This post has been previously published by The Times.

More than five million British banking customers are to be barred from buying cryptocurrencies within days amid concerns that trading platforms are riddled with fraudsters.

The Times has learnt that TSB is preparing to block its customers from sending money to trading sites such as Binance and Kraken because it believes scammers are being allowed to set up e-wallets and steal people’s money because of weak security checks.

The bank is particularly concerned about Binance, one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, registered in the Cayman Islands.

It said 849 TSB savers reported losing money to scammers with Binance accounts between March 15 and April 15. The bank claimed that when it tried to raise concerns, it received no response from the company. Binance claims it did not receive any of TSB’s messages.