The Payments Association has released an “investigative documentary” regarding the impact of Authorised Push Payments (APP) fraud. The project was released in partnership with Cardaq and We Fight Fraud. The documentary aims to explore how fraudsters pilfer money from the innocent.
The documentary, entitled The New APP Rules: What They Mean for Consumers, Fraudsters and the UK, is said to highlight what new PSR rules will mean for consumers when they go into force on October 7th.
The film is said to include interviews with stakeholders, experts, including the PSR and, an active criminal and a victim who was caught by a phishing scam.
Riccardo Tordera, Director of Policy and Government Relations, The Payments Association, described the documentary as providing “much needed light” on the “unintended consequences of the PSR’s new anti-APP fraud measure that will still affect consumers.”
Recently, PSR indicated its intent to pull back a bit on the responsibilities tied to payments providers when a user is the target of fraud. The PSR is consulting on a new reimbursement cap in line with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) limit, which is currently £85,000. Previously, the cap had been set at £415,000—far more.
While the consultation is closed for comments, the Payments Association is still pushing for a cap of £30,000 for mandatory reimbursement. Other cases beyond this amount, said to be 5% of all cases, “should be properly investigated before proceeding any further.”
“With less than a month left to the October 7th implementation date, our demand to the PSR hasn’t changed. The proposed decrease in the threshold to £85,000 is positive, but £30,000 is what we will still hope we can see coming. This covers 95% of cases by number of claims and the only thing we ask is that for the remaining 5% a proper investigation comes in before mandating payout. The measures as they stand do little or nothing to discourage unintended consequences, such as moral hazard and a rapid increase of first party fraud.”
While the story remains the same, the crooks have updated their game to leverage technology to steal money and more from individuals using digital financial services. While all consumers and businesses must be very cautious regarding any digital transaction, platform liability must be balanced to create a workable balance for providers to offer a valued and secure service.
The brief documentary is available below.
