I'm doing the cardinal sin and posting this on behalf of a friend who doesn't have access to the Internet from home.

My friend has had £200 stolen from their account by debit card and are currently on ESA/PIP due to serious medical issues and mental health conditions. My understanding is the transactions were taken by debit card.

The Fraudster attempted a payment of £500 and then £400 and then £200 the formers were declined and the latter was accepted. The card in question has now been cancelled and it was reported as soon as they became aware.

Barclays are insisting that an investigation be done before any money is refunded taking at least up to 10 working days. We all know that isn't true per the FCA rules here: https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account

This is going to cause them serious problems as they need to attend medical appointments and put food on the table etc. They have offered a £35 GOGW payment in the first instance. The question becomes, how does one quote the legislation over the phone to effectively force the bank to behave themselves and issue those 'temporary refunds' until the case is investigated?

Whilst I am sure they would be happy to make complaints to the FoS etc.. They need access to their funds and the bank are being deliberately obstructive. They want me to speak to them later today to see if quoting the FCA rules has any effect. But is there anything else you could advise in the second instance.

Friend is classed as vulnerable adult with serious mental health issues too.

After visiting the local branch with my friend this afternoon and quoting the FCA guidelines attached in this post. The bank have credited my friends account for the amount stolen.

Excellent work and a good result.

Phone conversations were unlikely to bring the result you needed unless you told the phone staff the call was being recorded by YOU for later proof.

You now need to ensure the bank LEAVES the refund and accepts that YF was NOT responsible for the fraud.

You've given no info about the nature of the fraud so it's hard for us to offer advice about this but feel free to come back if necessary.