Blameless victims of bank transfer fraud will be refunded from the end of May after the banks finally agreed to pay out in these "no-fault" situations.

Telegraph Money has repeatedly called for the banks to foot the bill in cases where consumers had done nothing wrong but still fell victim to fraud. In a victory for this newspaper, last night it was announced that this will happen as an interim measure from May 28.

Banks have often refused to refund victims of this type of fraud, where people are tricked into approving payments to criminals sometimes posing as builders or solicitors, on the basis that the customer "authorised" the payment.

In the first six months of last year £145m was lost to bank transfer fraud, with just £31m returned to victims, according to figures from UK Finance, the banking trade body.

Currently the agreement applies only to banks on the “steering group” of industry figures tasked with designing the fraud reimbursement code, but others are expected to sign up voluntarily before the end of May.

It will stand until the end of the year, while a long-term funding solution is negotiated.

Some of the ideas raised include a fraud insurance policy, charges on large bank transfers – both of which would cost the consumer not the bank – and a central pot funded by the industry including banks and telecoms companies.