NatWest has issued an alert to people to beware of cryptocurrency scams.
The bank said it has prevented millions of pounds from being sent to "crypto-criminals".
These frauds typically involve criminals posting adverts online carrying a bogus celebrity endorsement on a fake website with an article promoting cryptocurrency. Investors are asked to complete a contact form and the criminal uses these details to follow up with a telephone call.
During the call the fraudster, posing as a cryptocurrency trader, helps the victim open a wallet with a cryptocurrency trading platform and in the process persuades the victim to install remote access software onto their computer.
Initially the victim transfers a small amount of money to the wallet, but over time they are persuaded to invest far larger sums. Remote access software is then used to empty the victim's cryptocurrency wallet.
NatWest is offering customers free software to help with added online protection and recently introduced a manage my limits feature online which enables customers to restrict the amount of money that can be transferred out of their account.
Jason Costain, head of fraud prevention at NatWest, said: "We have prevented millions of pounds from being sent to crypto-criminals who are exploiting the high levels of interest in the currency. However, consumers should always be alert, especially to the use of fake websites and bogus celebrity endorsements."
NatWest's top tips to avoid a cryptocurrency scams
If you have been contacted by a "trader" promising large profits and offering to help you invest in cryptocurrency, this is a likely to be a scam
Always have control of your cryptocurrency wallet. If you did not set the wallet up yourself or a cryptocurrency trader persuaded you to download remote access software onto your computer, this could be a sign of a scam. You should stop making payments immediately
Follow Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)advice and check the cryptocurrency firm you are dealing with has been approved by them, you can do that here
The scam alert comes after news earlier this week that complaints to the financial ombudsman about transfer scams and banking services have soared by 60 per cent in the last 12 months.
Gripes about banking products, such as current accounts, and complaints about unaffordable loans were behind the big upswing.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which resolves disputes when consumers and firms cannot agree, said the overall number of new complaints received increased by two per cent annually in the financial year 2020/21 to 278,033.
The service also received more than 18,000 complaints from victims of fraud and scams - about 40 per cent of the cases it saw involved authorised payment fraud including authorised push payment or APP scams, where people were tricked into transferring money to a fraudster.
While consumers' actions in some cases mean they might not be eligible for a refund, if someone has been a victim of an APP scam, firms' starting point should be to reimburse them, the service said.
Find out more about how Natwest is tackling fraud at https://personal.natwest.com/personal/fraud-and-security.html
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