Stay safe from fraud

We’re dedicated to protecting all of our Tide members from the industry-wide threat of fraud.

Our tips below cover common fraud tactics and how to avoid them, as well as how to get in touch if you feel you’re being or have been scammed.

How to report fraud

Noticed a strange transaction? Given your details to a suspicious contact?

If you think you’ve been scammed, report it immediately to our Fraud Rapid Response Team by:

Calling 159 (supported by Stop Scams UK) if you're in the UK

Using your Tide app's messaging service by tapping 'Support' > 'Report fraud'

Emailing us at hello@tide.co

All contact options are available 24/7, and all except 159 are available wherever you are in the world.

Report it once through your preferred option and we’ll take it from there.

How to be sure before you send money or provide information

If you feel you’ve been contacted by a fraudster, follow these steps to best protect yourself:

Take 5

Fraudsters often use urgency to influence you.

Official organisations will never pressure you into making a payment or giving your personal details.

Simply taking a moment to stop and consider the message can really help.

Check the details

Does the email address look right? Is the phone number officially registered?

Searching the web address and contact information of a message will give you a better idea of whether it’s genuine.

If you’re concerned, ask us before making a payment - and if you do make it be sure to pay with your card.

Restart the conversation

If a message seems suspicious, don’t reply to it directly.

Restart the conversation through official helplines. You can then ask that organisation if they sent you the message.

This is even more important if you’re being asked to make a payment. Always call us or message us through your app before moving money.

Preventing fraud from happening

Fraudsters can use clever tactics to try to access your finances and personal information.

By understanding how some scams may work, you can spot them more easily:

Using personal information

Fraudsters can obtain personal information from many sources, including unsecured websites, social media and even the contents of your bin.

They can use this to clone legitimate legitimate phone numbers or to tell you your transaction history to win you over.

This is why it’s important to take care with what you share online, keep personal documents such as bank statements safe and make sure they’re unreadable when you throw them away.

Impersonating others

By impersonating a genuine organisation, they can convince you to do as they say.

They can appear to be official by creating fake webpages, using very similar email addresses - and can even send a fake message within a thread of genuine ones.

Be sure to restart conversations through official websites or points of contact so you know who you are talking to.

Making demands

Once they’ve convinced you, they’ll ask you to carry out a harmful action.

This can include sending money, sharing personal information about yourself or others, or making you download malicious apps or software.

Always make sure you have 100% trust in who's asking you to carry out these actions.

As almost all fraud begins by someone pretending to be an organisation you know, it helps to know how official organisations will contact you, and what they will and won’t ask from you:

Pretending to be Tide

Common scam:

Asking for your personal details, including login details, QR codes and one-time passcodes, or asking you to move money.

How to spot it:

We’ll never ask you for any verification codes, one-time passcodes, your account balance, your full card number or the 3 security code digits on the back of your card.

We’ll never ask you to move money - even if your account is compromised. We’ll simply block it and secure it instead.

We’ll never ask you to scan QR codes.

Your Tide app's chat is completely secure - you’ll always be talking to us through it.

We’ll only ever contact you about suspected fraud in your account via your Tide app’s chat.

Pretending to be HMRC

Common scam:

Asking for money or personal details by phone, text or email - usually concerning unpaid tax or a tax rebate.

How to spot it:

HMRC will never contact you by text or email concerning a tax rebate or refund - they will only send a letter.

They will never call you to ask to make a payment.

Scam emails usually begin with a generic greeting such as ‘Dear Sir’. HMRC will always use your name, though fraudsters may have accessed this as well.

Pretending to be a person of authority

Common scam:

Pretending to be the police, your electricity company or your landlord and asking you for money urgently ‘to avoid legal action’.

How to spot it:

Rather than replying to the email or text, start a new conversation through official company helplines or your landlord’s saved details to ask about the message.

Official organisations will never hurry you into making a decision.

If there are legitimate legal consequences, official organisations will be on your side and provide support to try and avoid this.

How to avoid becoming a ‘money mule’

A ‘money mule’ is a person who lets someone else use their bank account to transfer money. The bank account holder may keep a portion of this money for themselves.

If you are involved in this type of activity, it can lead to you facing criminal charges because of your involvement, whether you knew you were part of the process or not.

You can be scammed into taking part, which commonly works by the fraudster first obtaining money illegally. To hide the source of the money from authorities, the fraudster will want to move the money through your account.

The fraudster will gain your trust and ask if they can transfer you money, before asking you to send the money back to them. If you do this, you would be taking part in the criminal act of money laundering.

To ensure you don't become a money mule make sure you:

Only ever receive money from someone you trust completely

Never agree to receive money which you’ll then send back to another account

Never send money on behalf of someone, even if they say you can keep a percentage

If you let someone use your bank account to transfer money, you may be laundering criminal funds. This money could be used to fund serious organised crime. If you get caught doing this, you could get a criminal record.

You can learn more here.

What to do if you’ve been a victim of fraud

Report it to us

Call our Fraud Rapid Response Team 24/7 on 159 (supported by Stop Scams UK). Or use your Tide app by tapping 'Support' > 'Report fraud'.

Contact Action Fraud

This is the UK’s national centre for fraud and cybercrime.

You should alert them to your issue as well for a greater chance of recovering funds and preventing further harm.

Check your statements

Look out for strange transactions. If you spot any, freezing your card through your Tide app could prevent further harm.

To do this, tap More > My cards > Freeze card temporarily. Once the issue is resolved you can unfreeze it here.

What we’ll do when you report fraud

When you report a potential or actual fraud case to us, we’ll first ask you a few questions to better understand the situation.

Once we have the information we need, our expert team will investigate for you. This may involve cooperating with other financial institutions to achieve the best possible outcomes.

We won’t be able to update you with details of our investigations, as we are legally obliged not to. This is because if we provide any information concerning an active case, it could be seen as ‘tipping off’, and negatively affect the success of the case and the security of our members.

However, we’ll keep you updated with the status of the case, and provide a full description of the outcome once the case is completed.

Find victim support

If you’ve been a victim of fraud, you can visit Stop Scams UK for a dedicated support helpline, Which? for help with the stress of a fraud attack, and Victim Support for free emotional and practical help in moving forward.

Learn more about fraud

Together we can beat fraud. For more resources to help you avoid scams, you can visit Take Five for more information on fraud, Action Fraud to stay on top of the latest scams,and the Financial Conduct Authority’s ScamSmart page for help with investment and pensions scams.