How Confirmation of Payee works

We’ve added another tool into our arsenal for the fight against fraud 💪 Confirmation of Payee gives you an additional shield against authorised push payment (APP) scams and reduces your risk of paying the wrong person by mistake.

What is Confirmation of Payee?

Confirmation of Payee (CoP) is a name-checking service that allows us to verify whether the name, sort code and account number you’ve entered for a recipient matches what their bank holds on file.

It gives you greater reassurance that you’re sending a payment to the intended person and not into someone else’s pockets – fraudster or otherwise.

CoP was introduced by the Payment Systems Regulator in 2020. The six biggest UK banks were required to introduce CoP for their customers, whilst other banks and banking service providers like Tide can choose whether they’d like to or not.

How Confirmation of Payee helps protect you from APP fraud

APP fraudsters are a serious threat to the UK’s small businesses. UK Finance reports that of the £249.1 million lost to APP fraud in the first 6 months of 2022, £40.5 million of that was taken from businesses and other non-personal account users.

By posing as someone from a trusted organisation such as a bank, APP fraudsters trick people into transferring large amounts of money over to them. Once they’ve got your money, they’ll whisk it off to another account before cashing it out, making it difficult to trace.

It’s likely that an APP scammer will give you a fake name to hide their true identity. CoP alerts you to inconsistencies with your recipient’s details, so you’re aware that there could be a risk that you’re getting scammed. It’s there to make you stop, think and check before pressing send on a payment – and it may just save you from losing thousands. If you’re confident that your payment is going to the right person, you can always continue making the payment.

What a Confirmation of Payee check looks like

When you’re adding the recipient for your payment, we’ll ask you for the usual details: account name, account number and sort code. We’ll also ask you for the account type (personal or business). Once you tap ‘add recipient’, we’ll check whether the details you’ve entered match what the recipient’s bank holds on file for them.

Then, we’ll confirm whether:

✅ There’s a complete match

Good news, the recipient’s name you’ve entered matches what their bank holds on file for them.

❌ There’s no match

Warning – the name you’ve entered doesn’t match what your recipient’s bank holds on file for them.

👉 There’s a partial match

It’s close, but the name you’ve entered doesn’t exactly match what the bank holds on record for your recipient. This might not be a red flag, though. A recipient could forget that their account is held in their middle name rather than their first name, for example. If they’re unsure, they can check their account details or ask their bank to confirm.

👀 You’ve entered the wrong details

The details you’ve entered don’t match up with any account at the recipient’s bank.

❗ We’re not able to check

In some cases, the CoP check can’t be completed. This might just be because the recipient’s bank isn’t participating in CoP. Many UK banks do use CoP, but you can check this on the relevant bank’s website.

If it’s not a complete match…

It’s always a good idea to double-check with your intended recipient (using trusted contact details) that they’ve given you the right details, to make sure that your payment doesn’t get sent to the wrong person. Then, you’ll have CoP as an extra check for these details. Remember, we won’t stop you from continuing to make the payment, but you might not be able to get a refund or reimbursement.

If you think you might be the target of a scammer, don’t continue with the payment. Let Action Fraud know on 0300 123 2040. If you’re a Tide member, send us an in-app message for advice.

Payments covered by Confirmation of Payee

Sterling payments transacted in the UK using Faster Payments, CHAPS and Bacs can be checked by CoP. At the moment, foreign currency payments and international payments can’t.

CoP isn’t used for Direct Debits as they’re already covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee, which protects you from incorrect payments and entitles you to a refund if a payment is taken in error.

Get up to date

CoP and our other features are only available in the latest version of the Tide app. So, head to the App Store or Google Play to check that you’ve updated yours.

Knowledge is one of the best defences for your business. Stay in the know about the latest scams affecting small businesses in our ‘Keep your business safe’ series.

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions, published on Unsplash