TSB has joined the Metropolitan Police in a £200,000 partnership to "step up the fight" against fraud and those who perpetrate it.
A TSB spokesperson said the bank had been targeted in several "highly complex and sophisticated" attacks against the industry last year, with the threat becoming "increasingly challenging".
The spokesperson said fraud was often carried out by organised crime groups involved in "drug rings, human trafficking and terrorism".
The initiative will initially focus on boroughs in the south east of London. The partnership will be supported by the London Digital Security Centre and also involve the local authorities within Lewisham, Bexley and the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
As part of the collaboration, TSB invested £200,000 towards supporting the police and enforcing fraud prevention, including working to enhance the skills of officers and financing new ways of tackling fraud at a "local level".
Richard Meddings, executive chairman at TSB, said the bank’s experience last year had shown the scale and risk of fraud in a digital age.
He said: "Fraud is a serious and organised crime, and we want to hunt down the criminals targeting customers -that’s why we’ve put our learning into practice to work with the Met to help ensure fraud is a high-risk crime.
"The partnership announced today will help customers of every bank and business avoid being duped. It will improve fraud detection, drive greater collaboration across the industry and, crucially, put criminals behind bars.
"Our ambition is to roll partnerships like this to regional police forces right across the UK to support them in their fight against financial crime."
Superintendent Sean McDermid of the Met’s South East Basic Command Unit, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to work with the banking industry to make a real difference, not only to our communities in the South East but also our volunteers and wider workforce.
"Fraud is a serious epidemic and only through building positive relationships between the police, banks, business and London’s communities, can we tackle it.
"We all have our part to play and I would urge everyone to be vigilant to potential scams and to think before they act. Fraud can happen to any of us."
rachel.addison@ft.com
