Met chief suggests banks should not refund online fraud victims

Bernard Hogan-Howe accused of victim blaming after saying cybercrime is made worse by people with poor web security

Britain's most senior police officer has been accused of attempting to shift blame on to victims of online fraud after he suggested consumers should not be refunded by banks if they fail to protect themselves from cybercrime.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner, said customers who had fallen foul of online fraudsters were being "rewarded for bad behaviour" instead of incentivised to update anti-virus software and improve passwords.