NatWest limits Crypto Payments following reports of £329 million in customer losses to scams

NatWest has announced limitations on crypto-payments as part of an effort to protect customers from crypto-scams.

Over £329 million was lost by crypto consumers last year. In response the bank will place a £1000 daily limit and a £5000 30 day limit on cryptocurrency exchanges.

Criminals play on potential victims lack of understanding of the cryptocurrency market and will encourage victims to invest with promises of high-return. The exchanges are often set up in the victims name either by the criminal or by a victim under duress from said criminals.

Head of fraud protection at NatWest Stuart Skinner said: ''You should always have sole control of your cryptocurrency wallet and nobody else should have access. If you didn’t set the wallet up yourself or can’t access the money then this is likely to be a scam.

“We have seen an increase in the number of scams using cryptocurrency exchanges and we are acting to protect our customers.”

Adding to the risk, cryptocurrency is not protected by the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The FCA recently closed down a few UK crypto ATMS due to them not being regulated and therefore illegal.

NatWest has provided further guidance to help keep their customers save while pursuing crypto including:
• Never sharing the password of a crypto wallet with anyone, even if a crypto investor says they need it to deposit money.
• Reading all information slowly and carefully when pursuing an investment – keeping an eye out for typos and grammatical mistakes can signal a website is dubious.
• Be wary of giveaways – social media is awash with crypto criminals using fake messages from well known companies and celebrities promoting giveaways to fake accounts. Even responses within the advertisements are often faked.

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