Today, UK Finance revealed £32m of fraud prevented by bank branch staff and police in the first half of 2021, showcasing the bank’s commitment towards mitigating fraud. However, technology still has a huge role to play, and more often than not, it’s hard to spot a scam even for experienced professionals.

<p>Sometimes, it’s hard to spot a scam even for experienced professionals. Sadly, less <a href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/business/victims-of-bank-transfer-scams-only-get-46-of-money-back-says-which-b1855599.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.independent.co.uk/business/victims-of-bank-transfer-scams-only-get-46-of-money-back-says-which-b1855599.html&source=gmail&ust=1631195607342000&usg=AFQjCNFuD1jWnspt_gG7h5vmjj9aqbU-yg\">than half</a> of all bank transfer victims get their money back according to a study by Which?. The good news is, major banks are now proactively warning customers that legitimate employees would never ask them to transfer funds to a different account. </p>
<p>However, in most cases, industry experts are quick to blame consumers for “falling” for scams – but this blame game needs to stop. The onus should now be on technology and finance organisations to step up to the challenge. </p>
<p>Often, you might not notice a dubious link or the unknown number it’s sent from – but your phone, messaging service, or network could. A simple flag (‘This link could be fraudulent’) would go a long way to protecting consumers. And all it takes is AI and machine learning algorithms that are trained to spot scams before they reach the consumer. </p>
<p>In the future, technologies like behavioural biometrics could be used to track fraudsters’ behaviour and movements around the web, to build a digital footprint of their activity and figure out if they’re really who they say they are. For now, we have to rely on the tools we already have at our disposal – and use them to stamp out scams before they hit our inboxes.</p>