Bank of Scotland customers have become the first in the UK to benefit from a new name checking service designed to prevent the spread of unauthorised push payment scams.
The Confirmation of Payee service, which will be adopted across the industry by the end of March, adds an additional check to that of the sort code and account number by ensuring that the name on the account being paid is the same name that has been provided. If it isn’t the same, customers will be sent an alert and asked if they want to continue with the payment.
The service focuses on Chaps and Faster Payments, which are used for the vast majority of customer initiated payments in the UK.
APP scams cost UK consumers £345m in 2018, of which only £83m was recovered. Following a slow roll out of Confirmation of Payee technology - which was initially slated for introduction in July last year - the UK Payment Systems Regulator ordered Lloyds, RBS Natwest, Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide and Santander to assure implementation by 31 March 2020.
Paul Davis, Bank of Scotland Fraud Director, says: “We’ve been an active supporter of the Confirmation of Payee service from day one. Fraudsters are getting smarter in their tactics, so it’s more important than ever for people to stop and think carefully before transferring any money out of their account.”