Coronavirus: Protect yourself from fraud
Criminals use exceptional circumstances like the current coronavirus situation as a chance to pose as employees of a genuine organisation, such as building society / bank staff and police officers and target you for fraud scams.
Criminals use exceptional circumstances like the current coronavirus situation as a chance to pose as employees of a genuine organisation, such as building society / bank staff and police officers and target you for fraud scams.
Criminals may pretend to be from your building society, bank or the police and claim they are dealing with coronavirus-related issues that require you to respond by paying money or providing personal information that will allow them to access your account.They often use pressure tactics to stop you thinking about want they want you do for them.
To be clear, a building society will never:
- Ask you to disclose your PIN or other passwords for your accounts
- Encourage you to move funds from your own account to a different 'safe' account
- Encourage you to order and pay for UK cash via the phone or internet
- Charge up-front fees for repayment holidays
- Make home visits to collect mortgage arrears on your doorstep
- Demand an immediate payment of mortgage arrears over the phone
- Demand payment of mortgage arrears via email providing you with a link through which to make payments.
Individuals who approach you saying that they are building society employees and who pressurise you in the ways outlined above are criminals.
If you receive a call and are concerned about whether it is genuine, take the following steps:
- Stop - Take a moment to think
- Challenge - Don't be afraid to ask questions or to say 'no' and end the conversation
- Protect - Contact the building society or bank from which you have made a payment immediately if you think that you have been the victim of fraud.
Speak to our team today
We’d love to talk you through the mortgage process and help you find a suitable product. For more information or to apply for an account, you can call us, email us, pop into one of our 11 branches. We look forward to hearing from you.