Empty promises? What they told the MoS

METRO Bank says that all scam claims are based on ‘the merits of each individual case’. It speaks of safeguards that it applies – but these are left unspecified – and declares that these are constantly reviewed and updated as fraudsters develop new tactics.

The bank runs a ‘Be Your Own Hero’ campaign to help educate customers on how to protect themselves from fraud. Metro also says that it backs the ‘banking protocol’ – a national rapid response scheme through which staff in bank branches can alert police and Trading Standards to suspected frauds while they are taking place. BARCLAYS Bank provides limited information, saying it is pleased to have played an ‘important role in the creation of the push payment code’. A spokesperson says: ‘As always, we will investigate and assess any instances of scams on a case-by-case basis.’ HSBC says that other than being ‘pleased to be amongst the first banks to sign on to the new authorised push payment voluntary code’, it is making ‘significant investments in technologies, processes and people to protect customers from financial crime’. SANTANDER bank has 700 employees devoted to tackling fraud and runs a 24-hour hotline. It says it spends millions of pounds a year on fraud prevention, both on services used by customers such as cash machines and online banking, and on behindthe-scenes monitoring and detection.

The bank says: ‘Over the last few months we were the first bank to introduce specific warnings to online payment and mobile app services to provide tailored scam advice based on the type of payment being made.’ The bank has also run several high-profile fraud awareness campaigns, including a Scam Avoidance School which saw more than 1,000 lessons delivered to more than 20,000 people in 2018. NATWEST RBS, the giant banking group that is 60 per cent State-owned, should be leading the way on anti-fraud initiatives, but it has little to say on the matter. It simply says that it already looks at each fraud claim on a case-by-case basis and will reimburse customers where they have been the victim of a sophisticated scam. NATIONWIDE Building Society promises customers using its digital service that it will ‘refund any money taken from your account without your authorisation’ and ‘monitor and protect your account with the latest technology’.

In addition, it checks for suspicious or unusual transactions, trains employees, supports education campaigns and holds events at its branches that explore the issue.

It also uses ‘new technologies’ and provides customers with advice on staying safe along with information on the latest fraud and scam trends.