Santander has said banks must do more to protect their customers from Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud – including by collecting more data from customers about who they are paying money to.
The pandemic heralded a boom in APP fraud, where scammers trick their victims into willingly making large bank transfers to them – for example by posing as a legitimate company or a friend or relative.
The scams show no sign of abating, with fraudsters now exploiting the cost-of-living crisis and creating ever more sophisticated ways to target their victims online.
As of this year, it became the most common type of fraud, overtaking card fraud for the first time.
On the rise: Authorised push payment (APP) fraud is one of the fastest-growing scams around
Santander is now calling on banks to share more data about their customers with each other, so they can better identify those who are not who they claim to be.
It is also suggesting that banks consider putting in extra security checks on high-value online transactions.
Online fraud and scams are now one of the main crimes in the UK, with over £600m stolen in the first half of 2022, according to UK Finance. More than a half of this (£360m) was the result of APP scams, which are also known as purchase scams.
What are APP or purchase scams?
APP scams involve the fraudster tricking their victims into willingly making large bank transfers to them.
For example, they may pose as someone from a person’s bank and claim the person…
