Protecting our customers from fraud
Helping keep our customers’ money safe is a top priority at Lloyds Banking Group. We invest tens of millions of pounds every year in the latest technology to protect our customers from fraud.
Our mule-hunting team has uncovered over
125,000
mule accounts, and has stopped £89 million from falling into the hands of fraudsters.
Last year alone, criminal gangs stole over
£583m
from the public and small businesses by posing as banks and service providers.*
We have invested more than
£100m
in our defences to stop the majority of attempted fraud.
Our dedicated team is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
365 days a year
to fight fraud.
*UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2022
Leading the way in the fight against fraud:
Frozen funds
We joined forces with City of London Police to launch the industry’s first pilot scheme using proceeds of crime to fund fraud-fighting and victim support programmes.
The ‘frozen’ cash – money captured from fraudsters by our specialist mule-hunting team – will be invested in projects to tackle fraud, as well as increasing education and awareness to help people recognise scams.
One of the initiatives will be a new Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) specialist team tracking down criminals through cyber investigations, which can lead to disrupting other illegal activity often associated with fraud, such as drugs and people trafficking.
Funds will also be used to provide additional support for people who have fallen victim to fraudsters. One initiative that will benefit is the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NECVCU) which provides one-to-one phone support, advice and aftercare to victims.
The money will also be invested into projects to protect those who are most vulnerable to fraud, including an initiative run by Age UK. The charity’s Scams Prevention and Support Programme will help older people increase their knowledge and confidence in recognising and dealing with attempted scams, helping reduce the number of people falling victim and supporting those who do in their recovery.
Developing fraud prevention technology
We were the first organisation in Europe to introduce new state of the art fraud prevention technology, helping protect our 30 million customers from telephone fraudsters.
Our branch and telephone banking colleagues are specially trained to identify signs that could indicate that a customer could be a victim of fraud and we are a leading supporter of the ‘Banking Protocol’ initiative, working together with the police to help intervene if a customer is at risk.
We pay particular attention to the wording and design of our fraud warnings, using behavioural analysis and expert insight to prevent our customers falling victim to scams.
In-app 'Confirmation of Payee'
We were the first bank to provide an extra layer of protection when making online payments through the introduction of the name checking service, Confirmation of Payee.
This service is available when both the bank you are sending the funds from and the bank who are receiving the payment have implemented the service. Prior to Confirmation of Payee it was hard to know if you were really paying the right person – something fraudsters were happy to exploit.
This service is now live for all of our Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds customers, so they can ensure they are actually paying the person they intended.
Our partnership initiatives:
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We became one of the first banks to take part in the launch of the 159 fraud initiative, for people to use to report and check financial scams as they happen.
Anyone who receives a call or message from somebody claiming to be from a trusted organisation and who suggests money should be transferred is being urged to hang up and call 159. They’ll then be connected to their own bank’s fraud prevention team. This new service is being promoted by Stop Scams UK - a coalition of banking and technology companies.
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We worked with the City of London Police to design and deliver a ‘Cyber Detectives’ fraud and cyber education programme which has been independently approved by the PSHE (Personal Social Health and Economics) and added to the primary school curriculum in England. Since Feb 2021 over 3000 schools have downloaded the training.
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We joined forces with City of London Police to launch the industry’s first pilot scheme using proceeds of crime to fund a series of fraud fighting and victim support programmes across the country.
One of these is expanding the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU)* by funding a new specialist team to track down criminals through cyber investigations, which can lead to disrupting other illegal activity often associated with fraud such as drugs and people trafficking.
The money will also be used to provide additional support for people who have fallen victim to fraudsters
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We’ve teamed up with The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) to create the Game Players Code - SHIELD. This is a simple, six-step guide for players to follow to help prevent scammers from accessing their personal information and protect their money from fraudsters operating in the gaming space.
Hear from our experts
Money mules: how we’re protecting our customers from financial fraud
Financial fraud is one of the most common types of crime in the UK. Find out how Lloyds Banking Group is cracking down on 'money mules' accounts.
Liz Ziegler | 6 Oct 2022
Taking on the fraudsters together
Over a third of parents have never spoken to their children about staying safe from fraud while gaming online according to new research by Lloyds Bank.
Liz Ziegler | 26 Jul 2022
Insta-scam: how scammers are targeting younger users online
Scammers are deviously adaptable. From targeted phone-calls to vulnerable people, to phishing emails to online shoppers, there’s always a new kind of hustle being developed.
Liz Ziegler | 5 May 2022
Combatting financial crime: City of London Police Partnership extended
We've extended partnership with City of London Police into a fourth year to help protect our customers from fraud, and to stop money getting into the hands of scammers.
Brian Dilley | 14 Feb 2022
Links and resources
- You can investigate any gaming-related purchases before handing over money, such as checking whether the website is blacklisted on sitechecker.
- Evaluate whether gaming-related downloads are being made from established trusted sources and whether they are safe by checking for malware via virustotal.
- For more information on game fraud, visit askaboutgames.com.
- About the UK Finance Take Five campaign.
- Stop Scams UK - 159 campaign
- About Stop Scams UK
- Global Cyber Alliance - Enabling a Secure and Trustworthy Internet
- UK Finance - Bank branch staff and police team up to stop £19 million of fraud in first half of 2020
- Lloyds Bank - How to Protect Yourself From Fraud
- City of London Police - Teach all key stage two children across the UK about fraud and cyber crime
- City of London Police - Report fraud