Banks still at odds over how to handle frauds

COMMENT

FIRST of all, the banks refused to refund or compensate customers who were victims of fraud on their accounts.

Then it looked as though agreement had been reached between the banks and the Financial Conduct Authority on the situations where customers could expect to be refunded.

Now it looks as though the banks have collectively fallen out over the details of this agreement and this could leave the victims of fraud without any protection from the beginning of next year.

It seems that the banks can’t agree to support a levy that they were going to pay into, a fund that could be used to compensate or reimburse victims of fraud.

Some banks argued that the ones that go out of their way to spend time and money trying to minimise fraud for their customers would end up paying the same amount into the fund as those banks that did nothing.

Consumer groups are now arguing that the levy should be made mandatory when the new government comes into power after the election next month, and this is sure to be supported by the thousands of customers who lost more than £200million between them in the first six months of this year alone.

The frauds perpetrated on innocent customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and it really can be difficult these days to tell a genuine demand for money or payment from a fraudulent one.

It’s vital for bank customers to be vigilant and to never give out account information or passwords over the phone, no matter how genuine the caller who tells you that he or she really is calling from your bank is being.

Even better, if someone calls you from your bank and asks for the information then politely hang up and find a number for your bank on a statement or on your digital banking site and call them to ask if they really did call you.

It’s a pain, I know, but it’s much better than discovering that you’ve been the victim of a fraud and that you will have to spend the next six months fighting with your bank to get your money back.