Presented by KIS Finance
Banking giant, TSB, has become the first of major banks in the UK to pledge to refund victims for all types of fraud – including authorised push payment (APP) scams which are notorious for victims not being compensated by banks.
Currently, banks are only required to refund scam victims if money was taken without the customer’s authorisation. If the customer authorised the payment, then banks are not required to compensate them due to it being a fault of the customer. According to UK Finance, throughout 2018, £1.2 billion was lost through bank fraud - £354 million of which was stolen through APP scams. Only £83 million was refunded to customers by financial providers. In April 2018, TSB had an IT meltdown which left millions of customers unable to access their money or log-in to their online banking accounts. The announcement of the new ‘refund guarantee’ forms part of TSB’s mission to rebuild their image, with Chief Executive, Richard Meddings, saying this is about “giving peace of mind to our customers and doing the right thing.”
This new guarantee will refund victims for all types of fraud, effective from Sunday 14th April 2019 – even if the payment was authorised by the customer. The amount possible for compensation will be capped at £1,000,000. Customers will need to report fraudulent activity to the bank, which will then be investigated to find out what happened and how. They will also use this information to inform customers how they can protect themselves from similar scams int the future.
TSB has stated that customers who decide to abuse the system by committing fraud against themselves to gain compensation, or repeatedly ignore safety advice will not be reimbursed under the refund guarantee. Fraudulent activity that occurred before Sunday 14th April 2019 will also not be refunded under the new guarantee.
This is a major step forward for the banking industry and fraud protection in the UK- many customers have lost life changing amounts of money through APP scams and finally victims won’t have to fight to get their money back. It is very important now for all other major UK banks to follow in TSB’s footsteps in order to protect their own customers.
This scam has been making an appearance on and off over the past few years. However, there have been more cases reported this month so we thought it was a good time for a reminder of what the scam is and how to protect yourself from it.
Fraudsters cold call their victims on their landline claiming to be from the phone and broadband company, BT. They will say that you last bill wasn’t paid and they require payment of this immediately as your account has gone into arrears. They demand that this payment is made over the phone using a debit or credit card, otherwise your phone line will be disconnected. The scammer doesn’t seem phased if you say you are not a customer of BT, they simply make up an excuse as to why some of your phoneline payments go to BT as well.
If you challenge the scammer, they will ‘prove’ that they work for BT by ‘disconnecting the phone line for a few minutes’. What they actually do is press the mute button and stay on the line which, to the victim, looks like the call has ended and it prevents them from making any other calls, making it look like the phone line is dead. The scammer can hear your attempts to make other calls, and once they hear you give up, they ring back immediately to demand payment.
BT has stated that occasionally they need to call customers in relation to debt, however, they will never ‘disconnect the phone line’ in the middle of the call.
Scammers have been performing this trick for years, but we have received many of these phishing emails recently so we thought it would be a good time to bring it back to your attention.
Fraudsters look on company websites for a name of someone working in the finance or accounts department. They will take their name and send an email to someone else from the same team, usually someone in the HR department, or something similar.
They will send this person an email, being able to address them by name to make it personal, and claim that their bank details have changed and they need to be updated on the system, effective immediately for the next ‘payment’ (this is where fraudsters guess who payments may get made to).
If you change the bank details to the ones given by the fraudster, the next payment will be made directly into the fraudster’s bank account which may be very difficult to get back due to the payment being authorised.
Spot the Signs:
Over the past couple of months there have been several reports made regarding scammers posing as landlords of properties available online.
These scammers have been contacting potential renters and asking them to pay the deposit, and even the first months’ rent in some cases, prior to viewing the property. In order to sound legitimate, they claim that the money will be kept safe under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
After the victim has paid the money, the fraudster will send an email, claiming to be from the scheme, confirming they have received the deposit and the money will be protected under government legislation.
Similarly, there have also been reports of a fake DepositGuard website (Deposit Guard is the service offered by the Residential Landlords Association for deposit protection with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme). Tenants searching for properties online have been contacted by this fake website, asking for a bank transfer to be made in order to secure the property before viewing it.
Over the past few months, several reports have been made regarding fraudulent investment schemes being advertised on the social media platform, Instagram.
Scammers are posting adverts of ‘get rich quick’ schemes which promise a high return on your investment within 24 hours. Victims are asked for an initial investment of around £600, paid via a bank transfer into the scammer’s account.
Once the bank transfer has gone through, the scammer sends fake screenshots of thousands of pounds being credited into their investment account, which they claim can be released back to them at anytime in return for a fee. When the victim requests for their money to be released, the fraudster ceases all contact and closes the Instagram account so they can’t be contacted again.
How to protect yourself;
A new vein of phishing emails that appear to have come from the courier service, FedEx, have been making their way through victims’ email accounts this week.
The email is simple, just saying “ We have sent you a message with the required information” and then asks you to follow a link in order to open the message in your internet browser.
If you hover over the link, however, it shows a website called www.riskrock.net which is clearly not a secure FedEx website which the sender claims to be taking you to. The email is sophisticated as this link is also contained in the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the email. The sender’s email address also ends in ‘sheargold.com’ which, again, is not a domain name associated with FedEx themselves.
If you follow the unsecure link, it’s likely that it will take you to a fake FedEx website designed by scammers to capture your personal information or banking details.
As of last week, a new ban on pension cold calling scams has been introduced which could see fraudsters now being fined up to £500,000. This has been put into place in a bid to prevent people from falling victim to malicious scams that could cost them their entire life savings. According to the Financial Conduct Authority, these scammers have, on average, stole £91,000 per victim during 2018.
There are two exceptions which this new ban will not prohibit:
This ban has been put in place as cold calling is still the most common method used by scammers in relation to this type of pension fraud.
However, you should still be aware of the other tactics used;
What to do if you receive a call:
If you receive a cold call regarding your pensions, you should gather as much information as you can about the company and caller and report them to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can do this under the ‘make a complaint’ section of their website or over the phone on 0303 123 1113.
Recently we have seen some new phishing emails offering the receiver a Christmas bonus.
The scammer is pretending to be from your place of work, asking you to follow a link to view your payroll account which includes the amount of your supposed Christmas bonus. To make it seem more genuine, they say “This month salary will be paid as usual before December 25th”.
The emails are being send from this email address: help@josefjung.com and the display name reads ‘Virgin.co.uk’.
It is likely that the link will take you to a malicious website which has been designed to capture your details, or designed to download malware or viruses onto your device.
A new strain of threatening phishing emails have been circulating the web over the past couple of months.
These scammers are claiming that they have installed spyware onto your computer and have been able to track your movements online. They say that they have caught you on an
adult website and recorded you on your webcam whilst you watched videos.
In order to erase the recordings they have and to stop them sending it to all of your contacts, they are demanding that you transfer Bitcoin into their digital wallet. On top of this, they are
giving out time limits in order to make you panic and act quickly.
Don’t be fooled by these scams. The threatening language is there to panic you and nothing will materialise.
You must ignore the email and report it to your email provider, or to Action Fraud UK.
In 2015, the ‘pension freedom’ act came into place allowing those over 55 more freedom and flexibility on how they can access and use their pension pots. Since then, pension scams have been growing rapidly as fraudsters are taking advantage of the new, more relaxed view of pensions.
Figures from Action Fraud UK show that £23 million was stolen from 253 people last year which averages as £91,000 per person. It is likely that there are many more cases going unreported.
Cold calling is the biggest pension scam to be aware of as nearly all of these types of scams start with one. A fraudster will contact you out of the blue claiming to be from a top pension provider. Then, they will continue to offer you one of the following opportunities;
It is important to note that they could also contact you via phishing emails, SMS messages or through social media adverts and messages.
The main objective for the fraudster is to gain your personal information, banking details, or for you to willingly transfer money from your pension to them. When this is done, they will disappear with the money and become completely untraceable.
A ban on pension cold calls has been proposed and is expected to be in place later this year (although previously due in June this year). This will be in put in place to better protect people from these scams.
How to Protect Yourself:
Fraudsters will claim to be from an established pensions provider or an investment company. You can check whether this company is on the Financial Services Register – all legitimate pensioner providers will be on this register. If they are not, you can be sure it is a scam.
Make sure you always do this first and don’t make any commitments over the phone. If you have found the company to be on the register and you want to phone them back, use the contact information provided on the register.
Your pension is a massively important aspect of your later life, not something to make quick and impulsive decisions about. You should always seek professional advice from your provider or bank.
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Last updated: 19 April 2023 | © KIS Bridging Loans 2024 | Terms & Conditions
