Jeremy Clarkson once fell victim to an account takeover. The payment solutions provider SmarterPay can help local authorities avoid getting caught out too.

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, most famous for Top Gear and Clarkson’s Farm, once published his bank details to try and prove the uproar over the loss of personal data in a 2008 incident was really a fuss about nothing. His taunt to would-be thieves backfired. Before long, someone had used his details to create a £500 Direct Debit to the charity Diabetes UK. Five-hundred pounds poorer, Clarkson magnanimously admitted he was ‘wrong’.

Today, we are all much more aware of the dangers of an account takeover like the one that left Clarkson out of pocket. This is particularly the case with local authorities. But being aware is one thing; having the right systems in place to ensure maximum protection is quite another. The independent Hull-based payment solutions provider SmarterPay has devised a solution which they say ‘slams the door shut on fraudsters using account takeover to drain bank accounts.

SmarterPay Secure Signup is next level fraud prevention that merges open banking with Direct Debit sign up. Using open banking account information services to verify bank account details and ownership, as part of the process of setting up a Direct Debit online the customer is taken to their online bank account to log in and verify their identity. And the sign up is seamless, according to SmarterPay, as the account number and sort code are automatically assigned to the Direct Debit instruction.

Ultimately, what this means is that only the bank account owner can set up a Direct Debit. On top of that, using details direct from the customer’s bank account removes the chance of errors, such as transposing a digit during manual input.

Phil Chilvers, chief operating officer at SmarterPay, said: ‘Account takeover fraud is a terrifying and growing phenomenon in the UK; unauthorised fraud losses totalled a massive £700m-plus in 2023 alone.

‘The impact of having your bank account compromised and your hard-earned money siphoned off must not be underestimated. And now, it can be stopped. SmarterPay Secure Signup has been designed specifically to help our customers protect their business, implementing more controls over the collections process and preventing this type of Direct Debit fraud.’

SmarterPay’s Direct Debit Management solution customers can access SmarterPay Secure Signup as a simple add-on; deploying it gives them and their own Direct Debit customers peace of mind through the best available protection against account takeover fraud.

To learn more about SmarterPay and the payment solutions it has to offer local authorities visit its website here or meet the team at this year’s LGA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2025 (1-3 July) in Liverpool.