Door slammed shut on Direct Debit fraudsters with next-level fraud prevention service

A banking loophole leaving account holders vulnerable to fraud can be closed by a groundbreaking development merging open banking with Direct Debit sign up.

The innovative SmarterPay Secure Signup service from the independent Hull-based payment solutions provider for businesses, slams the door shut on fraudsters using account takeover to drain bank accounts.

The highest profile victim of an account takeover was Jeremy Clarkson, who posted his bank details in The Sun newspaper, taunting would-be thieves to try and take his money. In short order, a Direct Debit was set up and he was £500 down and a charity £500 better off.*

SmarterPay Secure Signup (UK patent pending GB2410376.4) is next-level fraud prevention. Using open banking account information services to verify bank account details and ownership, as part of the process of setting up a Direct Debit online the customer is taken to their online bank account to log in and verify their identity. And sign up is seamless, automatically assigning the account number and sort code to the Direct Debit instruction.

This means that only the bank account owner can set up a Direct Debit; on top of that, using details direct from the customer’s bank account removes the chance of errors, such as transposing a digit during manual input.

Phil Chilvers, Chief Operating Officer at SmarterPay, said: “Account takeover fraud is a terrifying and growing phenomenon in the UK; unauthorised fraud losses totalled a massive £700m-plus in 2023 alone.** The impact of having your bank account compromised and your hard-earned money siphoned off must not be underestimated. And now, it can be stopped. SmarterPay Secure Signup has been designed specifically to help our customers protect their business, implementing more controls over the collections process and preventing this type of Direct Debit fraud.”

SmarterPay’s Direct Debit Management solution customers can access SmarterPay Secure Signup as a simple add-on; deploying it gives themselves and their own Direct Debit customers peace of mind through the best available protection against account takeover fraud.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Clarkson stung after bank prank

 **UK Finance Annual Fraud Report 2024