Santander useless anti-fraud measure

zerog

I made the first of two large payments from Santander to a new account. I received the OTP code to my phone and entered it, and the payment went through.

A week later I made the second payment of a similar large amount to the same recipient. I received another OTP code to my phone, entered it, and the code was accepted. I then clicked to view the transaction, but this caused me to be logged out of my online banking. I was unable to log back in as my account was suspended. The payment was not made.

A few hours later, I got an automated phone call from Santander which asked me to enter my date of birth via choosing one of four options, then the transaction I made was read out and I was asked to press 1 if it was genuine.

Immediately after doing this, my online banking access was restored and the payment went through. At no time did I speak to a human (unlike with Lloyds group banks where the only way out is to talk to a human).



I recall this happening to me previously with Santander, about 5 years ago. I also recall reading a thread on this forum, where another poster reported the same experience. They were rightfully suspicious about the automated phone call, leading them to cause themselves a lot of trouble by getting the call centre to verify that this automated call was genuine (which they wouldn't know) thus resulting in an unnecessary reset of all passwords etc. I can't remember what else happened, but possibly several branch visits were also required to provide documentation of the reason for the large payment, etc.



This aside, I am struggling to see how this additional automated phone call was of any use. Firstly a large payment to that recipient had already been made (not a small test transaction) with no problems.

An OTP code sent via text message was used to authorise both payments. So calling the same phone number does not add any security.

If my phone and my internet banking details had been stolen, this would not have added any extra hurdles to the payment apart from needing to know my date of birth, which I cannot imagine a genuine identity fraudster would have any difficulty finding (for example I carry ID in my wallet which shows my DOB).

18cc

I think this is targeted at those frauds where a fraudster calls an unsuspecting person - your account has been hacked - move all your money into a 'safe' account - read out the OTP to me etc etc

The payment would be blocked and the bank would call asking for DOB by which time hopefully the victim would be having second thoughts …

Also, it may be the fraud team looked at the transaction, saw you had paid a large amount previously, and put you on the 'quick' path ie a call and DOB request. If it had been a new payee, they may have called you. But who knows?!

bristolleedsfan

18cc wrote: »

. If it had been a new payee, they may have called you. But who knows?!

Automated system is used for new payees as well, if my memory serves me correct I was phoned on different phone number a couple of hours later

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/fraud-and-security/our-approach-to-fraud-prevention

I prefer automated system

born_again

Ever heard of the dating scams?
They ask for money. Then ask again. And again.

I'm sure if your realised that you had been scammed, that you would be up in arms that they are doing nothing to protect you.

Automated security systems are great as you get that call very quickly. Any done by humans can take up to 48 hours to get worked due to the number involved. Also a automated call can be made at the time of the transaction. Usually this is a text message, which can be quickly responded to.
If it is a manual process. Calls should not be made between 21:00 & 09:00. That is a large chunk of time when customers can make transactions, but can not contacted.