What is fraud?
Fraud is a criminal act to deceive you and take your cash – it’s a transaction that you didn’t make or authorise.
Fraud and scams
Stay one step ahead
Scammers have upped their game and can catch anyone out – even the experts. 84% of people believe they’ve been targeted in the past year.1
What’s the difference between fraud and a scam?
What is a scam?
A scam is where you’re tricked into making or authorising a payment to a criminal’s account. Scammers impersonate banks, retailers and official organisations using emails, phone calls and texts that look and sound genuine.
If you think you’ve been targeted and have lost money, call us straight away. You can find the numbers you need to report fraud here and report scams here.
Different scam types
Knowing about the different types of scam can help you protect yourself if you get targeted.
Latest scams
Scammers are quick to adapt and are constantly creating new scams. Stay up to date on the latest scams.
Take Five to protect yourself
We’re teaming up with UK Finance, who’ve launched their ‘Take Five to Stop Fraud’ campaign to help keep you safe from fraud and scams. Following these steps can help protect you and your money.
1. Stop
Take a moment to stop and think before giving out your personal or payment details.
2. Challenge
Could it be fake? It’s okay to reject, refuse or ignore any requests you think seem suspicious – only criminals will try to rush or panic you.
3. Protect
If you believe you’ve been targeted by scammers, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at actionfraud.police.uk. If you’re in Scotland, please report it to Police Scotland directly by calling 101.
Get more tips at takefive-stopfraud.org.uk
Remember, we’ll never contact you by phone, text or email to ask you to
- Move money to another account
- Help with an ‘internal investigation’
- Give us access to your device to view or manage your accounts
- Reveal your PIN, PINsentry or other membership details
We’ll also never
- Disclose your personal details to prove it's us
- Text you unexpectedly with a link to make a payment
Are you a business customer?
Read more on how to protect your business from fraud and scams on our scams business page.