Push payment fraud: ‘Which?’ way forward for unprotected customers?

The Payment Services Regulator has declined to oblige banks to reimburse customers who fall victim to authorised push payment scams. However, the issue is not fully resolved, reports Johnny Shearman.

Johnny Shearman is a commercial litigator at boutique law firm Signature Litigation. Contact him on johnny.shearman@signaturelitigation.com.

Within consumer payment services there are two overriding payment mechanisms – ‘push’ and ‘pull’ payments. Although both mechanisms achieve the same end result, by enabling one entity to pay another, there is a difference between the two. A ‘push’ payment is one where the payor obtains details of the payee’s account and instructs their bank to send (push) money to it. A ‘pull’ payment is where the payor provides the payee with the relevant account details and authorises the payee to extract (pull) funds from their account.