Nearly 1% of bank account applications come from criminals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33348702

The use of bank accounts used by criminals to commit online fraud has risen to such a level, in my opinion, that banks should be required to take fingerprints when opening new accounts. Though many people would have concerns about this, if they knew the risks these accounts posed to them, they might think differently.

2 July 2015

Current accounts have become the number one target for financial fraudsters in the UK, according to data company Experian.

In the first quarter of 2015, it said that 0.89% of applications for current accounts came from criminals.

I'm surprised they don't take prints when you open an account there in the UK, Terrance.

Here in CA ( I don't know about other areas of the USA), it is a must, and also on every check you deposit into your account if you go into a branch to deposit it. At least on personal accounts. Business accounts might be treated differently.

I use ATM deposits just to avoid leaving a thumbprint on every transaction I do.

I'm surprised they don't take prints when you open an account there in the UK, Terrance.

Here in CA ( I don't know about other areas of the USA), it is a must, and also on every check you deposit into your account if you go into a branch to deposit it. At least on personal accounts. Business accounts might be treated differently.

I use ATM deposits just to avoid leaving a thumbprint on every transaction I do.

That's interesting to hear HillBilly. The area of crime I am dealing with mostly at the moment, vehicle ad scams, is largely based solely on the ease of opening bank accounts used in fraud and, if you multiply that up against the other areas of crime in which they are used, not to mention benefit fraud, the cost to the country and taxpayer must be incredible. in one news story a person had control of over 700 bank accounts !

It is now so easy to perform fraud in the UK using bank accounts opened fraudulently that even the authorities have suggested that funds accumulated in this way are used to finance terrorism.

Though I have seen news articles where these accounts have been used to defraud banks (but banks never openly admit it), the fraudsters will learn better how to use them. When that happens banks will make changes.

The fact that the accounts are treated as disposable by the criminals only demonstrates how bad the current system is.