Horrified when the debit card for my long-unused English bank account was refused in a shop, I rang said bank and demanded an explanation, since I was certain that I had enough money in there to cover it. Apparently, the fact that I was in Spain, had not used the account in nearly a year and it was a three-figure sum flagged up a possible fraud as it did not fit in with my  ‘usual spending pattern’.

Thanks to neural networks that track customers’ spending behaviour and alert bank staff to anything out of the ordinary, credit and debit card fraud fell by 5% last year in the UK - and Barclays reported a 30% decrease. The neural network, or fraud management software, takes note of where, how much, and when money is spent and what it is spent on. On-line and telephone payments will also be kept under careful surveillance with the new Chip and Pin system, which has been introduced in France, Spain and the UK - card payments are made in stores by typing your PIN number into an entry pad at the till, either as well as or instead of checking your signature. So, it may be a pain and highly embarrassing when your card is declined at the check-out, but rest assured, it is for our own good.