Before I retired I was a Fraud Squad DI, and saw the effects of scams on many victims - disproportionately the elderly who tended to have cash available and (sorry to say) tended to be a bit naieve and believe in honesty and trustworthiness. It wasn't only the financial losses, it was the blow to self-confidence, the feeling of having been stupid, and so on.

I am pleased that after much urging in national fora, banks are asking questions when the apparently vulnerable are seeking to undertake unusual transactions. I know personally of cases where vulnerable people were taken to the bank by scammers (that's too insipid a word - I mean by threatening criminal thugs) to withdraw money to pay for 'roof repairs' or 'drive resurfacing' etc. You get my drift.

I'd go further and commend the banks who have trained their staff to be suspicious and call the police - though I'm not confident as to the police response nowadays.

No legitimate business is upset by delays in payment caused by due diligence, and with businesses increasingly being targetted by payment scams most appreciate the efforts to root out this stuff.

When buying a car from a dealer there are degrees of safety. Dealers can operate as limted companies which can rise and fall like a tart's knickers (to quote Princess Di) and you have no chance of redress.

Cash is the riskiest; bank transfers can at least be traced but there's no statutory protection; debit cards offer the remote possibility of a 'chargeback'; credit cards make the credit card company jointly liable with the dealer under s.75 CCA.

(It is unlawful for a dealer to seek to charge extra for payments made by debit or credit cards.)

The safest way is to take out a PCP/HP agreement, even if you pay it off immediately. That way, your contract is with the finance company, not the dealer (in law, the finance company buys the car from the dealer and supplies it to you). The finance company is liable for your rights under consumer legislation and is -crucially- regulated by FCA so the Financial Ombudsman can get involved. best of all, pay a significant deposit on credit card as well. I had an interesting situation where Lloyds Banking Group Mastercard were jointly liable with Lloyds Banking Group (Suzuki Finance Ltd). It worked out ok in the end but was slow yet entertaining.