Cost-of-living crisis could become a ‘new frontier for fraudsters’

interactive investor comments on Citizens Advice research on scams.

Commenting, Myron Jobson, Senior Personal Finance Analyst, interactive investor, says: “Unscrupulous criminals will stop at nothing to commit fraud, and the cost-of-living crisis could become a new frontier for scammers.

“Fraudsters wreaked havoc during the pandemic by taking advantage of consumers' fears and shrouding their nefarious schemes among correspondence by the government and legitimate organisations relating to coronavirus measures. The fear is that history could repeat itself amid the biggest fall in living standards in generations.

“Crooks have gotten creative in how they go about their illegal activities. More and more people are being conned by standard fraud schemes, such as postage and impersonation scams, which are becoming increasingly difficult to recognise, because they constantly alter their disguises.

“Financial scams are ever-evolving beasts that need taming. The hope is the Online Safety Bill will go some way in plugging the flood of financial fraud. There isn’t a silver-bullet solution, but we can all do some things to add a layer of protection against them. This includes using strong, different passwords for each account and signing up for and using protections such as two-factor authentication, which generally require users to not only enter a password, but also confirm their identity by entering a code texted or emailed to them.

“We all need to remain on our guard against scams. In addition to the basics, which include not sharing your login credentials and ensuring that online transactions are made from secure and trusted websites, be mindful of who you disclose personal information to and remember that if a proposition seems too good to be true, then it probably is.”

Key points:

• More than three-quarters of UK adults said they have been targeted by a scammer this year - a 14% increase compared to this time last year, according to new research by Citizens Advice.
• The most common types of scams reported included: deliveries, postal or courier services (55%); someone pretending to be from the government or HMRC (41%); someone offering a fake investment or financial ‘get rich quick’ schemes (29%).
• Other reported scams include rebates and refunds (28%); banking (27%); online shopping (24%); health or medical (13%) and energy scams (12%).