Fraud helpline set up for consumers

A new fraud helpline has been set up to help consumers protect themselves against scammers. Now consumers who are contacted by someone claiming to be from a trusted organisation informing them that their account has been compromised will be urged to hang up and call the new helpline on 159.

Calling 159 will enable potential scam victims to be automatically connected to their bank’s fraud prevention service. The service is initially being trialled for one year, with the aim of making it a permanent service for consumers. Consumers will never be contacted by 159 directly and calls to the number will be charged at the standard national rate.

Although many high street banks and building societies have already signed up to the service, not all have joined. For example, TSB will not join until January 2022. Those that have already signed up include:

• Barclays
• Lloyds
• Halifax
• Bank of Scotland
• NatWest
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Ulster Bank
• Santander
• Starling Bank.

The majority of consumer telephone companies are participating to provide the service. The companies taking part are:

• BT, including EE and Plusnet
• Gamma
• O2, including giffgaff
• TalkTalk
• Three
• Virgin Media
• Sky.

For more information on how to protect against scammers read our guide on things your bank will never ask you to do.