A warning has been issued by bank giants Santander to anybody who holds an account with them.
The UK bank has found that 70 per cent of purchase scams within their company originated on social media, and various account holders have been caught out time and time again, reports Birmingham Live.
Santander have said that a 61-year-old woman was persuaded to make several payments to a 'friend' who she played games online with. She transferred over £80,000 to this scam artist, and was told to lie about where the payments were going.
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The bank said it emerged the woman had been the victim of a scam when she started to experience financial hardship. The bank confirmed that they refunded the woman, and referred her to their specialist customer support team to keep in check with her welfare.
So now, Santander is asking other banks to include more consistent information on data sharing and the mandatory use of confirmation of payee. This is a fraud prevent system in place that lets customers know if the name of the person they are paying to matches the bank account number they provided.
Santander also said that a similar movement was needed to stop authorised push payment (APP) fraud, when comparing the situation to how Chip and Pin has added a widespread layer of security to card payments.
The bank suggested that consideration should be given to whether some higher-value or higher-risk payments should require additional checks, which "could give potential victims the chance to 'break the spell' of scammers".
They also said the Online Safety Bill should be brought forward, and more consideration should be given to how scammers are reaching victims in the first instance. Santander also said there should be "effective and streamlined Government leadership" dedicated to tackling APP fraud.
Enrique Alvarez, head of everyday banking at Santander UK, said: "The sheer scale and value of APP fraud can detract from the real impact of these crimes on individual consumers, who can lose more than just money - their confidence and mental health can also be significantly harmed.
"Unfortunately, we see this far too often, and it is time for us all to act together. The criminals who perpetrate these scams shouldn't be getting away with it.
"As our report shows, there are changes the banking industry can implement - but there are other changes that are clearly outside the banking industry's control - like how fraudsters often reach their victims in the first place.
"We must all come together and address the issue because currently the only real winners are the fraudsters."
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