Telephone Scam1
12/03/2012

Cases have been reported to us where a caller purporting to be from the British Bankers' Association, or a similarly named organisation, has attempted to persuade a member of the public to pay for services in connection with reclaiming bank charges.

The British Bankers' Association does not sell products or services to the public and will never make unsolicited telephone calls or send unsolicited emails to members of the public except in reply to their queries. Nor will we ask you to verify personal information or account details. If you receive a suspicious telephone call or email which appears to come from us, please let us know at info@bba.org.uk

Refund of bank charges scam

Another scam of which we have become aware is where customers are contacted by callers claiming to be authorised by their bank to refund current account charges. The caller then asks for bank details for the account to which the refund should be credited. Clearly, this is an attempt to con people into divulging their personal details. Our advice is - don't give out personal information. No bank is offering this service or has authorised another company to do this on their behalf. Hang up.

Mar 2011

The British Bankers' Association does not sell products or services to the public and will never make unsolicited telephone calls or send unsolicited emails to members of the public except in reply to their queries. Nor will we ask you to verify personal information or account details. If you receive a suspicious telephone call or email which appears to come from us, please let us know at info@bba.org.uk

Oct 2009

The Ministry of Justice has been made aware of a scam involving consumers being telephoned by people who claim they are from the Ministry.

The callers suggest that the consumer could receive payments such as the repayment of bank charges or other debts. They are asked to provide personal information such as bank account details and make an upfront payment, often by money transfer.  In other examples, the caller claims to be calling from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) or a high street bank.

These callers have no connection with Ministry of Justice, OFT or other genuine organisations and the intention appears to be to use the details for identity theft in order to commit crimes using the stolen details. 

The Ministry of Justice and the OFT would never contact consumers asking them for their bank or personal details. We are therefore warning consumers not to pass on personal or financial details to such callers.  If you have already done so, contact your bank as soon as possible to stop or check any unauthorised transactions.

For further advice call Consumer direct on 0845 04 05 06 or check the scams area of the Consumer direct website

A list of registered claims management companies can be found on the Claims regulation website

To report a suspected scam call, you should contact the Claims management helpline on 0333 200 0110.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/latest-updates/announcement141009b.htm

For further information, please contact:
Info ( info@bba.org.uk )