Are YOU a victim of the internet shopping CATCH22?

Thousands are buying food online for the first time, but fraud-wary banks are blocking payments...

THOUSANdS of first-time online shopping customers risk having vital deliveries cancelled, a Money Mail investigation can reveal. Many elderly and vulnerable households have been forced to turn to the internet for their essentials, having perhaps never shopped online before. But major flaws with security checks have led to some banks mistakenly flagging the transactions as suspected fraud.

But by blocking the payment, the order is then often automatically cancelled, leaving customers without much-needed supplies.

Last month Nationwide blocked several online card transactions that Hazel Smith, 65, had made — including a payment to John Lewis for a freezer and a £65 online shop at Morrisons she had ordered for her asthmatic niece, a student living in Sheffield, who is self-isolating because she is vulnerable.

Hazel, a professor of international security at Cranfield University, says she could not find another delivery slot for her niece.

Nationwide alerted Hazel by text message after midnight on the day of the Morrisons delivery, which she replied to within minutes. This unblocked the payment, but by then it was too late.

Hazel says: ‘ My guess is that banking systems can’t cope with everyone changing their shopping habits. Incompetence, in other words, and a “couldn’t care less” attitude. It’s gut-wrenching when you get an email the day of the delivery you have been waiting for and then scary because you have to go out.’

Nationwide would not say what triggered the fraud alerts but says it is constantly reviewing threats.

Hazel’s experience mirrors that of the reader featured in last week’s Ask Tony column. The reader, from derbyshire, and his vulnerable wife had waited a fortnight for a Morrisons delivery before RBS cancelled the payment and made them queue again.

Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at AJ Bell, says: ‘For many elderly people this may be the first time they’ve used an online supermarket, so the transaction could be flagged as unusual, and in some cases cancelled.

‘But while banks need to be alert, they also need to communicate with customers to ensure they’re not being blocked from their only source of food and essentials.

‘Banks should have vulnerable people flagged on their system and ensure they are able to get in contact more rapidly.’ Martyn James, from the complaints website Resolver, says: ‘ We know these are unusual times but what is happening is unacceptable. If banks need to verify payments they should check with the customer when the transaction is made — not the day of the delivery.’

Meanwhile, some banks are also failing to provide multiple ways of receiving verification codes to approve online payments.

Under new regulations, payment providers are introducing tougher security measures for internet shopping and banking.

Instead of entering just your name and card details you may also be sent a verification code to be entered on the retailer’s payment page.

These one-time codes are typically sent by text message. But those without mobile phones or in rural areas with poor signal are not being offered alternatives.

Shaune, 70, and dick Richardson, 75, say they have had many fraught conversations with their bank First direct about how they can receive the code.

The couple live in an isolated part of Cornwall where mobile phone signal is non-existent.

Shaune says: ‘We don’t know what to do except put ourselves at risk by going out for essentials. First direct says all banks are sending the codes by text. But how would other people manage if they do not have signal?’

‘It is bizarre not to have other measures in place especially at this time.’

First direct did not explain why the Richardsons were not offered another solution.

It says customers can call 03 456 100 106 to override the code prompt, or have the code sent to them by email.