FSCS puts Icesave customers at risk of fraud

by Gill Montia

Story link: FSCS puts Icesave customers at risk of fraud

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is being criticised for opening the door to fraudsters because of the way in which it is handling compensation claims of UK account holders with Icesave.

The 230,000 people who have deposited a combined £4.5 billion in the failed bank have been told they will receive two emails from the FSCS.

The first will explain the process by which their money will be repaid and the second will give instructions on how to log on to an existing Icesave account and transfer the cash.

Under the Banking Code, communication with customers by email is permitted but banks do not encourage this method of contact because criminals constantly produce fraudulent emails containing fraudulent website links.

Criminals could therefore already be working out ways to entrap Icesave customers and steal their cash by sending out emails directing them to a spurious link.

According to website security firm, First Cyber Security, research by APACS, the UK payments body, reveals that 18% of people are at risk of selecting a website address from an email and giving their personal information to a fraudster.

First Cyber director, David Holman, comments that it is easy to set up a copy of an authentic website and send out mass emails that consumers could believe to be authentic.