The UK's Payment Systems Regulator is to investigate complaints from consumer body Which? over the levels of protection offered by banks to customers who are conned into sending payments to fraudulent accounts.
Which? thinks banks should shoulder more responsibility for money lost to scams made by bank transfer and develop better mechanisms to prevent the fraud in the first place.
The consumer group has called on the FCA and the PSR to investigate the issues and demanded regulatory action to force banks to adopt appropriate safeguards.
Alex Neill, director of policy and campaigns at Which? says: “We all now regularly use bank transfers to pay for things, but what most of us don’t realise is that if you’re conned into paying out money to a fraudster you stand to lose all of your money, unlike when you use your credit or debit card. With scams on the rise, consumers can only protect themselves so far and we believe that banks must do more to tackle bank transfer fraud and safeguard their customers from scams.”
Which? has raised the issue as a 'super complaint' with industry watchdogs, which means that they must respond within 90 days.
In a statement, the PSR says: "The PSR will now examine the evidence Which? has supplied and gather its own to build a clearer picture of the issue and decide a course of action."