Starling Bank launches anti-scam tool following FCA fine

credit: Shutterstock
credit: Shutterstock

UK-based Starling Bank has launched a new tool to tackle the increasing threat of impersonation scams. 

The new fraud solution, which Starling states is an industry first, looks to help customers better identify potential impersonation scams that can impersonate family, friends and even banks. 

Starling states that the tool will call on status indicators to indicate a potential impersonation scam to customers if a call or other form of contact that had or will be made is deemed ungenuine. 

The indicators will appear on the customers’ home and payment screen which the UK challenger bank will inform the customer if the contact information was known to the bank. 

Customers will then be able to see the following on the Starling app; “We’ve never called you”, “We’re calling you now”, “You’re on a call with Starling”, “We aren’t calling you” or “No recent calls ”.

Sarah Lenette, Financial Crime Specialist at Starling, said: “We’re constantly looking for new ways to stop scammers in their tracks. Bank impersonations are very sophisticated and anyone can become a victim.

“Call status indicators give our customers confidence to know whether they’re being contacted by a genuine representative of the bank, or a con artist, which is why we’re proud to launch this today.”

Starling notes that the launch is in response to the rise in scams, particularly impersonation scams, in the UK. 

Despite its efforts to protect its customers when it comes to scams, Starling was recently fined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) up to £29m for “shockingly lax” financial sanction screening controls. 

The FCA found issues with Starling’s anti-money laundering and sanction framework back in 2021, which led to the digital bank having to prevent new accounts from being opened while the financial regulator finalised its review. 

Starling reported several possible violations of financial sanctions to the appropriate authorities and the FCA did acknowledge that the rapidly growing bank was accelerating at such a pace its financial compliance controls could not keep up with.