Protect us from bank scams

Bank transfer fraud is a scam you’re not protected from if you’re caught out by it, yet victims lost £145m in the first six months of 2018.

Writing that down makes me feel angry. But that is nothing compared to the emotions felt by those put through huge turmoil by these con artists, who pose as legitimate bank or business contacts to trick people into unwittingly paying huge sums into money into bank accounts they control.

And nothing compared to the sheer frustration and helplessness they feel when confronted by banks’ failure to properly protect or reimburse their customers.

Fraud is at record levels, with more than five million scams costing us a mindboggling £9bn each year.

And while there are sensible steps we can all take to protect ourselves, an unfair burden has been placed on the public who are expected to spot sophisticated cons.

Which? has long called on the Government, regulators and businesses to do more to safeguard us all from scams.

Two years ago we made a super-complaint to the Payment Systems Regulator to ask them to examine whether banks were doing enough to make sure customers were protected and what improvements could be made to protect people from increasingly clever fraudsters. The response from the PSR was lacklustre. The figures for fraud for the first half of this year prove, again, that more needs to be done.

It is unacceptable that banks are able to claim that they can’t do anything more to protect customers, leaving them to foot the bill for fraud, often with devastating financial consequences. We have welcomed the new code just announced which should ramp up protection of customers and reimburse them from their losses, but again with the catch that this will happen only if they’ve “acted responsibly” and the banks actually take some of the blame. It’s not enough. Urgent action is needed. The code will only be a success if banks’ actions lead to fewer scams and the victims of fraud are treated fairly and reimbursed quickly.

It’s about time that banks step up and properly compensate customers who have lost money through no fault of their own.

Send me your consumer queries to askalex@which. co.uk