Coventry Building Society ^{R&D Centre}

In the United Kingdom, the Coventry Building Society offers a service to monitor accounts for financial fraud and exploitation. The bank’s software identifies a transaction that is unusual for the customer because of its size, timing, or location. The customer is contacted and asked to confirm the transaction. While speaking to the customer, the staff of the branch or call center raises the issue of fraud in a sensitive way; for example, by saying, “We would like you to be aware that scam artists sometimes use the following technique [technique described]. If you feel you may have been affected by this situation, please call us back.” The suspect transaction is delayed for a few hours—within the legal time limit—to allow time for the customer to reflect on the antifraud message. Experience shows that many customers realize within a few hours that they have been subjected to fraud and call back to cancel the transaction.