By Nick Stapleton – Presenter of Scam Interceptors
Everyone has had a scam call, received a sketchy email or been sent a suspicious message online. Having someone try to defraud you is now so normal, it’s one of the most universal human experiences out there.
This explosion of remote mugging has led to fraud being the most common type of crime in the UK , but almost no one gets caught for it. Only 1 in every 1000 fraud cases here resulted a conviction last year.
In light of that, it’s time for all of us to clue ourselves up because it’s pretty clear no one else is coming to our rescue. Making Scam Interceptors on BBC1, I know all about the worst scams out there at the moment.
2023’s Top Five Scams
It’s been another excellent year for scammers in Britain, with UK Finance estimating over a billion pounds has been lost to fraud and other research putting the figure as high as £17bn . These are some of the scams which have led to those staggering numbers, and which you should keep your anti-scammer radar beeping for:
1) The “Hi Mum” Scam
If you’re in the UK and haven’t had a text in the last year saying something along the lines of “Hi Mum, smashed my phone, please contact me on this number: 07———” then you might well be in the minority.
This devious scam, which plays on the natural instinct of worried parents to protect their children, has been huge in the last 12 months with reported losses alone at almost £500,000 for this year already. The reason it is so prevalent is perhaps because it is so successful, with amounts in the thousands paid out by worried parents within minutes of first contact.
What begins with a simple message requesting contact on a new number will quickly develop into a troubling hard luck tale. It will likely involve a child’s smashed or lost phone and a kindly friend of theirs who has stumped up the money for the supposed child to buy a new one.
“Can you just pay them back until I get my banking apps set up on my new phone? They really need the money”
Five scams to watch out for right now
By Nick Stapleton – Presenter of Scam Interceptors
Everyone has had a scam call, received a sketchy email or been sent a suspicious message online. Having someone try to defraud you is now so normal, it’s one of the most universal human experiences out there.
This explosion of remote mugging has led to fraud being the most common type of crime in the UK , but almost no one gets caught for it. Only 1 in every 1000 fraud cases here resulted a conviction last year.
In light of that, it’s time for all of us to clue ourselves up because it’s pretty clear no one else is coming to our rescue. Making Scam Interceptors on BBC1, I know all about the worst scams out there at the moment.
2023’s Top Five Scams
It’s been another excellent year for scammers in Britain, with UK Finance estimating over a billion pounds has been lost to fraud and other research putting the figure as high as £17bn . These are some of the scams which have led to those staggering numbers, and which you should keep your anti-scammer radar beeping for:
1) The “Hi Mum” Scam
If you’re in the UK and haven’t had a text in the last year saying something along the lines of “Hi Mum, smashed my phone, please contact me on this number: 07———” then you might well be in the minority.
This devious scam, which plays on the natural instinct of worried parents to protect their children, has been huge in the last 12 months with reported losses alone at almost £500,000 for this year already. The reason it is so prevalent is perhaps because it is so successful, with amounts in the thousands paid out by worried parents within minutes of first contact.
What begins with a simple message requesting contact on a new number will quickly develop into a troubling hard luck tale. It will likely involve a child’s smashed or lost phone and a kindly friend of theirs who has stumped up the money for the supposed child to buy a new one.
“Can you just pay them back until I get my banking apps set up on my new phone? They really need the money”
Five scams to watch out for right now
By Nick Stapleton – Presenter of Scam Interceptors
Everyone has had a scam call, received a sketchy email or been sent a suspicious message online. Having someone try to defraud you is now so normal, it’s one of the most universal human experiences out there.
This explosion of remote mugging has led to fraud being the most common type of crime in the UK , but almost no one gets caught for it. Only 1 in every 1000 fraud cases here resulted a conviction last year.
In light of that, it’s time for all of us to clue ourselves up because it’s pretty clear no one else is coming to our rescue. Making Scam Interceptors on BBC1, I know all about the worst scams out there at the moment.
2023’s Top Five Scams
It’s been another excellent year for scammers in Britain, with UK Finance estimating over a billion pounds has been lost to fraud and other research putting the figure as high as £17bn . These are some of the scams which have led to those staggering numbers, and which you should keep your anti-scammer radar beeping for:
1) The “Hi Mum” Scam
If you’re in the UK and haven’t had a text in the last year saying something along the lines of “Hi Mum, smashed my phone, please contact me on this number: 07———” then you might well be in the minority.
This devious scam, which plays on the natural instinct of worried parents to protect their children, has been huge in the last 12 months with reported losses alone at almost £500,000 for this year already. The reason it is so prevalent is perhaps because it is so successful, with amounts in the thousands paid out by worried parents within minutes of first contact.
What begins with a simple message requesting contact on a new number will quickly develop into a troubling hard luck tale. It will likely involve a child’s smashed or lost phone and a kindly friend of theirs who has stumped up the money for the supposed child to buy a new one.
“Can you just pay them back until I get my banking apps set up on my new phone? They really need the money”
Five scams to watch out for right now
By Nick Stapleton – Presenter of Scam Interceptors
Everyone has had a scam call, received a sketchy email or been sent a suspicious message online. Having someone try to defraud you is now so normal, it’s one of the most universal human experiences out there.
This explosion of remote mugging has led to fraud being the most common type of crime in the UK , but almost no one gets caught for it. Only 1 in every 1000 fraud cases here resulted a conviction last year.
In light of that, it’s time for all of us to clue ourselves up because it’s pretty clear no one else is coming to our rescue. Making Scam Interceptors on BBC1, I know all about the worst scams out there at the moment.
2023’s Top Five Scams
It’s been another excellent year for scammers in Britain, with UK Finance estimating over a billion pounds has been lost to fraud and other research putting the figure as high as £17bn . These are some of the scams which have led to those staggering numbers, and which you should keep your anti-scammer radar beeping for:
1) The “Hi Mum” Scam
If you’re in the UK and haven’t had a text in the last year saying something along the lines of “Hi Mum, smashed my phone, please contact me on this number: 07———” then you might well be in the minority.
This devious scam, which plays on the natural instinct of worried parents to protect their children, has been huge in the last 12 months with reported losses alone at almost £500,000 for this year already. The reason it is so prevalent is perhaps because it is so successful, with amounts in the thousands paid out by worried parents within minutes of first contact.
What begins with a simple message requesting contact on a new number will quickly develop into a troubling hard luck tale. It will likely involve a child’s smashed or lost phone and a kindly friend of theirs who has stumped up the money for the supposed child to buy a new one.
“Can you just pay them back until I get my banking apps set up on my new phone? They really need the money”
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