Did you know: If your card is lost or stolen, you should report this to us immediately by calling us on 01228 403141 or by completing this form. If you call us out of hours, it is important that you leave a message on the answer machine. By doing so your liability for any fraudulent transactions ends at that point.
Two hot topics that you brought to our attention were ‘how to protect your personal information’ and ‘common online scams to avoid’.
Our Financial Crime Team Manager, Lesley Snodden, wanted to ease the concerns of anyone unsure about how to tell whether a call from The Cumberland was genuine:
“Fraudsters often catch people by surprise with an unexpected phone call that they say requires immediate action. They will make the customer disclose login details, card numbers, One-Time-Passcodes etc to ‘protect’ their account. At The Cumberland, if your account was compromised and we were calling you, we would never need to ask you for those details, nor would we ever require you to move your money to a so-called ‘safe account’. We would ask you to complete our security check which includes some questions that only you would know the answer to, and then we can do the rest to protect you.”
We’ve put together some further information on protecting your personal information in conjunction with our Financial Crime and Branch teams, to answer some of your concerns.
At any unattended card machine, such as ATMs, car parking or ticket machines, you should always be aware of your surroundings and if anything or anyone looks suspicious then don’t use the machine and notify the bank or building owner. When using your card in shops, be aware of anyone who may be able to see you entering your PIN and make an attempt to secure their view.
You should always keep your passwords safe and never tell anyone (including Cumberland staff, family or friends).
Try not to use the same password for all of your online accounts as if the password becomes compromised on one system then it would be possible for a fraudster to access your other accounts too. Having the same password for multiple accounts would also mean that you would have to change your password on multiple different systems if one system was compromised.
There are password managers that are available which can make your life easier by holding all of your passwords in a secure location – you only need to remember the password that gets you into the service itself. Some have both free and subscription options, such as Bitwarden and NordPass. We would always advise you to carry out your own research before signing up to such an application.
Protect your phone and/or Apple/Googlepay with facial recognition/fingerprint biometrics or passcodes that are known only to you.
You should only receive a one-time-passcode to confirm a transaction that you have made. No one should ever ask for these codes, including The Cumberland. These codes authorise payments to leave your account so will never be used to get a refund or verify your identity.
You should be especially aware when shopping online or entering your details into a website, that the website is a legitimate one and only use secure websites with a padlock symbol which can be seen in the address bar.
One measure that may help is to be wary of links that come to you in unsolicited emails or text messages. If unsure, do not click on the link, instead type the correct website of the company into your internet browser manually . You can check an email sender by hovering over the sending details to see the true address – be wary of anything with a spelling error, lots of jumbled characters and numbers, or just any email address that doesn’t look like it’s associated with the company that apparently sent you the email.
If possible, when accessing sites for internet banking, use a favourited link that you know is safe and genuine, rather than searching for the website.
Phone scams can be a particular threat to your personal data because the fraudster has the advantage of catching you off-guard. Always give yourself time to consider the nature of the call and don’t allow yourself to be rushed into a decision or action and be especially wary of calls that ask you to move money to a ‘safe account’ due to a security breach – The Cumberland would never ask you to do this.
Check your bank account and credit report regularly to ensure that you are aware of every payment that is coming from your account. You should recognise all standing orders, direct debits, and even all one-off payments.
We asked Rebecca Burney, our Assistant Cluster Manager for Scotland, to offer some tips for customers who aren’t sure whether it’s The Cumberland who is really calling them. Rebecca had some pointers when it comes to what we would ask for, and what we definitely wouldn’t:
“We will never ask for any card details, any Internet banking login details or any one-time passcodes. We would ask you several security questions that are personal to yourself, that only you, the account holder would know."
Rebecca was also keen to point out that you should never feel pressured or in a rush to make a decision on a phone call: “We would never rush or pressure you into answering quickly. We wouldn’t be offended if you wanted to end the call and call us back or visit a branch. Fraudsters tend to try everything to get you to stay on the line where we wouldn’t if you weren’t comfortable.”
And if a customer still wasn’t sure that it was The Cumberland calling: “They should end the call. They can then either call our customer care team on 01228 403141, or call or pop into their local branch. Customers can also send us a secure message via our mobile banking app. If phoning they should wait 15 minutes to ensure the line is clear or use a different phone line to call us to make sure the caller isn’t still on the line.”
Should the worst case happen, and you believe that you have fallen for a scam, typed your details into a fake website or given them out over the phone to a fraudster, Rebecca explains:
“The customer should contact us as quickly as possible, either by visiting or phoning their local branch, or by phoning our customer care team. Even if its outside of office hours you can leave us a voicemail which we will pick up and respond to once we are open.”
Something that can easily be forgotten in the panic to check that everything is ok - if you end a call and then phone another organisation to check the validity of the previous call, you should wait 15 minutes to ensure the line is clear or use a completely different phone line, just to make sure that the original caller isn’t still on the line.
As a Cumberland customer, if you suspect that you’ve been a victim of fraud then please call us on 01228 403141 (Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm and Saturday 8.30am to 4pm) or visit your local branch as soon as possible to discuss how we can help. If your call is out-of-hours then please leave a voicemail explaining the problem and leaving your name and contact number.
Likewise if your card is lost or stolen, you must contact us as soon as possible on 01228 403141. If you call us out of hours it’s important that you leave a message on the answer machine. By doing so your liability for any fraudulent transactions ends at that point.
You can also report Fraud and Cyber Crime via the national Action Fraud website which has lots of information and you may find the following pages useful starting points:
Help and Advice
Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The service is run by the City of London Police working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) who are responsible for assessment of the reports and to ensure that your fraud reports reach the right place. The City of London Police is the national policing lead for economic crime.
Their information includes free cybercrime protection and fraud and cyber crime protection for individuals.
Criminals are using a variety of tactics, find out more about some of the most common scams to watch out for.
There are a number of small steps you can take to collectively make a big difference in protecting yourself financially from criminals.
Essential information for your own protection