‘Switch off’ your bank card to fight scams

Barclays has become the first UK bank to let users ‘switch off’ their debit card in order to limit the damage caused by fraudulent scams.

Customers can use a new option in the Barclays Mobile Banking app ( www.snipca. com/24307, pictured) to disable their card, preventing scammers from using it to make purchases online or over the phone.

It will also help customers who have lost their card, but are sure it’s not been stolen. Instead of going through the hassle of cancelling their card, they can temporarily disable it until it’s found.

The app also lets customers set their own daily withdrawal limits for cash machines.

These new features are part of Barclays’ £10m Digital Safety campaign to fight fraud. As well as adverts to raise awareness, the bank will set up a new police hotline for staff to call when they suspect fraud.

There’s also a ‘Digitally safe’ quiz on the bank’s website ( www.barclays.co.uk/security) to test your knowledge of scams. It starts by asking whether you know the difference between ‘phishing’, ‘vishing’ and ‘smishing’.

Barclays UK boss, Ashok Vaswani, said that the public’s confidence in using tech has grown faster than their knowledge of doing so safely. He added “this has created a ‘digital safety gap’ which is being exploited by criminals”.