People will be better protected from bank transfer scams following a campaign by MP Charlie Elphicke.

Tougher rules for banks come in from September – giving customers the chance to get their stolen money back.

It comes after the Dover and Deal MP raised the cases of two constituents scammed out of thousands of pounds, during a Treasury Select Committee hearing in Parliament in January.

Mr Elphicke Charlie told MPs about Mike Whitehead who had thought he was buying a caravan from what he thought was a legitimate “eBay Motors” account. But the account turned out to be fake and he lost £3,500.

Colin Stromsoy, lost a £1,000 deposit trying to buy a car by the same method. On both occasions their bank insisted they had carried out the requisite checks.

At the Januayr hearing, Mr Elphicke urged the Payment System Regulator (PSR) to beef up its planned reimbursement model for money lost through fraud.

He has since written to Chancellor Philip Hammond and held follow-up talks with ministers and the PSR’s managing director Hannah Nixon.

Ms Nixon told Mr Elphicke that consumer group Which? and Age UK are now part of the steering group drawing up the reimbursement model – which will be enforced from September.

Anyone who believes they are a victim of such a scam will be able to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to investigate whether the bank is liable.

The ombudsman will consider whether the bank has followed the rules of the new scheme and offered enough protection to customers.

Mr Elphicke said: “These sort of scams have been going on too long and too many people are being conned – while the fraudsters get away with it.

“Mike, Colin and countless others know just how awful it is to be conned by these criminals.

“It’s time the banks took responsibility – and properly protected their customers.”

Charlie also met with Treasury Minister John Glen and suggested that a further step could be taken, by making banks fully responsible for fraud.

Figures show more than 19,000 people in the UK were victims of scams costing a total of more than £100 million in the first six months of 2017.

It means each victim on average lost more than £5,000.