Santander has issued a warning to customers over transactions – warning them against “bargain” purchases. Santander has warned “bargain” purchases may be too good to be true as the high street banking giant urged account holders to exercise caution.
In 2023, Santander customers lost £7.3 million to purchase scams originating on online selling sites and marketplaces. The bank, which is rivalled by the likes of HSBC UK, Lloyds, NatWest, and more, reports claims have increased by 32 per cent in the last year compared to 2022.
The average claim was £500. Of the total number of purchase scams reported to Santander in 2023, 80 per cent started on online selling platforms or marketplaces. Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Risk Management at Santander, said: “More than ever, scammers are homing in on our love of grabbing a bargain, whether it’s that ‘impossible’ to come by collectible or a new phone.
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“It’s great to see online marketplaces like Gumtree taking strides towards not only removing scam posts from their site but also putting measures in place to stop them appearing in the first place. Customers should always be wary of an item for sale that seems too good to be true, but the more that can be done to stop criminals from creating these posts in the first place, the better.”
Joseph Rindsland, Head of Trust & Safety at Gumtree, said: “We’ve invested heavily in recent years in technology to prevent scam posts making it to our site and thanks to this, the volume of suspicious listings we’re having to remove is falling month on month. But scammers are tenacious, and we still removed tens of thousands of posts in 2023.
“That’s tens of thousands of opportunities for criminals to take customer’s hard-earned cash, which is why we’re teaming up with Santander to advise our users how they can better protect themselves.” Santander has teamed up with Gumtree to warn shoppers about what to look out for.
