Barclays chairman victim of identity fraud

A recent report has shown how even the senior manager of a bank can become the victim of identity fraud, after the Barclay’s chairman Marcus Agius fell victim to this crime as the result of a blunder by staff at his own bank. The bank boss suffered a loss of £10,000 as a result of the scam, which occurred because staff members at the credit card division failed to perform the necessary security checks.

An official from the bank stated: "It was down to human error, procedures were not followed fully and we have learned from it. This is an ongoing battle with professional fraudsters. All Barclays customers, from the chairman downwards, have a 100 percent fraud guarantee as long as they take responsible care of their information."

The incident occurred after a fraudster contacted the credit card division and posed as Agius, asking for a new card to be sent to him. Without making the necessary security checks Barclay’s employees complied with the request, and the fraudster then took £10,000 from the boss’s account.

Officials have confirmed that the £10,000 has now been refunded to Mr Agius, as this is the course of action that would have been taken with any other customer in his situation.