Do not respond to any email that asks you for information about your internet banking log in details. If you have received a suspicious email, do not respond and call our Contact Team as soon as you can during our opening hours on 0330 355 0355 to check if it is a genuine email.

Our Contact Team is available 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, and 10am-4pm on weekends for fraud related enquiries only.

Outside of these hours you can request a call back using our automated system. Our Contact Team will call you back as close to the time you request as is operational possible. Alternatively please email us at contact@triodos.co.uk from the registered email address we hold for you and mark it urgent in the subject line.

Vishing is where a fraudster uses voice messages or phone calls to try to steal identities, and financial information like your PIN, card details and Digipass code.

The term comes from the combination of ‘phishing’ and ‘voice’. Phishing is where fraudsters use email, regular phone calls and fake websites to dupe people into giving them personal details and financial information.

Vishing is specifically the use of a VOIP service (Voice Over Internet Protocol, or an internet phone service), which enables fraudsters to communicate with their potential victims via automated voice messages and the phone keypad.

Vishers can create fake caller ID profiles so that their phone number seems legitimate, and vishing requests sound urgent, to panic the victim into acting without thinking.

 Examples of vishing:

• Your bank account has been compromised
  You receive call from what appears to be Triodos Bank’s phone number. When you answer, you hear a recording pretending to be from Triodos, saying that your bank account has been compromised, and you need to call a freephone number to reset your security details. Calling this number, you would hear another automated message asking for your bank account number, Digipass code or other personal details via the phone keypad.
• You’re eligible for a loan
  You are offered loan or credit terms too good to be true (they probably are), and to receive the money, you just need to pay an upfront fee or provide your security details.
• You’re due a refund
  You receive a message that says you are due a refund. This is usually someone claiming to be from a trusted organisation. If you opt in – usually by pressing a number on your telephone - you will be redirected to a call centre agent who will attempt to defraud you or steal your information.
• Don’t miss this investment opportunity
  An automated voice message tells you about an investment opportunity too good to turn down. You’ll be encouraged to transfer money to invest in a company or service that doesn’t exist.
• You’ve won a prize
  Victims hear an automated voice message about a free offer or prize, and just need to pay postage, redemption or admin fees to claim. There’s often a deadline to hurry people into handing over their card details.

What you can do

If you receive an unexpected phone call with an automated response, hang up, search for the company’s genuine contact details online and check whether the call was legitimate. If it was, the company will be able to help you, and if it was a vishing attempt, letting the company know enables them to take action, and you will have protected yourself from fraud.

If the call relates to an investment opportunity, check the FCA register to see if the investor is regulated, and confirm the company exists by checking Companies House.

How to report a vishing scam

If you think you have been a victim of a vishing attack, call us immediately on 0330 355 0355. Then report to the FCA using their reporting form.

If you have lost money to suspected investment fraud, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

If you receive a call from Triodos, we’ll be happy for you to question who we are and call us back on the number published on our website, just to make sure. If you can, call us back from a different phone, as an extra safety precaution. Fraudsters can clone numbers, so it may look like the number we use to call you.

We will never call you to ask you to transfer money or for your Digipass codes, and we will never ask you to download software onto your device. If someone calls pretending to be from Triodos, and they ask you to do these things, hang up immediately and report it to us on 0330 355 0355.

We will not charge you for cash withdrawals from any ATM in the UK. However, some ATM providers may charge for using their machines to withdraw cash. There is a charge for withdrawing cash from abroad, please see our tariff for details.

Identity fraud happens when someone steals and uses your personal information to buy products or services. They get hold of this information in many ways - taking post from your bin, looking for information about you online, or contacting you directly, pretending to be from a real organisation.

There are several things you can do – offline and online - to protect your personal information. Here are a few tips.

Protect yourself offline:

1. Shred your post
   Shred or cut up your post before putting it in the bin, so your name and address cannot be stolen.
2. Redirect your post
   If you move house, ask Royal Mail to redirect your post for at least a year.
3. Be tidy
   Don’t leave things like bills or personal documents lying around for others to see. Even on your work desk.
4. Know your bank
   This sounds like an odd one, but knowing how your bank will and won’t contact you can help you spot fraudulent emails, texts or calls claiming to be from your bank. If a bank statement or new bank card doesn’t arrive, tell your bank or card company immediately.

Protect yourself online:

1. Create complex passwords
   Create strong passwords and different passwords for every online account you have (email, online banking, social media, retail websites etc). Avoid using personal information in passwords, like names of family, school, pets, cars. This will reduce the likelihood that someone could guess or hack your password and access other platforms you use. You might find a password management tool useful.
2. Use anti-virus software
   Protect your internet-connected devices with up-to-date security software, and make sure you install all official software updates and security fixes on your devices.
3. Connect with those you know
   Don’t accept invitations from people you don’t know on social media sites.
4. Be wifi wise
   Public wifi connections and Hotspots can be hacked and used to see what you’re doing online. Whilst it’s fine to use public wifi for browsing, never use it for buying something, logging in, online banking, filling in forms – or anything else that requires your personal or card data.
5. Be private
   Double-check that your social media profiles are private so that you’re only sharing information with people you know.
6. Think before you post
   Before you post anything on social media, forums or online platforms, make sure you’re not revealing any personal information – even pictures of your car registration can be used to get your address from DVLA records.

It’s best to cut your card into pieces, making sure to cut through the chip and magnetic strip and put the card in with your normal waste, rather than your recycling. It will still biodegrade more quickly than any other debit card plastic. If possible, don’t put all the pieces of the card in the same bin or with any related documentation such as receipts or statements.

It’s important to keep your codes and PINs secret and your digipass safe. Here are some precautions you can take:

1. Destroy any PIN notification immediately after receiving it from us
2. Never write your PIN or security details in a way that might be understood by someone else or record them on any item or in any place that might be accessed by someone else
3. Take all reasonable care to ensure that no-one sees your PIN, password or security word when you use them.
4. Avoid a PIN that is easy to guess
5. Never share your digipass
6. Keep your digipass in a safe place

We will never contact you to ask you to reveal your internet banking PIN or password and we will never send you any emails asking for your security information.

1. Contact us immediately on 0330 355 0355 (or if abroad on +44 (0)1179 739339) if:

• You’ve lost your card or suspect it has been stolen
• You’ve lost any of your security details or think they have been stolen
• You think someone else may be able to use your card or security details

For card related queries, we're available 24/7. For other fraud related queries, we're available 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, and 10am-4pm weekends.

2. Once you've contacted us:

• We'll ask you for all information you have about the loss or theft and may require you to report it to the police
• If you find your card after reporting it as lost or stolen do not use it. Destroy your card immediately by cutting through both the magnetic stripe and chip

3. Once you’ve let us know, you can also report it to Action Fraud – the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre:

• Call: 0300 123 2040
• Report it online: actionfraud.police.uk
  

Identity theft is when someone steals your personal details. They might go through your post or rubbish to find bank and credit card statements. Or they might use social media sites, forums and other online platforms to steal your personal information.

Identity fraud is when someone uses your stolen identity to buy products or services, like credit cards, loans or mobile phone contracts.

You might not know your identity has been stolen until you get a bill, invoice or delivery for something you didn’t buy. Or until you receive a letter from debt collectors for debts that aren’t yours.

There are ways you can protect yourself, however. Read our How-to guide on how to protect yourself from identity theft and identity fraud.

If you authorised a card payment or any other payment from your account, you will be responsible for it. If your card or security details are used to make a payment or transfer without your permission, we will refund the full amount (minus £35 where applicable) of the payment as soon as is operationally possible. This includes repayment of any interest or charges incurred as a result of the payment. However, you must notify us as soon as possible and no later than 13 months after the debit date. After this time we will not be able to issue a refund.

You may have to pay up to £35 if:

• Your card is used after being lost or stolen
• You fail to keep your security details safe

You may be responsible for money taken from your account up until the point you report it to us, if you:

• Don’t keep your card or security details secure
• Don’t tell us as soon as possible that your card is lost or stolen
• Share your card, digipass or security details with a third party
• You were aware that your account had been compromised at the time that the payment was made and you failed to tell us.

You will not be responsible if you’re unable to notify us because our phone lines are unexpectedly unavailable or closed, as long as you call us when our lines open the next day.

The debit card is made from a 'natural plastic' of compacted renewable resources such as plant leaves and corn. The card itself is now believed to have the strongest environmental credentials of any debit card in the UK market. Only the chip and strip are not recyclable.

You can withdraw up to £300 per day, per account holder, from ATMs accepting MasterCard and LINK globally (subject to available funds in your account) for detail regarding charges for using your card abroad please see out tariff of charges.

Contact us immediately on 0330 355 0355 (or +44 (0)1179 739339 if calling from abroad) if you think you've lost any of your security details or if you think they have been stolen or may be known by someone else.

You can request a password reset letter on our website at any time. This will cancel the old password to prevent access to your account by internet banking using the old password.

Yes - you can use your card wherever you see the Mastercard logo. There are charges for using your card abroad - please see our tariff for details.

We do not offer a facility for emergency cash if you have lost your debit card or it has been stolen. However, you can still access your mobile app or internet banking to make payments from your account.

If you authorise a payment from your account, you will be responsible for it. Where you tell us a payment from your account was not authorised by you, you can ask us for a refund. However, you must notify us as soon as possible and no later than 13 months after the debit date. After this time we will not be able to issue a refund.

We undertake monitoring on customer accounts and transactions to identify suspicious activity that could potentially be fraudulent. If we identify suspicious activity on any of your accounts, we will contact you to verify whether it is genuine. We may delay or decline transactions, or block your account until we can confirm the authenticity of requests received. When we contact you, we will ask you security questions but these will not include any information about your internet banking log in details. If you receive a call claiming to be someone from Triodos Bank and you are suspicious call us back on 0330 355 0355 and our Contact Team will be able to confirm if it was a genuine call.

In order to safeguard your personal information and money we require a three stage login process for internet banking, one of which involves the use of a digipass. This is similar to the card reader facility at some other banks and is used along with other systems to ensure your finances are kept safe. We constantly review our security measures and publish guidance on steps that can be taken to prevent fraud such as the Take 5 campaign through FFA UK.