'I've lost faith in humanity': Scammers using fake banking app to steal thousands of pounds from victims
17 April 2025, 11:42
Criminals are using fake banking apps to scam people out of thousands of pounds, leading one victim to claim he has "lost faith in humanity".
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Anthony Rudd, from Salisbury, lost £1,000 worth of tools after a person offered to buy them using an app which mimics legitimate mobile banking platforms.
The app allowed the fraudster to fake the bank transfer in person and show Mr Rudd a 'successful payment' message, before walking away with the tools without spending a penny.
The Wiltshire technician, now thousands of pounds out of pocket, is one of hundreds of people who have fallen foul to this type of criminal activity.
Mr Rudd told the BBC: "I found it absolutely sickening that you could look someone in the eye, shake their hand, and then rob them."
Dr Tim Day, who is leading in doorstep crime and scams for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), said there had been 500 reports of crimes involving fake banking apps made to Action Fraud in the past three years.
These fake banking apps were available to download onto a Android phone directly from the internet, BBC West Investigations found.
Describing these apps as an 'emerging threat', Mr Day said: 'The in-person nature of this scam is unusual."
Mr Rudd had been selling his tools on social media when he received a message from a profile named Liam Wright, who told him he was interested in viewing them.
The man was invited to Mr Rudd's workshop on February 11, where he checked the tools and offered a bank transfer via what appeared to be a legitimate banking app.
"He handed his phone over to me and I typed in my account details, clicked send, and it came up with a successful payment notification," Mr Rudd said.
"It looked absolutely genuine."
But while he waited for the money to appear in his account, Mr Rudd turned his back to pick up the tool's accessories.
When he went to hand these to the scammer, he found that he had left with the goods. To make matters worse, the money never arrived in Mr Rudd's account.
Mr Rudd was "angered so much" by this "brazen' criminal" that he would eventually resign from his job, due to the "huge impact" it had on his mental health.
Wiltshire Police also told Mr Rudd it will not be taking any further action as it has been unable to identify the suspect.
Dr Day said Mr Rudd's story shows how scams are becoming "more complex and sophisticated" and called on tech companies to be "more engaged" in driving out fraud on online platforms.
"So much of fraud is now happening online that it's easy to drop our guards when dealing with people in person," he said.
"It gives us a false sense of security but fraud and scams are just as likely to happen in this space.
"The amount of money which is available as a result of fraud is so huge and the relative levels of enforcement possible means it's a crime type which is attracting more and more professional criminals," he added.
A Google spokesperson said the "safety and security of users is our top priority."
