TSB urges Exmouth community to 'Take Five' to stop fraud

The TSB in Exmouth is urging people to ‘Take Five’ to stop fraud.  The challenger bank, located in 22 The Strand, hosted a fraud awareness afternoon to educate the local community about the latest tricks and scams and – importantly – how to avoid them.

‘Take Five’ is a banking industry initiative encouraging people to take time to stop, think and check, before making payments and other financial transactions.

The initiative comes at a time when fraud is becoming more elaborate, more sophisticated and more plausible; the latest figures show that financial fraud across cards, online banking and cheques reached £768.8 million in 2016 – around £2,000,000 each day.  But banks like TSB are fighting back, with the industry successfully preventing a staggering £1.38 billion of fraud in the same year. 

By encouraging people to ‘Take Five’, even more fraudsters could be stopped in their tracks.

Every TSB Partner is ‘fraud aware’, meaning they are trained to spot fraud and financial crime. 

On 23 January, TSB Bank Manager Raj Panesar from Exmouth took time out of his day job to run a workshop to help the people of Exmouth beat the fraudsters.  This included learning about common tactics such as ‘vishing’ and ‘smishing’, where fraudsters make phone calls or send text messages to unsuspecting victims asking for private information, such as bank details or asking for remote access to a victim’s PC.

The TSB team at Exmouth also offered five top tips to help people keep their money safe:

• Never disclose security details, such as your PIN or full banking password.
• Don’t assume an email, text or phone call is authentic.
• Don’t be rushed – a genuine organisation won’t mind waiting.
• Listen to your instincts – you know if something doesn’t feel right.
• Stay in control – don’t panic and make a decision you’ll regret.

Raj Panesar, Bank Manager, TSB Exmouth, says: “Our number one priority is protecting our customers’ money, so it was fantastic to talk to the people of Exmouth about fraud and how to avoid being a victim.

“No one is too smart to be scammed.  But by taking time to stop, think and check before making a payment or doing your online banking, we can work together to beat the fraudsters.”