Our Column In the Daily Express

National newspaper column on fraud

 

Our Senior Partner Martin Richardson today wrote a column in the Daily Express in which he expressed his view that forcing people into online banking has been a gift for fraudsters.

Mr Richardson was delighted to be asked to write a column and was particularly pleased with the prominence it was given within the newspaper.

At National Fraud Helpline, we not only recover fraud victim’s money, but also campaign for better protections from scams for the public and businesses.

Working with the media is a key part of our campaigning and education strategies.

Read Martin’s column here in full:

Richardson Hartley Law scam column

FRAUD in Britain is out of control and it’s going to get a lot worse.

Anyone can fall victim, but research shows two distinct age groups are hit the hardest.

The first are in their 20s – youngsters brought up with social media and platforms such as Instagram and TikTok that others remain scep
tical about. This makes this age group particularly vulnerable to eye-catching adverts for cryptoinvestments and “get rich quick” schemes.

The second group of victims are the 65-and-overs. Whatever your age, technology can be baffling, but for the generation who never asked for online banking or apps and yet are increasingly forced to conduct their lives via the internet, the rise of digital Britain has brought the greatest danger.

When banks started closing their local branches across the country, we were told it wouldn’t affect the customer experience. They promised that
technology would make it easier and that more and more people wanted the convenience of online banking. The problem is many people didn’t – and still don’t.

Gone are the days when a friendly bank manager and cashiers knew their customers, could give them advice and keep an eye on them.

These people were the first line of defence against fraudsters. They could warn custom ers about payments to certain individuals or organisations.

NOW, anyone sendingmoney electronically gets a message asking if they’re sure it’s not a scam. If they thought it was a scam, they obviously wouldn’t be sending the money! It quickly becomes meaningless to automatically ask the question each time. Familiarity breeds contempt, it loses its meaning and, actually, doesn’t really give much defence to a bank who wants to claim it has anti-fraud measures
in place.

I was struck by a recent case of an elderly client in the early stages of dementia whose local bank branch closed.

Forced to set up online banking on his phone, he asked a trustedcarer to help set up the banking app. Unbeknown to him, the same “carer” began syphoning money and eventually stole more than £60,000.We wrote to the bank explaining that he had been defrauded and warning them that they should have spotted the unusual spending patterns that appeared on his account.

Overnight, he went from spending £200 a week to having thousands of pounds leave his account in huge transactions.
The bank has, so far, refused to refund the gentleman, saying he should not have allowed the carer (considered a close family friend) to set up the app. His
family and I have no doubt this fraud couldn’t have happened were the bank branch – where he had known everyone for decades – still open. Naturally,
we are fighting our client’s case.

I make the gloomy prediction that financial scams are going to get worse because we’ve all been forced to let technology into every part of our lives –
and this has been an absolute gift to the fraudsters.

It doesn’t matter how savvy you are – we’re all vulnerable. Research by Citizens Advice earlier this week suggested one in five Britons have fallen victim to a financial scam in the last year alone – a staggering nine million victims.

Fraud is a multi-billion pound global industry which can afford to invest in the latestinnovations. Scammers are already using artificial intelligence and the reality is that this is only going to accelerate exponentially, meaning more messages mimicking loved-ones asking for money and evermore convincing and better targeted scams.

At Richardson Hartley Law, we are determined to not only help recover fraud victims’ money, but to help prevent scams in the first place.

We have set up National Fraud Helpline to help lead the fightback against cons.

The website has all the latest fraud warnings and information.

In addition we have joined forces with leading UK AI company, Time Machine Capital Squared, to help create innovative anti-scam products. We’re
also campaigning for change at a national level, by sponsoring the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Banking’s report into “Authorised Push Payment
Fraud and Banks”.

A noticeable trait with scams against the elderly is how they very often represent the highest amounts of money that have been stolen. It’s devastating and more needs to be done to protect them.

In the meantime, let’s not force people into using technology at every turn.

● Martin Richardson is a solicitor at Richardson Hartley Law which runs National Fraud Helpline.