Common fraud and scams

Out of hours impersonation calls

We have seen an increase in reports of criminals impersonating us and contacting customers outside of our normal business hours. We will never contact you before 8am or after 6pm. If you receive a call claiming to be from us outside of these times, it is a scam. Stop, hang up, and report it to 159. Learn more about impersonation scams.

Fake call authentication emails

Criminals are sending fake call authentication emails to make you think that you are talking to our staff, they may use a colleague’s name and a reference number to look genuine.

We’ll never use an email or screenshot to confirm a call or to prove our identity. If someone tries to verify themselves in this way, hang up immediately.

LinkedIn impersonation scams

Criminals are increasingly using LinkedIn to gather information on bank employees and make impersonation scams seem more convincing.

They may pretend to be us and even direct customers to a LinkedIn profile in an attempt to add authenticity to the call. The criminals' aims are to steal credentials or gain access to bank accounts.

Always check requests through our trusted channels. Never rely solely on a LinkedIn profile as proof the caller is genuine.

Criminals are posing as us

Criminals are messaging and calling our customers pretending to be us, or other trusted organisations such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Report Fraud or National Crime Agency (NCA).

We’ve seen an increase in these types of scams involving WhatsApp, which is a channel that we will never use to contact you on.

We’ll also never ask you for your PIN, password or One Time Passcode (OTP) and we’ll never ask for remote access to your laptop, phone or tablet.