Banks ‘to be forced to reimburse customers’ who’ve fallen for scams as Americans lose billions #nigeria | #nigeriascams | #lovescams

BANKS may be forced to reimburse scammed customers if new regulations are passed.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is assembling new regulations in the coming weeks that may require banks to pay back customers as scams have dramatically increased.

1

Many victims have reported scammers falsely representing themselves as bank representatives allowing the scammer to retrieve their banking information.

The WSJ reported that though the guidance has yet to be confirmed or completed, it will most likely be connected to companies like Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, and other payment platforms.

These money-transferring platforms have seen major growth in the past two years thanks to the pandemic.

Zelle alone saw a 59% increase in sent payments, while transaction volumes increased by 49%, according to a company statement.

While users agree these platforms accept payments quicker and easier, the problem occurs once they try to reverse payments – making retrieving their money nearly impossible.

In 2020 alone, roughly 18 million Americans were defrauded by digital wallets and payment apps, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

The research states that about one-third of identity fraud victims claim their banks did not resolve their problems.

Plus, 38% of victims said they closed their accounts because of it.

The total identity fraud losses hit $56billion in 2020, and are expected to keep climbing.

Paige Schaffer, CEO of Global Identity & Cyber Protection at Generali Global Assistance told Business Wire, “the culture of fraud is clearly shifting. The pandemic has created so many more points of vulnerability for families and businesses.”

“Whether it’s payment products meant to enhance convenience, remote operations, additional logins or even simply more time online, there is more opportunity now than ever for compromise,” Paige added.

While regulations have not yet been made, some companies are working with platforms to protect users.

Robin Love, vice president of product management at Early Warning Services said in a press release, “Early Warning is fighting back against synthetic identity fraud with the introduction of Verify Identity.”

“Verify Identity will challenge the growing issue of data breaches and identity fraud by introducing this unparalleled synthetic identity detection feature,” Robin added.

The sun reached out to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for comment.

PayPal is making major changes to its friends and family payments this month – and they will no longer be free.

Plus, Target website and app goes down as outage leaves shoppers unable to see and track orders.