I know that lots of people worry about the prospect of their personal information being accessed and used by someone through fraudulent activity.
This is really worrying, and the incidence rate of financial crime has increased over the last few years through the emergence of cyber crime. Fraudsters often use social media and email to contact victims.
Findings from the BBC estimate that the UK loses £2,300 per minute to fraud, and Barclays estimates that a fraudulent transaction happens every seven seconds in the UK.
This is a really high figure, and it is important that we are as protected from this type of crime as possible.
The Labour Party committed to protecting people across the country’s money in our 2024 manifesto.
We will introduce a new expanded fraud strategy to tackle threats, including online, public sector and serious fraud.
We will also work with technology companies to stop their platforms being exploited by fraudsters, as we believe that there is a role for these companies to play in protecting platform users.
While we are working on implementing these measures, there are a number of new scams that it is useful to be aware of in order to best protect yourself and your families. I have listed some of these below.
Council Tax Scam
Victims have reported receiving an email claiming to come from the government’s Digital Service Team. It offers a council tax reduction for people on a low income, or who get benefits.
They then ask people to click the link to claim the refund, but it is a fake page to try to acquire bank details. If you get an email like this, don’t reply or click on the link, just delete it.
Bitcoin
Fraudsters use social media to offer Bitcoin (BTC) deals, promising to double your money if you pay directly to a BTC address, however, they will keep any of the funds that you send rather than invest it. To avoid this scam, make sure you don’t reply to any messages like this about Bitcoin. Report it on the platform you received the message on, then delete it.
Fraudsters use messaging apps like WhatsApp to pretend to be someone you know. They won’t know your name, so a message could begin with ‘hi mum’ or ‘hi mate’.
They’ll tell you about a problem and ask you to pay money to a bank account you’ve never paid into before. They might say that they lost their phone so they are messaging from a friend’s phone, or are using a temporary number. Usually, they’ll say it’s to help
pay a bill, but watch out for other excuses too.
If you get a message like this – out of the blue from an unknown number – don’t reply, just delete it. Talk to your family member or friend first to check if it’s real. Call them on a number you trust, like the one saved on your phone. Never call the number from the message.
You can find out more about the most recent scams at lloydsbank.com/help-guidance/protecting-yourself-from-fraud/latest-scams.html.
There are also a number of other scams targeted at phone and social media users, so make sure you watch out for anything unusual.
If you think that you have been a victim of fraud, make sure you report it to your bank as soon as possible, and report any suspicious messages if you receive them on a social media platform.
