The rise in the cost of living can be worrying and stressful and for many keeping on top of finances might be a struggle. It’s important for everyone to be conscious of criminals taking advantage of people’s anxieties around finances by staying alert for fraud.
That’s the advice from Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at the trade association UK Finance. Four key scams to be on the look-out for are:
Purchase Scams – as people say they expect they’ll start to look for cheap deals online if the cost of living continues to rise, they may be tempted by criminals’ ‘too good to be true’ offers. Criminals will often trick people into securing a bargain by enticing them to make a quick bank transfer rather than use a more secure payment method.
Impersonation Fraud – criminals convince people to make a payment or give their personal and financial details to someone claiming to be from a trusted organisation such as a bank, government organisation or energy company- for example, text messages claiming to be from your council, offering you an energy rebate.
Investment Fraud – as the cost of living rises, 14 per cent of people say they may consider looking for new investment opportunities in the coming months, including investing in cryptocurrency. In investment fraud, criminals try to convince people to move their money into a fictitious fund or to pay for what later turns out to be a fake investment. The criminal…
