In the first six months of 2023 over 116,000 people reported falling victim to APP fraud where someone is tricked into sending money to a fraudster posing as a genuine payee. The FCA has concluded that firms can do more to strengthen their systems designed to detect and prevent fraud. The only surprise is that they needed to conduct a review to come to that conclusion. The FCA goes on to report that “there is not enough focus on delivering good consumer outcomes in many firms.” And it says that some firms could do more to improve the support they offer to victims of fraud.
The FCA says: “We expect all payment service providers to use our findings to inform what more they can do to detect, manage and reduce fraud and losses more effectively. Customer treatment must also be improved, including how complaints are handled, to deliver consistently good consumer outcomes in line with the Consumer Duty.”
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APP fraud lottery for consumers
Little wonder, that the consumer press is having a field day with soundbites suggesting that consumers are participating in a lottery, when it comes to how fraud is dealt with by their bank. The huge variation in how customers are dealt with by their banks, as brought out by the PSR report, cannot persist. Banks and payment providers have been told for long enough to strengthen their anti-fraud systems. They have known of the Consumer Duty regulations for over two years prior to the July launch. TSB, Nationwide and Barclays, in particular, are leading the way, in how victims are treated. One or two of the smaller challenger banks in particular, need to up their game.
