Mobile Phone Fraud and Pay Rises

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 825 Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The anti-fraud charity the Fraud Advisory Panel says banks are inconsistent and being caught off guard by the emerging and growing threat of mobile phone fraud. It's when criminals steal people's phones not for the actual handset but to gain access to banking and financial apps. We'll hear from one man who had £16,000 stolen when he was mugged last year. UK Finance says the industry is constantly monitoring fraud threats to help protect customers and that this type of mobile phone fraud is not a common occurrence, but that the industry is not complacent about new and emerging threats.

In April we investigated complaints about Scottish Widows after listeners told us about struggles to get hold of pensions and other sums. Since then our inbox continues to receive a steady stream of similar grievances. New figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service given to Money Box show that complaints about the company rose by more than a third last year. We investigate and get a response from the company.

We discuss the new details of how His Majesty's Revenue & Customs is going to change the law to help protect consumers from rogue tax repayment agents - companies who claim things like marriage or work from home allowance on people's behalf. In the autumn Money Box discovered the number of complaints to HMRC about repayment agents more than tripled in just two years with nearly two thousand being made in just the first eight months of last year alone.

And, how to get a pay rise and what you should think about before you ask.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast at 12pm Saturday 14th January, 2023)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.2	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:39.4	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:43.1	Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast.
0:46.0	Delays by the firm Scottish Widows may have cost one woman £60,000.
0:51.9	HMRC says it will clamp down on rogue agents who claim simple tax rebates on behalf of individuals, but not just yet. And be careful what you wish for. A pay rise might not give you quite as much extra money as you expected. But first, Moneybox has been told that banks are being caught off guard by the emerging threat of mobile phone fraud.
1:14.1	It happens when criminals steal mobiles, not for the device, but to use banking and financial apps on them to steal thousands of pounds.
1:22.5	The charity, fraud, advisory panel, says banks need to warn customers about the dangers.
1:28.7	I'll be speaking to one member of the panel shortly, but first, Money Watch reporter Dan Whitworth has been investigating Dan.
1:34.0	Well, Paul, I want to start by telling you the story of Ed. He's in his early 30s and from the
1:39.0	West Midlands and had his phone stolen when he was mugged last summer. So I was in London for August, Spank Holiday.
1:45.9	It was actually my friend's birthday.
1:47.4	So we'd been out as approached, and my phone was forcibly stolen out my hands.
1:51.6	From that point, I scrambled to basically look to close my accounts down and freeze my iPhone.
1:58.3	It was in a real state of shock and panic.
2:03.3	That sounds horrible, Dan. What happened then?
2:07.8	Well, within hours, those same criminals had accessed Ed's banking apps and stolen several thousand pounds from his account, but not content with stealing Ed's money.
	...

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