Santander bans swear words when sending money after abusers use 1p bank transfers to bypass restraining orders
18 July 2024, 14:47 | Updated: 18 July 2024, 15:10
Santander has banned customers from sending money with references that include swearing and profanities after the bank flagged a dramatic rise in abusive messages.
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It's been revealed that the payment reference box, usually used by customers to detail the transfer of funds, is now being hijacked by opportunist abusers as a means of bypassing restraining orders.
It follows a sharp rise in the number of abusive messages sent via the bank's app.
The high street lender has now taken the decision to ban all swear words and abusive language when sending payments, highlighting transfers have recently been used to send death threats- some for as little as 1p.
According to the bank, users attached single words to the penny transfers - in one instance, spelling out the sentence: “I” “am” “going” “to” “find” “you” “and” “kill” “you” using nine transfers.
Santander is not the only bank to ban the use of profanities, with other high street lenders joining suit, The Telegraph reports.
The UK is not alone when it comes to the problem, with Australian lender Commonwealth Bank noting it had blocked 400,000 “insidious” transactions that had been flagged as containing offensive language in a single year.
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Santander noted that this has become an industry wide move where payments are concerned.
A Santander spokesperson said: “Sadly, we’ve seen an increase in the number of customers receiving abusive messages and threats via faster payment messages.
“This can include customers in abusive relationships or those that have put restraining orders in place to protect themselves, and go on to receive death threats and targeted abuse in payments being made to them.
“We hope that this new guidance will help our most vulnerable customers and protect them from any further suffering.”
Santander is a member of the retail payments authority, also known as PayUK.
Under the rules, banks must block a selection of keywords but those currently banned are not known to stop senders - including abusers - from bypassing the safety measures.
