APP scams: who is truly responsible?

Authorised push payment (APP) scams became a growing concern for banks and customers throughout 2021. UK Finance found that in the first half of 2021, a total of £355.3 million was lost to APP scams in the UK. This was an increase of 71%, compared with losses seen in the same period of 2020.

The issue that continues to permeate is the sophisticated nature of APP scams. They not only ruin the lives of consumers who are at risk of losing a large amount of money, but banks are also required to implement practices to decipher whether victims of fraud are genuine.

While banks can utilise raw data such as location, IP addresses, behavioural patterns, and device information to mitigate APP scams, a debate is emerging around who is truly responsible for fraud prevention and in turn, liable to provide the refund to the customer.

Further to this, while some believe that the issuing or the receiving banks are to blame for allowing financial criminals to slip under the cracks, questions are also arising around the role of telecommunications companies or dating applications.

Moving forward into 2022, banks and regulators must collaboration with other industries to find a solution.

Sign up for this Finextra webinar, in association with ACI, to join the panel of industry experts as they discuss the following areas:

• The rise of APP scams and the impact they can have on consumers and banks;
• What current solutions there are to prevent APP scams;
• Who should be responsible for refunds?
• What are the next steps to find a collaborative solution to precent these scams?

Speakers include:

Gary Wright – Head of Research, Finextra