May the frauds be with you

Dishonest bank staff are increasingly preying on their elderly customers, new fraud figures have shown. CIFAS, an anti-fraud organization in the UK whose members include most major banks and building societies, said that there had been an alarming increase in the level of fraud committed by employees, with a third of it involving the theft of cash from customer accounts. Many of these fraudsters steal from elderly and more vulnerable account holders, and their actions are as bad as muggers in the street. This is just not right. Any case of bank staff stealing from customers is unacceptable and this increase is very concerning – particularly at a time when banks are talking about regaining the public’s trust and confidence. Common sense measures such as asking for and then keeping a receipt for any deposit or withdrawal, can help in preventing fraud. Another measure would be to bring back the stocks so the public can throw dung and rotting food at the fraudsters. In other banking news, The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 83 per cent owned by the taxpayer, will soon stop its ‘basic’ RBS and NatWest account holders from using other banks’ ATM machines.