A new rapid response scheme by banks and the police has prevented potential scams worth £38m.
Work done by The Banking Protocol, which looks to identify vulnerable victims who are in the process of being defrauded of funds from their bank accounts, led to a total of 231 arrests and 4,240 emergency calls last year.
The data was published by UK Finance this morning (February 6), which stated an average of £8,960 was being prevented per call.
The Banking Protocol trains bank staff to spot when someone is about to fall victim to a scam in order to prevent them from withdrawing cash to give to a fraudster.
After this they can request an immediate police response to the branch.
Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance, said: "Bank branch staff are on the front line in the fight against fraud, as increasingly sophisticated gangs target consumers directly and trick them into withdrawing large sums of cash.
"This rapid response scheme is giving bank staff the tools they need to protect vulnerable customers from scams, while helping local police catch fraudsters and bring them to justice.
"The banking industry will keep taking action on all fronts to combat fraud, working closely with our partners in law enforcement to crack down on the criminal gangs responsible."
In total the scheme has prevented £48m of fraud and led to 408 arrests since it was first introduced in October 2016.
About £4.5m of fraud was prevented in November 2018 alone, the highest monthly total to date, as adoption of the scheme continued to grow.
The average age of a customer helped by The Banking Protocol last year was 71, showing how fraudsters were often targeting elderly victims with these types of scams.
More than 50 payment service providers, including all the main high street banks and the Post Office, are now fully signed up to The Banking Protocol and have been training their front-line branch staff.
Since March 2018, the scheme has been implemented by all 45 police forces across the UK.
Commander Karen Baxter, head of the City of London Police’s economic crime directorate, said: "The scale and borderless nature of fraud means we need to find new and innovative ways to protect the public and deter criminals.
"The Banking Protocol is a key example of this and shows how partnerships between policing and the private sector are being used to protect the public from falling victim to fraud."
Mel Kenny, a chartered financial planner with Radcliffe & Newlands, said: "Keeping up with the fraudsters is hard work, so it’s good banks are taking the problem seriously.
"After a slow start in addressing the issues, this initiative, together with online transfer warnings and the use of one-time passwords has finally got the safety net up to a reasonable level.
"General increased awareness has also helped people be on greater guard, but opportunists still find simple yet effective means to take advantage of those vulnerable to persuasion."
Aj Somal, chartered financial planner for Birmingham-based Aurora Financial Planning, said: "l think this is a good scheme. It will make investors feel more safe if there is a safety net out there, certain people seem to be bombarded with scams and [frauds] all the time.
"Anything that helps raise awareness for my clients of scams, has to be a good thing."
aamina.zafar@ft.com
