A report at
Politico tells of a tiny, barely known regulator that took on the U.K.’s biggest banks in the name of protecting fraud victims — and lost.
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is housed within the main U.K. financial watchdog’s offices in Stratford, East London, and it told banks in late 2022 that they should be on the hook for up to £415,000 when their customers lose money to payment scams.
Their reimbursement requirements will likely now be capped at a far lower £85,000 when the policy kicks in on Oct. 7. Push payment fraud — where victims are conned into sending money to a fraudster posing as a genuine payee — is a major problem in the U.K. In the last year alone, fraudulent transactions along these lines totaled £459.7 million.
But the banks argued forcefully that they should not become a
de facto reimbursement service for such scams.
Research from industry lobby group UK Finance showed that 70% of Authorised Push Payment scams (APPs) originate on an online platform, much of it from Meta-owned platforms like Facebook or WhatsApp. Fintech bank Revolut
found 60% of reported scams came from Meta alone.
“Payment firms are a tool to transfer money from a person to another person. We are not the scammer. We have just taken your order to send money from your account, that you authorized,” said Riccardo Tordera, head of policy at the Payments Association, a lobbying group whose members include Barclays, Visa and American Express. “If your car gets stolen, you can’t call Jaguar or Renault and say ‘excuse me, my car’s just been stolen, can you send another one please?’” he added.
Caveat Emptor applies. Let's face it, if you haven't got call-blocking on your phone by now, it's really your own fault.