Metro Bank has become the first UK bank to launch an artificial intelligence-powered scam detection tool, offering customers a quick way to verify suspicious communications.

The Metro Bank Scam Checker, powered by AI company Ask Silver, allows personal and business customers to instantly check whether they are at risk of a scam by using their mobile devices.

Customers can take a photo or screenshot of any suspicious email, website, letter or leaflet and send it via WhatsApp to the Scam Checker service. The AI technology then analyses the content to determine if it's fraudulent and provides safety recommendations within minutes.

Baz Thompson, head of fraud at Metro Bank, said: "This new partnership with Ask Silver is a game changer in protecting customers from fraud and helping to stop crime. We take the security of our customers very seriously and constantly review how we can help them fight fraud. Criminals often play on urgency and speed to trick people into parting ways with their hard-earned cash."

The service comes as scammers increasingly employ sophisticated methods targeting UK finances, including impersonation fraud where criminals pose as trusted organisations to gain access to accounts.

According to UK Finance data, more than £1 billion was lost to fraud including scams in 2023, with more than four in 10 of all crimes in the UK being scams or frauds. For authorised push payment fraud specifically, over three quarters (76 per cent) starts online and 16 per cent through telecommunications networks.

The service is free for Metro Bank customers, who will receive a scam alert on their mobile phone if communication is found to be fraudulent. Ask Silver will also automatically report fraudulent communications to the relevant authorities.

Ask Silver was founded by Alex Somervell and Jonny Pryn after a close family member of Somervell's was scammed out of £150,000, nearly all of their life savings.

Somervell commented: "We're thrilled to join forces with Metro Bank to empower its customers in the fight against fraud and scams. This partnership marks a pivotal step in safeguarding financial security and we hope it's just the beginning. We're building the most human-focussed anti-scam company and partnering with customer-focused financial institutions like Metro Bank is core to that."

Metro Bank emphasised that it would never pressure customers to act quickly or direct them to webpages requesting secure information such as user IDs, passwords, one-time passcodes or PINs. The bank also confirmed it would never discuss account activity or potential fraud via email or ask customers to make payments to another account.

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