Sam Little, a 35-year-old former contestant of BBC show The Traitors, thought he was savvy. But he lost £40,000 of life savings to a phishing scam. "I like to think I'm savvy, but it can catch anyone," he said. His experience is part of a record wave of fraud: four million cases of stolen money were registered last year, according to UK Finance, the banking trade body, with countless more going unreported.
Among the most common tricks are mass messages pretending to be from a loved one or a delivery service. The "Hi Mum" text, often followed by an urgent request for cash, has surged before Father's Day when it becomes "Hi Dad". Alternatively, messages about a missed parcel include a link leading to a fake website that harvests banking details. Criminals then use the stolen card information for remote-purchase fraud, costing £423m last year, according to UK Finance. Experts urge people never to tap on links. If a message claims to be from Royal Mail, type the genuine website directly. One-Time Passcodes should be guarded like bank details, never given to a caller pretending to authorise a transaction.
“Record 4m fraud cases in UK; Sam The Traitors lost £40k to phishing as scams surge.”
Romance scams, also at a record high, follow a different pattern. Victims join a dating website and build a relationship with someone who uses fake pictures often stolen from innocent social media profiles. After grooming, the fraudster invents an accident or a need for a ticket to meet, asking for money. On average, victims send 10 payments. Some never accept their loved one isn't real.
To avoid romance scams, experts advise putting a dating profile picture into a reverse image search. They also urge people never to send money to someone they haven't met and to be open with family and friends about online relationships. As Little discovered, fraud can catch anyone.