Call for swifter action on bank transfer scams

A CONSUMER group said it wants to see clear industry progress in tackling bank transfer scams, where people are tricked into transferring money directly to a fraudster.

Which? said that, a year after it made a “super complaint” to regulators about the issue, on September 23 2016, it is concerned that people have continued to remain at risk from bank transfer fraud.

It wants to see what is being done to tackle the problem, which can see fraud victims losing “lifechanging” sums to scammers.

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is due to give a progress update in November.

Which? raised concerns that, unlike many other payment methods, victims conned into transferring money by bank transfer to a fraudster generally have no legal right to get their money back from their bank.

The consumer group said its research suggests the overall figure of losses is likely to be huge – in the first two weeks after launching its online scams reporting tool in November 2016, more than 650 people told Which? about losing a total of more than £5.5m to bank transfer scams.

Responding to the complaint in December 2016, the PSR set out an initial action plan; in a recent update the PSR said: “Since December we’ve looked at a number of issues in greater detail and have continued to work hard to find a way to reduce scams and the impact they have on victims.

“This November we will publish a report highlighting progress against the measures we set out, as well as our thoughts on what should happen next.”

Gareth Shaw, a money expert at Which?, said: “The regulator must now clearly set out what progress has been made by banks and what more they must do to ensure consumers who are tricked into making a payment to a fraudster are not left out of pocket.”