Millions of Brits are putting themselves at risk by ignoring warnings that bank account details do not match when making a transfer, according to research from Lloyds Bank.
In 2019, the UK banking industry introduced Confirmation of Payee (CoP), which ensures that when sending money online to someone that hasn’t been paid before there is a check on whether the details entered match the account of the person or organisation being paid.
However, three years on, a YouGov survey of just over 2000 people shows that eight per cent admit to proceeding with a payment without making any further checks when CoP tells them the details aren’t an exact match.
Less than half say they would carry out further checks before proceeding with a transaction when presented with a 'CoP unavailable’ message, which usually means the recipient bank or payment services provider isn’t signed up to the service, so the account details can’t be automatically checked.
Just 41% say they are unfamiliar with CoP and understand how it works, while only 24% would recognise that a 'No match' message means they could be getting scammed.
Lloyds' own analysis of outbound transfers made to all major banks and payment service providers last year shows that transactions involving firms not using CoP were up to 100 times more likely to be reported as fraudulent by customers at a later date.
Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director, Lloyds Bank, says: “Fraudsters are trying to steal people’s money all the time, they never stop. We’re talking about organised crime gangs, constantly inventing new scams to dupe victims out of their hard earned cash.
"So when you’re making a bank transfer and a warning flashes up to say that the account details don’t match, or can’t be checked at all, that should set alarm bells ringing straight away. Stop, take notice and think about why that could possibly be the case. There’s a big chance it’s because you’re being scammed."