We take all incidents of fraud or suspected fraud seriously and understand it can be very worrying for our customers. We have systems in place to help monitor and protect against fraud but in some instances you may be concerned about a transaction. If so please contact us as soon as possible. For further information on safeguarding yourself against fraud please see the Take 5 campaign information.

Fraudsters often look for data on people that they can use to impersonate or defraud them.

They may research you or your colleagues, so we advise that you educate your staff about protecting their data and ensure they are fraud aware too.

What kind of data might a fraudster steal?

• Personal details, such as your name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number.
• Contact details like your mobile phone, landline, work number and email address(es).
• Memorable information used for security and passwords, such as mother’s maiden name, schools or university attended, pet names, car makes and names of family members.
• Your bank account number, sort code and card details.
• PINs, passwords, Digipass number or other login details.

Ways fraudsters might get hold of your data:

• Social media and online forums – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit – all public platforms could hold a wealth of information about you, your employees, your business and your customers.
• Your company website – if your business has a website, consider what information you include. We advise you not to put your bank details on your website, as fraudsters can use this to impersonate you or your bank.
• Competitions and quizzes – particularly those found on social media websites.
• Calling you and pretending to be a trusted organisation.
• Companies who sell your email address or phone number - always read terms and conditions when signing up for a product or service.
• Bank statements, post and paper documents. Always lock away documents that hold sensitive information and destroy them when no longer required.
• Hacking into email accounts. Ensure your IT systems are secure and be wary of using shared internet connections outside of work. Consider that your suppliers, customers and partners can also have their emails hacked. We recommend that you do not share sensitive data via email – if you need to, encrypt the information with a password.
  

Yes, Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is an account name-checking service that has been introduced to combat fraud and misdirected payments. Triodos is part of the UK industry-wide scheme for incoming and outbound payments, and a CoP check will be performed every time you send money from your Triodos account. We encourage you still continue to check payment details in line with our guidance, and regularly review our website for information on how to prevent fraud.

Vishing is where a fraudster uses voice messages or phone calls to try to steal identities, and financial information like your PIN, card details and Digipass code.

The term comes from the combination of ‘phishing’ and ‘voice’. Phishing is where fraudsters use email, regular phone calls and fake websites to dupe people into giving them personal details and financial information.

Vishing is specifically the use of a VOIP service (Voice Over Internet Protocol, or an internet phone service), which enables fraudsters to communicate with their potential victims via automated voice messages and the phone keypad.

Vishers can create fake caller ID profiles so that their phone number seems legitimate, and vishing requests sound urgent, to panic the victim into acting without thinking.

Examples of vishing:

• Your bank account has been compromised
  You receive call from what appears to be Triodos Bank’s phone number. When you answer, you hear a recording pretending to be from Triodos, saying that your bank account has been compromised, and you need to call a freephone number to reset your security details. Calling this number, you would hear another automated message asking for your bank account number, Digipass code or other personal details via the phone keypad.
• You’re eligible for a loan
  You are offered loan or credit terms too good to be true (they probably are), and to receive the money, you just need to pay an upfront fee or provide your security details.
• You’re due a refund
  You receive a message that says you are due a refund. This is usually someone claiming to be from a trusted organisation. If you opt in – usually by pressing a number on your telephone - you will be redirected to a call centre agent who will attempt to defraud you or steal your information.
• Don’t miss this investment opportunity
  An automated voice message tells you about an investment opportunity too good to turn down. You’ll be encouraged to transfer money to invest in a company or service that doesn’t exist.
• You’ve won a prize
  Victims hear an automated voice message about a free offer or prize, and just need to pay postage, redemption or admin fees to claim. There’s often a deadline to hurry people into handing over their card details.

What you can do

If you receive an unexpected phone call with an automated response, hang up, search for the company’s genuine contact details online and check whether the call was legitimate. If it was, the company will be able to help you, and if it was a vishing attempt, letting the company know enables them to take action, and you will have protected yourself from fraud.

If the call relates to an investment opportunity, check the FCA register to see if the investor is regulated, and confirm the company exists by checking Companies House.

How to report a vishing scam

If you think you have been a victim of a vishing attack, call us immediately on 0330 355 0355. Then report to the FCA using their reporting form.

If you have lost money to suspected investment fraud, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

To send us a chat message, simply log in to Internet Banking and click the speech bubble icon in the bottom right corner. A member of our contact team will respond to you as soon as they can during opening hours. If you are not logged in to Internet Banking when they respond, you will receive an email notification.

Do not respond to any email that asks you for information about your internet banking log in details. If you have received a suspicious email, do not respond and call our Contact Team as soon as you can during our opening hours on 0330 355 0355 to check if it is a genuine email.

Our opening hours are published on our help and support page.

If the text is from a sender you know, or from a shortcode (five to eight digits long):

• Reply ‘STOP’. You shouldn’t be charged for this, and it will let the sender know you don’t want to receive their text messages.
• If you’re unhappy about receiving the text or continue to receive them after asking the sender to stop, you can complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) on 0303 123 1113 or online.

If the spoof text message (sometimes known as smishing) is from an unknown sender, or from an organisation you’re not familiar with:

• Do not reply or click on a link in the text. Responding confirms your number is active and could result in you receiving more messages or calls.
• Report the spam text to your network operator. Simply forward the text to 7726. An easy way to remember ‘7726’ is that they’re the numbers on your phone keypad that spell out the word ‘SPAM’. You may get an automated response thanking you for the report and giving you further instructions if needed, like forwarding on the number the spam text message was sent from. You won’t be charged for forwarding spam texts to 7726.
  

Chat in the Triodos App will be coming in early 2025.

This is when fraudsters send fake invoices claiming to be from a real business you work with. Sometimes they hack the emails of your supplier to send the invoice, so the email address is genuine, but the payment details are changed to those owned by the fraudster. It’s sensible to call your suppliers on the number on their website to verify their payment details before you pay new account details for the first time.

Steps you can take to protect against invoice fraud:

• Check invoices carefully
  All staff who process supplier invoices and have the authority to change bank details should check supplier names, addresses, invoice amount and bank details to ensure they’re correct.
• Verify payment changes
  If a supplier asks to update their payment details, always verify it with them by calling the number on their website.
• Follow up invoice payments
  When you pay a supplier invoice, let the supplier know the payment has been made, confirming the amount and bank details paid into.
• Check bank statements carefully
  Report all suspicious debits to your bank immediately.
• Call suppliers back
  If you are suspicious about a phone request, say you’ll call the supplier back. Use the number published on their website or saved to your phone so you know it’s the genuine number you’re calling.
• Review public information about your suppliers
  Fraudsters often thoroughly research suppliers of organisations so that they can convincingly impersonate them. It may be a good idea to remove any information about your suppliers from your website and other public materials.

If someone accesses your business account without your authorisation, we’ll refund the full amount of money taken from your account, as long as you:

• have not given someone else your security details (including your digipass PIN)
• have used reasonable care when using internet banking (e.g. logging out at the end of each internet banking session and not leaving your computer unattended while logged in)
• inform us as soon as possible of any security breach or potential breach
• have not acted fraudulently
• have taken all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal and financial details. Read our terms and conditions below for more

When you send money, we will check with the bank you’re sending money to that the name on the account matches the bank details you’ve provided, and let you know if they don’t.

One of the following results will appear on your screen:

The recipient account name is a match

Means the recipient account name you entered matches the payee’s account name.

The recipient name you gave us is a close match, but not exactly the same as the name held on the account

Means the recipient name you gave us is a close match to the name held on the account but not an exact match. We will show the name on the account you’re paying to help you decide whether it’s the right person. You should also double-check the details and request another CoP check before sending any payment.

The recipient name you gave us is not the same as the name held on the account

Means the recipient name you gave us is different to the name held on the account. You should double-check the details and request another CoP check, otherwise your money could be sent to the wrong account.

It is important to be aware that if you choose to go ahead anyway, and the account does not belong to the intended recipient, we may not be able to get your money back.

The recipient bank account does not exist

Means it may be that the recipient account sort code or account number has been entered incorrectly, or the account may be closed. You will need to check with the recipient if their details are correct before you are able to make a payment. If an account does not exist, the payment can't be made.

Unable to check the name, please try again later

Sometimes we won’t be able to check the name on the account you’re sending money to. That doesn’t mean that anything’s wrong. It could just be that the payee’s bank or building society isn’t using CoP yet.

You can continue with the payment – but always double-check yourself that the account name and details are correct.

We are unable to verify these details with the recipient bank at this time – please check the details before continuing

Sometimes we won’t be able to check the name on the account you’re sending money to. That doesn’t mean that anything’s wrong. It could just be that the payee’s bank or building society isn’t using CoP yet.

You can continue with the payment – but always double-check yourself that the account name and details are correct.

You can amend a standing order through Internet Banking or through the Triodos Mobile Banking App.

From the main menu, click on your account, then the ‘Upcoming’ tab and select the standing order you wish to change. Select ‘amend’.

Input new amount, reference, date, and frequency and follow on-screen instructions to authorise.

To cancel a standing order through Internet Banking or through the Triodos Mobile Banking App.

From the main menu, click on your account, then the ‘Upcoming’ tab and select the standing order you wish to cancel. Select ‘delete’.

• Every claim will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. As part of the process we will consider the evidence presented by you, any service providers involved and – where relevant – a third party, such as the police.
• If your claim is valid, in most cases your business account should be reimbursed within five business days of making a claim. Business days are Monday to Friday and exclude all UK bank holidays and includes additional holidays in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
• In some case it can take up to 35 days to be reimbursed. This is when we need extra time to gather information from you, the bank that received the payment, or a statutory body (such as the Financial Conduct Authority) to inform their assessment of the case.

It can be very difficult to spot a fraudulent call. The best thing you can do if you get an unexpected call – especially if the person is asking you to make a payment or move funds, or rushing you to make a decision – is to call the organisation back on the number published on their website.

Fraudsters may call you or someone in your team and pretend to be a well-known business like BT, the bank, HMRC, the police, a supplier or even another person in your business.

Examples of what a fraudster might ask you to do:

• Move your money to a safe, secure holding account
  Fraudsters often call businesses pretending to be from their bank. They may ask you to move your money to a safe account because of suspected fraud or risk to your account. In reality, this ‘safe’ account is controlled by the fraudster. Hang up and report it to Action Fraud UK and your bank.
  
• Change the payment details of one of your suppliers
  Fraudsters often impersonate suppliers and ask businesses to pay into a new account – controlled by the fraudster. Check the caller is genuinely your supplier by calling back on the number on their website or, better still, by calling your direct contact at the company.
• Download something – software, a programme, app or other online tool
  Fraudsters may tell you there’s something wrong with your computer and it’s not secure. By downloading some software, they’ll be able to fix it for you. They might even offer you compensation or a refund for this inconvenience. In reality, the downloaded software could give them access to your computer. They may ask you to log in to your internet banking so they can issue your refund, when really they’re asking you to authorise payments into their own account. Triodos will never call you out of the blue and ask you to transfer money into another account, or download something onto your device.
• Tell them your Digipass codes
  Your Digipass codes give permission for money to leave your account. Never give these codes, no matter what they tell you. We will never ask you for these codes.
  

If you receive a call from Triodos, we’ll be happy for you to question who we are and call us back on the number published on our website, just to make sure. If you can, call us back from a different phone, as an extra safety precaution. Fraudsters can clone numbers, so it may look like the number we use to call you.

We will never call you to ask you to transfer money or for your Digipass codes, and we will never ask you to download software onto your device. If someone calls pretending to be from Triodos, and they ask you to do these things, hang up immediately and report it to us on 0330 355 0355.

CEO Fraud is when cyber criminals hack into company email accounts, or set up a fake personal email account, to impersonate the CEO, Managing Director or senior staff and ask an employee to make payments to an account managed by the fraudster. They’ll typically target a company's finance department, but may also target other employees who have authority to make payments.

Usually the request sounds urgent, to panic the employee into acting without thinking and going through the usual checks and balances. The kinds of payments they’ll ask you to make are invoices for a supplier, utility or service, or products the company needs.

No-one wants to imagine that one of their employees would commit fraud, but sometimes this happens. There are a few things you can do to protect your organisation:

• Never share your Digipass or PIN
  Digipasses are unique to each account operator, so if you allow someone else to use your Digipass it will be recorded as a payment authorised by you. If you have new staff or need to change an account operator, download the Business Banking change of account operator form and post it to Freepost TRIODOS BANK. We can set up each new staff member with their own Digipass and internet banking access. If you remove an account operator, please send the Digipass back to us.
  
• Employee checks
  Review your recruitment procedures and ensure you’ve got appropriate checks and references in place for candidates hoping to join your organisation, such as criminal record checks and references from previous employers. See the ACAS website for advice.
  
• Be aware of who has access to sensitive information
  Regularly check who can access important data and systems, such as customer or membership data, or financial information. When employees leave your organisation their access should be stopped. Access should only be given to employees who really need access to these systems or data.
• Create a whistleblowing policy
  This can support your employees to anonymously report suspicious activity they see in the organisation. Promote the policy so all staff feel confident and safe in reporting suspicious activity. For more advice on whistleblowing, see the gov.uk website.
  

Fraudsters try getting money from organisations by sending fake emails and texts to gain access to their internet banking details. It can be difficult to spot a fraudulent email, but there are things you can check for clues it’s a fraudulent email.

• Check the sender email address
  Always check the sender’s email address to make sure it’s from the person you think. Fraudsters can change the ‘From’ name so it can look like it’s come from your bank, or a person’s name. If you hover over the name, the sender’s email address should be displayed. If it’s a company email address, an online search of the email address will often tell you if it’s a genuine address.
• Call the sender
  If you get an unusual request from someone you know, asking you to transfer money or download something onto your computer, and the email address looks genuine, there’s a possibility their email account was hacked. To be safe, it’s best to call them to make sure they sent the email and really made the request.
• Look for spelling mistakes
  Scam emails can often look odd, with a messy layout and spelling mistakes.

Common email and text scams to look out for:

• CEO fraud
  Fraudsters email employees pretending to be the owner or CEO of the organisation, asking them to make a payment or transfer.
• Supplier fraud
  Fraudsters pretend to be your supplier letting you know their payment details have changed.
• Invoice fraud
  Fraudsters send fake invoices claiming to be from a real business you work with. Sometimes they hack the emails of your supplier to send the invoice, so the email address is genuine, but the payment details are changed to those owned by the fraudster. It’s sensible to call your suppliers on the number on their website to verify their payment details before you pay new account details for the first time.
• Pretending to be a business
  In these messages, texts or emails, you might be asked to click a link that takes you to a fake website – for example, the website might claim to be the Triodos Bank website (See ‘How to check that a website is genuine’). On this site you could be asked to give your internet banking details. We will never send you a link to the login pages of internet banking.
• Spyware in links
  Some scam emails ask you to download something onto your computer or network – this could be a link to a website or an attachment. This tool could spy on your computer or lock you out until you pay a ransom or reveal your bank security details.
• Smishing (fraudulent text messages)
  These are text messages that appear to be from well-known businesses, claiming you need to click the link to update your details. Often the links are disguised with short links – like bitly links, e.g. https://bit.ly/2kwosxu. Tempting as it is to use the link, contact the company using the details on their website to verify that they sent the text, and that it’s safe to click on the link. Fraudsters will impersonate these companies to obtain your valuable information.