Fraud soars to £1m a day (but banks return less to victims)
FRAUD in Britain has soared this year – with scammers stealing more than £1million a day.
But figures from the nation’s banks show that just a third of the stolen money was returned.
The 66,247 bank scams reported between January and June is up 15 per cent on the same period last year, as fraudsters capitalised on the confusion caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Losses amounted to £207.8 million, according to the banking trade body UK Finance – about £1.1million a day.
Yet just a third of the money was returned to customers, compared to 41 per cent in the last six months of last year.
Money Mail raised concerns about rocketing fraud figures two years ago, prompting the launch of this paper’s Stop the Bank Scammers campaign.
In May last year, rules were introduced to ensure victims were given their money back, providing they had taken reasonable care. Nine banking groups – including HSBC, Barclays, Santander, RBS, Nationwide and Lloyds – signed up to the voluntary code, but experts say it is not working.
UK Finance blamed the rise in fraud on data breaches and theft of personal information as well as fraudsters exploiting Covid-19 fears.
More than half of scams involved purchases of items that didn’t exist.
Some £27million was stolen by fake online sellers, including those marketing home virus testing kits and personal protective equipment.
Investment scams increased by 27 per cent and accounted for the largest proportion of losses – £55.2million. The average victim lost £14,826, but money was returned in just 22 per cent of cases.
Fraudsters also exploited loneliness during lockdown by targeting people on dating websites. The number of romance scams rose by 38 per cent in the first six months, amounting to losses of £9.3million. Less than a quarter was reimbursed.
Gareth Shaw, head of money at consumer group Which?, said: ‘While it is positive that the introduction of the scams code has led to banks refunding more customers, reimbursement rates remain unacceptably low given its pledge to return money to all of those who are not at fault.
‘Our analysis has shown that there are glaring inconsistencies on how the code is applied across the industry. The code’s voluntary basis isn’t working and should be made mandatory.’
Katy Worobec, of UK Finance, said: ‘The banking industry is working hard to protect customers from this threat, with almost £7 in £10 of fraud prevented in the first half of this year. But we need the public to remain vigilant against scams.’