Barclays launches new debit card features to fight scammers
The high street bank is giving customers new debit card controls which could help curb losses from fraud and scams.
Barclays has introduced a new way for customers to fight back against scams and fraud with new powers over when and how their debit cards work.
From today, cardholders will be able to ‘turn off’ functionality for remote purchases (such as those made online) as well as set their own daily ATM withdrawal limits to curb criminal activity instantly.
These new features are available via the Barclays Mobile Banking app and coincide with the launch of Barclays major £10 million Digital Safety drive.
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How the features can help you
The Barclays Mobile Banking app now allows customers to reduce daily ATM withdrawal limits, normally set at £300.
This could help those that have become a victim of fraud, where personal details have been stolen.
Card cloning fraud, for example, can occur when an ATM has been tampered with allowing criminals to steal your card details and capture your PIN.
Those that suspect they’ve be hit could curb losses from this type of fraud by lowering their withdrawal limit, blocking criminals from emptying their account.
Take a look at: ATM fraud: five signs a cashpoint has been tampered with for more on how to keep safe.
The new option to control remote purchases on a debit card can reduce losses from scams, where someone is tricked or duped into handing over money.
This might be an online shopping scam or a transfer scam, which can lead to significant loses, if banks aren’t able to stop payments before they go through.
Laura Flack, Barclays Head of Digital Safety, pointed out: “Each one of us probably knows someone who has fallen victim to a criminal fraudster.
"Crooks are using ever more sophisticated tactics to trick people into handing over their bank details, or to pay money to a fraudster when they believe they are simply paying their builder or solicitor.”
Closing the ‘digital safety gap’
Barclays has made the move to arm people with the tools and information they need to combat a growing ‘digital safety gap’.
Official figures show fraud and cyber offences now make up half of all recorded crime and is costing the UK £11 billion.
Ashok Vaswani, Chief Executive of Barclays UK, said: “Fraud is often wrongly described as an invisible crime, but the effects are no less damaging to people’s lives. As a society, our confidence in using digital technology to shop, pay our bills and connect with others has grown faster than our knowledge of how to do so safely.
“This has created a ‘digital safety gap’ which is being exploited by criminals. I believe the need to fight fraud has now become a national resilience issue, and we all need to boost our digital safety levels in order to close the gap.”
“I want to help make digital safety as commonplace as locking your front door. I want businesses, the police and the public to unite and stand shoulder to shoulder together so that we can block and frustrate the bad guys at every turn.”
Under the Barclays Digital Safety drive the bank will also be launching a new £10 million national advertising campaign to alert people of the risk of fraud as well as providing digital safety clinics and a new police hotline for branch staff to call if they suspect a customer is a victim of a scam.
It’s also encouraging people to take its Digital Safety quiz, which it claims could help millions improve their digital safety.
Should you switch?
The new debit card features will bolster Barclays position as one of the safest banks to use.
A Which? survey last year found that Barclays was one of the top three banks for online security, along with HSBC and First Direct.
Read: Online banking security: the best and worst banks for more.
If you use online banking and like the new safety features Barclays has introduced take a look at the Barclays Bank Account with Blue Rewards, which pays up to £7 a month cashback.
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