Overview
- Automatic billing updaters are services run by card networks and banks that refresh saved card details so subscriptions and wallets keep working when a replacement card is issued.
- Which? collected consumer reports and mystery-shop evidence showing some banks do not allow customers to opt out of the updater and that replacement cards can, in some cases, be linked back to merchants or wallets used by fraudsters.
- Major banks and industry bodies say the updater exists to avoid payment disruption, that many firms apply safeguards such as merchant blocks or carrying over continuous payment authority blocks, and that ABU-related fraud is uncommon.
- Which? is calling for banks to give customers a clear opt-out and to adopt consistent rules for handling ABU after fraud, while no industry-wide policy change or regulation has yet been announced.
- Practical steps for affected customers are to ask their bank to sever merchant links, check subscriptions and digital wallets, monitor statements closely, and report any unrecognised payments immediately.