Government plans fraud task force to tackle bank scams tsunami

A task force to tackle an explosion in the financial and banking crimes wrecking the lives of Britons is being prepared by the Government. 

More than £745m was stolen from customers’ bank accounts in the first half of this year – and authorised push-payment fraud, in which scammers persuade consumers to transfer funds from their accounts, went up by 70 per cent. 

The Mail’s Stop the Bank Scammers campaign is calling for action against fraud, which has become the UK’s fastest growing crime as gangs use social media, mobile networks and landline calls to scam consumers who have little chance of reclaiming their money. 

Joe Garner – who is expected to step down as chief executive of Nationwide building society next year – has been asked to lead the task force by the Treasury. He is understood to want other Government departments to take part. 

Criminals have become good at breaching bank defences to empty accounts – thanks in part to the failure of telecoms firms and Silicon Valley giants to gather information on the fraudsters and erect barriers. 

Such firms are mainly policed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 

Banks and other financial groups are under pressure to strengthen their defences and pay compensation. Most have been reluctant to pay out to clients except in cases where it can be shown they were negligent in their checks. 

The banking community is increasingly frustrated at being asked to bear the cost of fraud when it has built detailed security checks into its systems to protect online account users from scammers. 

One senior banker described the payment of compensation as a system ‘that rewards criminal activity’ and ‘enriches the perpetrators’. Millions of pounds in stolen funds are turned into cryptocurrencies after arriving in sham bank accounts set up by thieves – making the money almost impossible to recover. 

UK Finance, which represents the banking sector, warned in a recent report: ‘These fraudsters are not cheeky chancers, they are organised, ruthless criminals using sophisticated techniques to trick people out of personal or financial information.’ 

Ministers have come under pressure to create powers in the Online Safety Bill to confront the fraudsters. 

MP Mel Stride, chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, said: ‘It’s clear that further action is needed.

‘We’ve heard heartbreaking stories of individuals who have fallen victim to scammers. We’ve also been calling for online platforms to stop taking advertising pounds from fraudsters and better protect their users as a matter of urgency.’