The dangers of online banking are resulting in more complaints to the Financial Ombudsman after banks refuse to help the victims of fraudsters.
There are numerous ways that people can compromise the security of a computer, and once they have done so it can be very easy to reveal your bank details to them, allowing them to log into your account themselves.
However, most banks claim that they will refund, or at least reverse, transactions that have been made fraudulently. The issue comes when customers are tricked out of their money and find that the banks are unwilling to live up to that commitment. There are instances when people have had thousands of pounds transferred out of the account in a short amount of time, and not only has the bank failed to notice the transactions as suspicious, they have also refused to return the money.
This is obviously a big problem if it happens to you, but there is some responsibility on the part of the customer to keep their computer safe and ensure that they are using up to date virus software, and are aware of the dangers posed by phishing emails and other scams. But if a customer is unlucky enough to fall prey to one of these tricks, you’d hope that the banks would then cooperate with them to get the money returned, and that is where things have been falling down.
Unfortunately, until more clear guidance comes from the Ombudsman for these situations, there is little recourse for customers other than to go through the regular channels. The best that anybody can do is ensure they are behaving as safely as possible online, and keep an eye on their account so that they can alert the bank of any suspicious activity as soon as possible.