Scams

It is sad but true that during the very difficult cost of living crisis we are facing, scams are still on the rise.

TSB warned last week that WhatsApp scams have risen by more than 300 per cent.

Officials are warning people to remain vigilant over fake email purporting to be from mortgage lenders.

Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, has received 538 reports in two weeks relating to fake emails purporting to be from mortgage lenders.

Three rogue traders have been jailed for their part in duping vulnerable pensioners out of nearly £400,000 for home repairs which sometimes didn't even need doing.

The victims even ended up dipping into their life savings to pay for the shoddy work after being preyed on by husband and wife Andrew Lovell, 43, and Madeline Lovell, 41, from Coppice Green, Elton, and Kevin Brown, 61, from Llys Pont Y Felin in Mold. The pensioners targeted by the trio were also left feeling 'powerless, frustrated and embarrassed' and unsafe in their own homes.

https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/cold-calculating-rogue-traders-conned-27225381.amp

Online fraud is today’s most common crime. Victims are often told they are foolish for falling for it, but fraudsters use psychological mechanisms to infiltrate the defences of their targets, regardless of how intelligent they are.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/scammers-psychology-create-most-convincing-151929184.html/

France has hit back at a wave of online scams involving influencers, who have persuaded their followers to part with savings for miracle cancer cures or other fake products.

A new law threatens online content creators with steep fines and two-year jail terms for promoting dangerous services or misleading commercial practices.

The social media giant Meta is facing growing pressure from MPs, consumer groups and the UK banking sector over its failure to prevent a “tsunami” of fraud on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, where Britons are losing “life-changing” sums every day.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jun/16/victims-speak-out-over-fraud-on-instagram-facebook-and-whatsapp?CMP=share_btn_tw

TSB Bank has called on Meta to make urgent interventions to protect consumers from spiralling levels of fraud with customers at risk of losing hundreds of millions of pounds.

According to current industry projects, consumers could lose up to £250m from Meta platforms in 2023 without action from the tech giant.

Police have launched an awareness campaign following 189 reports of ticket fraud in Northern Ireland last year.

Officers are urging people to be wary of potential scams when booking tickets for gigs and events after £6.7 million was lost to ticket fraud in the UK in 2022.

Purchase scams starting on Facebook and Instagram are expected to cost UK consumers more than £27m this year alone, according to new analysis by Lloyds Banking Group.

https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2023/lloyds-banking-group-2023/two-thirds-of-all-online-shopping-scams-now-start-on-facebook-and-instagram.html

More than two-thirds of all online shopping scams affecting UK consumers start on Facebook and Instagram, with social media now a “wild west” for fraud, according to one of Britain’s biggest banks.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/28/social-media-sites-wild-west-shopping-uk-bank-facebook-instagram?CMP=share_btn_tw