Banks are not adhering to the voluntary Authorised Push Payment Scam Code introduced in May 2019. Just 4% of victims have been reimbursed despite a commitment from the sector to provide greater support
Banks are not reimbursing individuals conned out of millions of pounds by fraudsters, despite the introduction of the Authorised Push Payment Scam Code launched in May 2019.
Those bank signed up to the code, which is voluntary, will offer a full refund if the authorised push payment fraud was not the fault of the individual scammed.
Provided all reasonable precautions have been taken, victims will be offered a full refund that will come from a central pot created and financed by the inaugural collective of banking institutions
However, the Payment Services Regulator found that just 4% of victims had been reimbursed.
Some 174,798 people were tricked into transferring a total of £317.1 million to fraudsters in 2019, compared with the 114,707 people who lost £228.4 million in 2018, according to the banking trade body UK Finance.
Businesses lost £138.7 million, compared with £126 million in 2018. This combined total accounted for 36 per cent of financial fraud losses and was the second most common type of payment fraud after debit and credit card scams.
And these scams are increasingly commonplace in the legal sector where fraudsters infiltrate matters by email or social engineering, update the bank details to which funds are being transferred and/or remitted, and pocket the proceeds.
The departments most at risk are large scale operations like re-mortgaging and conveyancing. We are also seeing criminals move into other operations involving funds remittance like PI and Private Client.
Since introducing the award winning Account & Entity Screen, the law firm to law firm bank account verification service for conveyancers, Lawyer Checker has expanded its range of risk tools and also offers an account checker when remitting funds to individuals. Consumer Bank Account Checker validates the source and destination of funds by checking the bank account details match your client's name, address and date of birth so you can be sure you’re transferring the funds to the right person’s bank account.
Find out more about Consumer Bank Account Checker and the range of risk services offered by Lawyer Checker including
Contact Tom Lyes (tom.lyes@practicalvision.co.uk) or Sheryl Hodgson (Sheryl.hodgson@practicalvision.co.uk) on 0800 133 7127
