LONDON – A mandatory 24-hour delay on all first-time payments from one bank account to another would cut mounting fraud in finance, U.K. lawmakers said in a new report.
Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee said fraudsters stole over 600 million pounds ($777 million) from consumers in the first half of 2019 and regulators must crack down harder on scammers, Reuters said.
With money transfers between accounts taking just seconds, customers or their bank have little time to be aware that a fraud has taken place, the report said. It recommended a mandatory 24-hour delay on all initial or first-time payments, while all future payments to that same account would be at normal seed.
“If a situation arose whereby an initial payment was needed instantly, a customer could ring their bank and additional checks could be carried out for the funds to be released,” the report said.