A CONSERVATIVE councillor has spoken of his concern at reports a bank failed to spot suspicious activity that conned local football club Hamilton Accies out of nearly £1 million.

Local newspaper the Hamilton Advertiser described the club as "at war" with the Royal Bank of Scotland. 

It claims the dispute follows a decision by the bank not to refund £863,000 lost by Accies in an elaborate scam, despite the bank's systems failing to identify as suspicious the movement of large sums from the account.   

Councillor Mark McGeever represents Hamilton West and Earnock.

He said: "I'm concerned by reports the fraud is said to have involved 'several large-scale transactions in a single day', with this being unprecedented activity for the club's account.

"If that is the case, then people will question whether the bank really does enough to protect its customers from fraud.

"RBS should certainly have measures in place to identify and temporarily hold suspicious activity. Where a large transaction is obviously out of place, banks can automatically stop it going through until it is confirmed as valid." 

Club directors, who put their own cash into the club to keep it going, have been told their claim for compensation has been rejected by RBS.

Supporters have since placed stickers stating ‘Give Accies their money back’ on the town's Royal Bank of Scotland cash machines.

Councillor McGeever added: "Businesses and individuals have a responsibility to take cyber security seriously and follow scam prevention advice, but the banks have an equal responsibility to safeguard customers using their online systems.

"If the bank failed to detect massive sums of money leaving an account that is never used in that way, then it has to be asked why it is not taking its share of responsibility for the resulting loss."

To see the report from the Hamilton Advertiser, click: www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/hamilton-accies-war-rbs-after-…;