The truth is, we can never know for sure if the payment you are about to make is a scam or not. What we can do is use what we’ve learnt from previous cases of fraud to prevent new ones. For example, we’ll block transactions that are identified as a high risk payment. We appreciate that at times this may come as a surprise to customers looking to make certain payments, but we do this with the best intentions. The decision to block a payment destination is not one we take lightly. 

See our page on how to protect yourself from fraud for more information: https://www.starlingbank.com/mobile-banking-security/fraud/