Authorized push payment (APP) fraud is a growing problem in the UK. APP fraud occurs when people or businesses are tricked or manipulated, often through social engineering techniques, into sending payments to an account controlled by a fraudster. Pay.UK recently launched Confirmation of Payee to help tackle this problem, and financial providers and banks are gradually adopting it.
Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a service that checks whether account names match up to the correct corresponding account numbers and sort codes, giving businesses and consumers greater assurance that they’re sending payments to a legitimate account.
Cost-effective security. Confirmation of Payee is a more cost-effective and reliable solution than workarounds like bank validation tools.
For consumers, the benefits of Confirmation of Payee are obvious – they’re less likely to become victims of fraud or scams. For businesses, Confirmation of Payee can have a number of benefits, including:
Reduced losses from fraud. Employees are less likely to make a payment to a fraudulent party, reducing the chance of direct financial losses.
Less time investigating fraud. The reduced rate of fraud means less time spent investigating and resolving fraud incidents, which can be an expensive and lengthy process.