Staying safe from payment fraud

The one rule that stops most of it

Do not hand over goods or services on the strength of a screenshot, an SMS or a customer telling you they have paid. Confirm the payment inside your own business app or your bank app. If it is not there, it has not arrived.

Common tricks to know

The details change, but the shape is usually the same: pressure, a story and a fake proof.

• A fake payment alert or a doctored screenshot shown at the counter.
• A customer who “overpaid” and asks you to refund the difference before the original payment has cleared.
• A message that seems to be from your bank or from us, asking for a code, a PIN or your password.
• A link that looks like a payment page but leads somewhere else.
• Someone claiming to be a colleague or a supplier and asking you to change the account you pay.

Things nobody legitimate will ever ask

We will never ask for your password, your PIN or a one-time code, by phone, message or email. If someone does, it is not us, whatever they say and however urgent it sounds. The same is true of your bank.

Never share a team member's passcode either, and change it if you think someone else has seen it.

Habits that protect you

Check payments in the app before you release anything of value. Give every team member their own login and the least access they need. Save recipients you pay often, so you are not typing account numbers from messages. Review your transaction list every day, so an odd entry is noticed on the day it happens.

If you think you have been caught

Act quickly. Contact your bank or the payment provider straight away using the contact details on their official website or app, not those in the suspicious message. Change your password. Tell your team. Keep the messages and screenshots, because they help whoever investigates.