Odd email from Monzo

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1

My father recently received an odd KYC question and was wondering if it was real. The email seems to be correct but could have been spoofed. The text is:
Hi David,

As a regulated bank, from time to time we need to reach out to our customers to gain further information. We need to ask you some questions as part of our ongoing Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.

  • Could you let us know if yourself or any member of your family (or anyone you know well) is a politician or employed in a public-facing role?

If youā€™d like to know more about our KYC checks and why itā€™s important we make them throughout our customer journeys, you can read more by [tapping here].

Kind regards,

2

I expect Monzo have a PEP suspicion and need to make sure that the customer is not, in fact, a PEP

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3

ā€˜Employed in a public facing roleā€™ would include anyone who works in a shop. Seems like the email from Monzo could use some context for Joe Public.

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4

Do you have the URL from that link?
DONā€™T tap on it, just copy it

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5

Is you dad called Boris, coz if yes then I can see where theyā€™re going with this

Get him to ask in app chat if heā€™s not sure if itā€™s legit

6

This is the type of thing that banks would ask, butā€¦

ā€¦ if it is Monzo they are doing the wrong thing and are training customers to fall for phishing scams.

For this sort of thing they really need to be asking through the app: verification works two ways.

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7

Iā€™ll take a little look into this one :eyes:

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8

Yeah this, had to send these out before. Banks have additional regulation / responsibilities around PEPs and itā€™s part of KYC regulation to identify who they are.

This is a good reason to give your kids unique names :smile:. ā€˜Mohammed Mohammedā€™ or ā€˜Greg Jonesā€™ or whatever are always getting flagged.

9

If this is Monzo they need to word that better. Public facing role includes a heck of a lotā€¦

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10

I would have thought heā€™d be contacted in app, unless maybe they can see heā€™s not logged in?

The question does sound legitimate, I spotted this on twitter once.

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11

Hey @danieljohnson880 :wave:

This does seem to be in the format of a message that we would send as part of our checks but if your dad does have any concern heā€™d be able to reach out to us directly over the phone, by emailing us separately or if chat is an option in the app yet (I appreciate that youā€™ve said heā€™s mid application).

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12

Received this email myself last week, too. Agree that banks absolutely should not be conducting these checks via email - it legitimises phishing activities. I got asked for my last 5 years of address history. No idea why or what the outcome will be but likely to be making sure I have a backup bank account when I get back to the UK.

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14

Thanks! Iā€™d really suggest that the copy gets updated.