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Six of Britain’s biggest banks making it too easy to scam customers, Which? warns

fraud scammer phone scam banks
fraud scammer phone scam banks

Six of Britain’s biggest banks have been accused of making it too easy for scammers to copy their phone numbers and steal from customers.

Millions of people receive scam calls and texts every month, many of which are convincing because the criminal appears to be using a real phone number, such as those of a bank or utility supplier, in an attempt to convince the victim the message is legitimate.

The tactic, known as spoofing, dupes the victim as the phone number appears to be real. Companies can protect their customers by making it as difficult as possible for criminals to spoof their phone numbers, but some of the country’s biggest banks have fallen short.

At least one phone number from each of HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, TSB and Virgin Money was successfully spoofed as part of an investigation by consumer group Which? carried out in October.

The group warned the banks had failed to implement “important protections” by neglecting to ensure the numbers were included on an anti-fraud list held by telecoms regulator Ofcom.

The so-called “do not originate” list records telephone numbers used by genuine firms or government departments to receive calls, but are never used for outbound calls.

These numbers – such as those found on the back of bank cards or listed as fraud helplines on a bank’s website – are most at risk of being spoofed. However, banks have repeatedly failed to include all relevant numbers on the regulator’s list, Which? said.

Rocio Concha, of Which?, said: “Number spoofing is a particularly malicious form of fraud used by scammers to deceive their victims and our research shows some banks could potentially be leaving their customers at risk.”

Once scammers have convinced a victim they are calling from their bank, they attempt to pressure the victim into transferring life-changing sums of money. Criminals often claim the victim’s bank account has been compromised and they must move their funds to a safe account, which in reality belongs to the scammer.

A recent survey by Which? of more than 1,000 fraud victims found two thirds of those approached by a scammer by phone or text had been duped by number spoofing.

The six banks identified in the investigation said many of their contact numbers were already on Ofcom’s “do not originate” list. Spokesmen for HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, TSB and Virgin Money said the numbers identified by Which? had now also been added.

Liz Ziegler, of Lloyds, said: “Banks can’t solve the problem of number spoofing alone and telecoms firms need to speedily address the technical gaps in their systems that allow this type of fraud to happen, even with anti-fraud lists in place.”