MILLIONS of Brits could be at risk of a “dangerous” new bank card scam, a consumer group has warned.
Which? said criminals have started tricking people into approving scam card payments.
The scams usually start with a cold call from a fraudsters pretending to be from a bank’s security team, the police or a regulator.
They tell the victim their account is under attack and ask them to move money to a “safe account” they hold with a different bank.
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The scammers may have already stolen the victim’s card details and other data through phishing or a data breach.
They then trigger payments and ask the victim to approve them in their app, pretending this will stop fraud attempts.
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Which? said they may also manipulate the victim into sharing one-time passcodes to add the card to their own digital wallet and go on a spending spree.
The consumer group said criminals use similar tactics to authorised push payment (APP) scams, which involve people being manipulated into making a bank transfer.
However, there is a crucial difference that makes scam card payment approvals more dangerous.
Victims of APP fraud are protected by a reimbursement scheme that came into force in October 2024.
The scheme means banks must reimburse APP fraud victims unless the customer has been grossly negligent.
The protections apply when a transfer is made to and from a UK bank account, up to a limit of £85,000.
Unauthorised card fraud, where spending happens without the cardholder’s authorisation or knowledge, is also generally refunded.
But people who are manipulated into approving card payments may face bigger hurdles to get their money back.
Which? said people may struggle to claim for payments they have authorised to a legitimate company, even if the money ends up in the hands of a criminal.
It added the chargeback and Section 75 refund mechanisms that usually protect scam victims are primarily designed for unauthorised charges or issues such as non-delivery, faulty goods and misrepresentation.
Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at Which?, said: “This is a particularly dangerous scam since card payments fall outside of the automatic refunds that banks are obliged to provide for authorised push payments.
“Fraudsters typically cold call victims while posing as bank security staff, the police or the financial regulator, claiming the account is under attack and urging them to approve card payments or share one-time codes to ‘block’ or ‘reverse’ the supposed fraud.
“Always raise a claim with your card provider and escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service if needed, providing full details of how you were manipulated into approving the payments.”
To avoid getting caught out, never share sensitive information – including one-time passcodes – with anyone other than a service you were expecting to hear from.
If you receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to be your bank, hang up and call back using the number on the back of your debit or credit card.
