An 84-year-old woman who suffers from severe back pain was defrauded of £102 after ordering pain relief tablets from an online pharmacy called LoyaltyPharma.com. The reader, identified as J.F. from East Sussex, paid for 200 Zapain tablets via bank transfer in June.
The tablets never arrived, and the woman's emails to the company went unanswered. She had been seeking to build a reserve of medication for when her prescribed supplies ran out. Upon investigation, the website displayed signs of a scam, including the use of placeholder 'Lorem ipsum' text and offering payment options such as PayPal and cryptocurrency, alongside bank transfers. Notably, the website's name was similar to a legitimate online pharmacy but with slight alterations and a .com domain instead of .co.uk.
J.F. contacted her bank, Santander, which initially agreed she was a victim of fraud and eligible for reimbursement under the Authorised Push Payment Fraud Reimbursement scheme. This scheme, introduced in October 2024, mandates banks to refund victims of such scams up to £85,000. However, Santander initially proposed deducting a £100 excess, common under the scheme's rules, leaving J.F. with only £2.
Following an appeal highlighting her age and vulnerability, and arguing that the excess deduction was not mandatory, Santander reversed its decision. The bank reimbursed the full £102, with a spokesperson stating, 'We’re sorry to hear about J.F.’s experience at the hands of criminals. After carefully reviewing her case, and in line with the Payment Systems Regulator’s mandatory reimbursement requirements for authorised push payment scams, we’ve reimbursed her losses.' The bank urged customers to remain vigilant against online scams and verify merchant legitimacy.
Consumers purchasing medication online are advised to ensure vendors are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency or listed on the General Pharmaceutical Council register, and to check reviews carefully. Suspicious websites or sellers can be reported to mhra.gov.uk. The reader's payment was transferred to an HSBC account, which was also alerted. A spokesperson for HSBC stated that the bank acts immediately on reports of accounts being used for criminal purposes and has stringent processes to prevent fraud.