Online shopping anti-fraud scheme delayed

A new system designed to tackle fraud in online shopping has been delayed for 18 months.

Banks and retailers had been expected to introduce a new layer of security from mid-September.

This would normally see a passcode sent to a customer’s mobile phone at the point of checkout for online purchases of £28 or more.

However, following pressure from the industry, the City regulator has effectively granted an 18-month delay.

Jonathan Davidson, from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said: “The FCA has been working with the industry to put in place stronger means of ensuring that anyone seeking to make payments is not a fraudster.

“While these measures will reduce fraud, we want to make sure that they won’t cause material disruption to consumers themselves, so we have agreed a phased plan for their timely introduction.”

An estimated £671m was lost to fraud on UK payment cards in 2018, a 19% increase on the previous year.