THE HUMAN COST OF FALLING VICTIM TO TRANSFER SCAMS

People who are conned into transferring money to a fraudster lose more than £3,000 on average, while firms typically lose £21,500, according to figures from trade body UK Finance.

It said that in the first six months of 2017, customers collectively sent £101.2m to criminals after being tricked by authorised transfer scams.

Financial providers were able to return nearly a quarter of losses, at £25.2m.

Industry data shows there were 19,370 cases in the first half of 2017. Nearly nine in 10 (88%) cases involved consumers, who lost £3,027 on average. The remainder were businesses, which lost an average of £21,477.

UK Finance said criminals use a range of tactics, including invoice scams, house purchase scams and email hacking to target victims, which can be very convincing.

If a customer authorises the payment themselves, current legislation does not cover them for losses, unlike other financial frauds where the criminal makes a payment without a customer’s consent.

UK Finance said that while banks try to help consumers recover stolen money, customers typically only approach their bank after the payment has been processed, when they realise they have been duped.

By this time, the criminal has often withdrawn the stolen funds and the customer’s money has gone.

UK Finance supports a campaign called Take Five, which encourages people to pause for thought before transferring money.

Katy Worobec, head of fraud and financial crime prevention, cyber and data-sharing at UK Finance, said: “These figures confirm that criminals are enjoying a great deal of success targeting customers directly and tricking them into falling for their scams.

“There is no fast or sure-fire solution, but the industry is determined to crack down on these criminals on all fronts. Raising customer awareness is one weapon in the fight to stop these scams, which is why we are investing in the Take Five campaign.”

Take Five has issued advice to help customers stay safe from financial scams with the message: “My money, my info, I don’t think so”.

A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you asking for your Pin number or full password or to move money to a safe account.

Never give out personal or financial information. Always contact the company directly using a known email or phone number.

Don’t be tricked into giving a fraudster access to your details. Never automatically click on a link in an unexpected email or text.

Always question uninvited approaches, in case it’s a scam.