Monzo Unveils Trio of Industry-First Security Controls to Help Stop Fraudsters in Their Tracks

Monzo, the UK’s largest digital bank, has announced a trio of new industry-first security controls in another move to help protect customers from fraud and give them increased peace of mind when transferring money out of their accounts. This comes as the latest UK Finance figures show fraud remains a huge problem across society – with innocent victims losing over £1 billion to criminals in the last year alone.

The controls, which are called Known Locations, Trusted Contacts and Secret QR codes, are opt-in for customers and will be rolled out over the coming weeks. Customers need to have at least two of these controls set up and can choose the limits at which each control is activated when making bank transfers or instant access savings withdrawals from pots.

These controls, which are in addition to Monzo’s biometric or PIN authentication and fraud checks, add a much needed moment of pause while in the process of transferring money out of an account, encouraging people to stop and think about whether they’re being targeted by fraudsters.

The controls aim to help combat fraud that happens as a result of phone theft, shoulder surfing (when someone looks over your shoulder to steal access to personal information like your PIN) and impersonation scams, which impact thousands of people across the UK every day. According to recent crime statistics in England and Wales, phones are now stolen more often than cash and credit cards, and the latest UK Finance figures reveal victims lost £136.2m to impersonation scams last year alone.

Keeping customers’ money safe with three additional controls:

• Known Locations: Customers choose known locations like home or work that they need to be in when making bank transfers or savings withdrawals over their chosen limit. If they are outside of their chosen known location, the transfer will not complete.
• Trusted Contacts: Customers can invite a trusted friend or family member who uses Monzo to help check whether a transaction over their chosen limit looks safe or is suspicious before they make the transfer or savings withdrawal.
• Secret QR Code: Customers receive a personalised, highly-secure QR code that’s stored on a different device or printed and which they need alongside their phone to approve a payment or savings withdrawal over their chosen limit. It only works when scanned in the Monzo app and it doesn’t include any personal information or allow access to the account on its own

These new controls follow the launch of Monzo’s industry-first Call Status tool that tackles impersonation scams by letting customers check in-app whether they’re on the phone to Monzo or not.

Monzo’s Call Status Tool has been used to report over 4,000 fraud attempts so far this year.

Priyesh Patel, Senior Staff Engineer at Monzo, said: “As fraudsters become more and more sophisticated we’re continuing to invest to outpace their tactics and keep our customers’ money safe. Whether it’s choosing your safety radius with Known Locations or having a trusted contact sense-check your payments before you make them, these features offer customers peace of mind and force a much-needed moment of pause in a high-stakes situation. With best-in-class technology, security experts and a priority to prevent fraud at the source, these controls are great additions to our security toolkit, with much more to come.”

Mark Tierney, CEO of Stop Scams UK said: “Monzo’s new safety controls are a hugely welcome innovation that will help keep people safe against fraud. The emotional impact of fraud, alongside financial loss, underscores the importance of Monzo’s proactive approach. By leveraging technology and expertise, these controls aim to stop fraudsters in their tracks before they can inflict harm and ruin people’s lives.”