Monzo unveils a trio of industry-first security controls to help stop fraudsters in their tracks

Monzo, the UK’s largest digital bank, has announced a trio of new industry-first security controls in a bid to protect customers from fraud and give them greater peace of mind when money transfers from their accounts. It comes as latest figures from the UK Treasury show fraud remains a huge problem in society – with innocent victims losing more than £1 billion to criminals in the last year alone last.

The controls, called Known Locations, Trusted Contacts and Secret QR Codes, are optional for customers and will be rolled out over the coming weeks. Customers must have at least two of these controls configured and can choose the limits at which each control is activated during bank transfers or instant access savings withdrawals from pots.

These controls, in addition to Monzo’s biometric or PIN authentication and fraud controls, add a much-needed moment of pause to the process of transferring money from an account, encouraging people to stop and to think about whether they are the target of fraudsters.

These measures aim to combat fraud related to phone theft, shoulder surfing (when someone looks over your shoulder to steal access to your personal information like your PIN) and identity theft scams. , which affect thousands of people in the UK every day. According to the latest crime statistics in England and Wales, phones are now stolen more often than cash and credit cards, and the latest figures from the UK Department of Finance reveal that victims have lost 136, £2million from identity theft scams last year alone.

Protect customer money with three additional controls:

• Known Locations: Customers choose known locations like their home or work where they need to be when making bank transfers or savings withdrawals beyond the chosen limit. If they are outside the chosen known location, the transfer will not be completed.
• Trusted Contacts: Customers can invite a trusted friend or family member who uses Monzo to help them check whether a transaction over their chosen limit looks safe or suspicious before transferring or withdrawing savings.
• Secret QR Code: Customers receive a highly secure, personalised QR code, stored on another device or printed out, which they need with their phone to approve a payment or savings withdrawal over their chosen limit. It only works when scanned in the Monzo app and does not include any personal information or allow access to the account itself.

These new checks follow the launch of Monzo’s industry-first Call Status tool, which tackles identity theft scams by allowing customers to check in the app to see if they are on the phone with Monzo or not.

Monzo’s call status tool has been used to report more than 4,000 fraud attempts so far this year.

Priyesh Patel, Principal Engineer at Monzo, said: “As fraudsters become more sophisticated, we continue to invest to get ahead of their tactics and keep our customers’ money safe. Whether it’s choosing your safe radius with known locations or having a trusted contact verify your payments before making them, these features give customers peace of mind and require them to take a moment well-deserved break in a high-stakes situation. With cutting-edge technology, security experts, and a focus on preventing fraud at the source, these controls are great additions to our security toolbox, with many more to come.

Mark Tierney, CEO of Stop Scams UK, said: “Monzo’s new security controls are a much-welcomed innovation that will help protect people from fraud. The emotional impact of fraud, as well as the financial losses, highlights the importance of Monzo’s proactive approach. Leveraging technology and expertise, these checks aim to stop fraudsters before they can cause harm and ruin people’s lives. »