Lloyds Banking Group has warned that millions of UK bank account holders are putting themselves at greater risk of fraud by ignoring warnings from the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service.

CoP, which was launched in 2019, is a service used when sending money online to someone that hasn't been paid before. It confirms whether or not the details entered match the account of the person or organisation being paid.

The checks aim to help consumers stop payments going to the wrong account by spotting possible mistakes and adding extra security to prevent fraud.

According to research from the bank, eight per cent of UK adults who hold a bank account admit to proceeding with a payment without making any further checks when CoP tells them the details aren’t an exact match.

Only 47 per cent said they would carry out further checks before proceeding with a transaction when receiving a CoP unavailable message – which usually means the recipient bank or payment services provider isn’t signed up to the service, so the account details can’t be automatically checked.

Less than half – 41 per cent – of respondents said that they are familiar with CoP and understand how it works. While under a quarter would recognise that a no match message means they could be getting scammed.

“Fraudsters are trying to steal people’s money all the time, they never stop," said Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director, Lloyds Bank. "We’re talking about organised crime gangs, constantly inventing new scams to dupe victims out of their hard earned cash.

"So when you’re making a bank transfer and a warning flashes up to say that the account details don’t match, or can’t be checked at all, that should set alarm bells ringing straight away.

"Stop, take notice and think about why that could possibly be the case. There’s a big chance it’s because you’re being scammed."

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