Online banking fraud rises by 48% in 2014

Year-on-year online losses up by nearly half.

Online banking fraud rocketed by almost 50% last year, according to new figures from Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK).

It found that losses from online banking frauds rose from £40.9 million in 2013 to £60.4 million in 2014.

Remote banking fraud

Initiatives such as Chip & PIN have been successful at reducing the number of scams that directly target payment cards and systems, and scammers have changed their methods because of this, FFA UK has claimed.

Instead they are directly targeting general members of the public, to try to deceive them into evealed financial details of transferring money directly to the fraudsters.

One example of this changed focus is telephone fraud, where losses jumped from £11.6 million to £13.9 million

If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from your bank, it's wise to be suspicious. Detective Chief Inspector Perry Stokes, Head of the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, said that if you receive an unsolicited phone call: “Never take for granted that the caller is who they say they are, even if they seem to know a lot about you.”

“If you’re asked for your card details, PIN or to transfer money to another account from someone who has cold called you, my advice is to hang up the phone immediately and report the incident to the bank.”

It’s also a good idea to install security software on your computer and keep this up to date. Criminals are able to use malware to steal information from infected computers. Some banks now offer such software for free.

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Where else did we lose money?

Fraud committed using lost or stolen cards was up by £800,000, reaching a total of £59.7 million, while counterfeit (skimmed/cloned) fraud was up by 10%, standing at a figure of £47.8 million.

However, losses to cheque fraud sharply dropped by 35% to £17.8 million.

Things your bank will never do

As per the Joint Declaration of UK Banks, neither your bank nor the police will ever ask you to:

• Reveal your PIN, even by tapping it in on a phone keypad
• Ask you to withdraw money and hand it over for ‘safe keeping’
• Ask you to purchase goods then hand them over for ‘safe keeping’
• Ask you to transfer money to a new account for fraud reasons
• Send someone to your home to collect cash, your PIN, a payment card or a cheque book

If anyone asks you to do any of these things, do not trust them, and don’t give anything away.

If an email claims to be from your bank, but there are typos, factual errors, or the email is from a generic @hotmail.com or @gmail.com type address, do not reply to it. You should also not follow any of the links, or download any attachments or files that you are instructed to by the email.

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More on fraud:

What to do if you're a victim of identity theft

How to avoid scams and ripoffs

How to protect your PINs and passwords