Bank branch staff and police team up to stop £19 million of fraud in first half of 2020

• Bank branch staff stopped £19 million of fraud in the first half of 2020 through the Banking Protocol, a scheme that alerts local police to suspected scams.
• The scheme has prevented victims from losing £116 million of fraud and led to 744 arrests since it was introduced three years ago.
• A range of scams that trick elderly and vulnerable customers into withdrawing cash from their branch have been prevented, including courier scams, romance fraud and rogue traders.
• Customers helped through the initiative are typically aged 65 or above, with some over 100 years old.
• The Banking Protocol scheme is now being expanded to telephone and online banking.

Bank branch staff worked with the police to stop £19 million of fraud in the first half of 2020 through the Banking Protocol, according to the latest figures from UK Finance.

The Banking Protocol is a UK-wide scheme that enables bank branch staff to alert their local police force when they suspect a customer is being scammed. Police will then visit the branch to investigate the suspected fraud and arrest any suspects still on the scene.

£19.3 million of fraud was prevented and over 100 arrests were made through the scheme between January and June 2020. The latest figures mean the scheme has prevented victims losing a total of £116 million of fraud and led to 744 arrests since it was first introduced three years ago by UK Finance, National Trading Standards and local police forces.

The scheme is often used to prevent impersonation scams, in which criminals imitate police or bank staff and convince people to visit their bank and withdraw or transfer large sums of money. These can include courier scams, where those targeted are persuaded to take out a large sum of cash and hand it over to a fraudster posing as a courier. They can also include safe account scams, where the victims are told their money isn’t safe in the account it’s currently in and needs to be transferred to another account.

The initiative has also been used to prevent romance fraud, in which fraudsters use fake online dating profiles to trick victims into transferring money, and to catch rogue traders who prey on the elderly by demanding cash for unnecessary work on their property. UK Finance has today published top tips from the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign on how to stay safe from these scam types.4

Branch staff are trained to spot the warning signs that suggest someone may have fallen for one of these scams and make an emergency call to the police. 3,250 calls have been made in the first six months of this year through the scheme, including 637 in June.

Data provided by police forces shows that customers helped through the Banking Protocol are typically aged over 65 while some were over 100 years old, demonstrating how these scams are often targeted towards the elderly and vulnerable.

Those assisted by the scheme are offered ongoing support to help prevent them falling victim to scams in future, including through referrals to social services, expert fraud prevention advice and additional checks on future transactions. In the first six months of this year, 1,149 potentially vulnerable adults were identified after bank branch staff alerted the police to suspected scams through the scheme.

To build on the success of the scheme, discussions are currently underway with local police forces over expanding it to cover attempted bank transfers made by customers through telephone and online banking. This would enable bank staff at call centres to notify police when certain attempted bank transfers are being made which they believe may be the result of a scam, in situations where the customer is unable to visit their local branch to enable further checks.

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/bank-branch-staff-and-police-team-up-to-stop-19-million-of-fraud-in-first-half-of-2020