Safeguarding customers from fraud.

If you work in a customer-facing role in a shop or Post Office, this post is for you.

As part of safeguarding your money against scams, banks and building societies have for some time had policies in place to query transactions for large amounts, particularly when this is out of character for the customer. Sometimes, in very specific circumstances if they believe a transaction looks suspicious, they may use what's called the Banking Protocol, and ring 999 for police attendance. As an example, this emergency procedure was used 11,643 times in 2022. Of those calls, transactions worth £55m were deemed to be fraudulent by police and staff, leading to nearly 200 arrests.

We also receive similar reports from shops about transactions they have challenged where the customer is attempting to make a suspiciously high value purchase, and especially is the same customer is doing this on a regular basis and could be described as vulnerable/acting under duress. Scammers use a variety of techniques to target victims – one of them is asking the victim buy gift cards and then send them the code number, as only this information is needed in order to redeem the card value.

The postal system should not be used to send cash, but again, victims of scams have been known to do just that. This is a variation on the Authorised Push Payment (APP) scam – when a fraudster tricks the victim into voluntarily transferring money from their bank account directly into an account that they control. In this variation, the scammer, usually impersonating someone in a position of trust, has told the victim that their bank account has been targeted in a security breach and that they need to withdraw their cash and send it Recorded Delivery to an address being used for criminal purposes.

So if you are the person presented with a transaction that seems suspicious, what should you be looking for?

·         Does the customer appear nervous or agitated?

·         Is their account of why the transaction is for such a high amount, or being bought so frequently etc … not credible or unlikely?

·         Are they in company with another person who appears to be coaching them what to say if the transaction is challenged? Or are they having a conversation or text exchange on their mobile at the same time as talking to you, and their answers have a “coached” feel?

·         What’s inside the parcel? Think beyond items that are on the prohibited or restricted list.

·         Are there any signs in the customer’s appearance or how they present that suggest that they are vulnerable in some way?

If you suspect that the customer is the victim of scam, you play a key role in helping police identify and safeguard them, but also establish any lines of enquiry to identify persons involved in fraud. Please take a similar approach to the Banking Protocol and call 999 whilst the customer is still on the premises. Thank you.