With almost half of all UK businesses having experienced attempted or actual fraud and a 40% increase in digital scams last year, Lloyds Bank Agriculture has run an online seminar for farm agents, solicitors and advisers across the South West in an effort to stem the rising tide of attempts to swindle farmers.

The seminar, which ran on 3 September and featured sessions from fraud specialists and the police, was introduced by Steve Thompson, Lloyds Bank Agriculture’s senior manager in Cornwall and South Devon. He said that while higher payment limits made commercial bank accounts a target for fraudsters, farm businesses were even more at risk.

“Criminals know farmers are often busy and at remote locations, and don’t have time to check credentials if contacted,” explained Steve. “But we also see a spike of attempts in the autumn and winter just after subsidy payments land and before they are allocated to investment or pay off debt.”

He added that the impact of a fraud could be quite devastating over and above the direct financial loss experienced. “It usually affects insurance premiums and takes a huge amount of time and energy to sort out. It can also have a long term impact on the victim’s confidence.”

Lloyds Bank fraud specialist Chris Fawcett used the seminar to outline three common scams aimed at farmers. He said telephone ‘vishing’ was the most frequent and usually involved someone calling from what appeared to be the bank’s telephone number to confirm a recent fraudulent transaction or alerting to unusual activity on the account.

“This shocks the target, who is then invited to call the bank back so as to be confident the call is genuine – but the line is left open so the fraudsters can intercept the return call,” explained Chris. “The target is then encouraged to disclose a password or reader number, or transfer the funds to a ‘safe account’. Sadly, they discover afterwards they have been defrauded.

“The reality is that banks will never ask you to disclose your online passwords and access codes over the phone or ask you to transfer money – so be very wary. You can also call the bank back from a different phone, or wait at least five minutes to call them back so the line closes back down.”

Chris said the similarly-named ‘phishing’ involved email scams and potentially imitation websites, but a rapidly rising threat was fraudulent invoice scams, which often used the name of a genuine company already supplying the farm business.

“For example, the farmer might receive an email advising that their feed supplier has changed bank accounts; he amends the account details and the next time a genuine invoice comes through, the payment goes into the new, fraudulent account. The fraud is only discovered when the feed supplier chases the unpaid bill. We’ve seen increasing numbers of farm businesses being targeted recently.”

Fraud prevention officer Tony Blake from the Police Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit joined the seminar to advise that his team was currently liaising with 30 police forces around the country about the issue of fraud against farming businesses, and in the autumn would be working with the farming unions to raise awareness in the run up to the issue of subsidy payments.

“There is no silver bullet to stopping fraud attempts on your bank account,” said Tony. “But taking time to understand the scams and being suspicious of proactive advances go a long way to helping keep your business safe.”

More handy tips and case studies are available from the booklet ‘Fraud Guidance’, published by Lloyds Bank to help customers keep their bank accounts and money safe. A copy can be downloaded from the ‘Article Hub’ at www.lloydsbank.com/agriculture.