worth checking your credit history regularly just to make sure no-one’s trying to take out credit in your name.

The simple answer is sometimes, but not always.

The first thing you should do is to call the bank that the money was taken from. While there’s no guarantee that your bank will reimburse you, they will investigate on a case-by-case basis.

If you bought something for more than £100 on a credit card, you’re covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This means your credit provider is jointly and severally liable for any breach of contract or misrepresentation of goods with the retailer. So if the retailer won’t refund you, then your credit provider should.

How to start a Section 75 claim

You won’t be covered by Section 75 if you used your debit card, but you could try to claim your money back under the chargeback scheme, an extra layer of protection offered by some debit providers to support victims of scams. Rules vary between providers.

Unfortunately, if you transferred your money using sites like PayPal, Western Union or Moneygram, you generally can’t get your money back once it’s left your account.