Fraud now makes up over 40% of all crimes recorded in England and Wales.
One particularly prevalent type of scam is Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud. This type of scam isn’t new, but is becoming more popular with fraudsters. In 2021, losses to APP fraud in the UK hit £583.2m.
What is Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud?
APP fraud is where victims are tricked into transferring money to an account controlled by fraudsters. They do this by pretending to be a trusted organisation like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), HMRC, law enforcement, the victim’s bank or investment provider, like HL for example. Sometimes they’ll even pretend to be someone the victim knows like a family member or friend.
The fraudster will often tell the victim their money is at risk and they need to move it to a ‘safe’ account. They might even ask the victim to lie to their bank or other organisation about the reason for the withdrawals – this is a tell-tale sign of a scam.
As more of us use online banking these days to make it easier and quicker to transfer money, unfortunately it means more of us are at risk. Scammers can trick victims into transferring them money in real time which means the money is received and available in the fraudster’s account immediately. These payments are irreversible – a victim can’t cancel the payment once they realise they’ve been scammed.
While banks are required to refund card fraud, there’s limited protection…
