Tenth of adults duped by fraudsters

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Tenth of adults duped by fraudsters

More than 5m British consumers have fallen victim to a financial scam at some point in their lives, according to research.

Lloyds Bank and YouGov polled 2,018 people and found that 10 per cent of adults had been duped by a financial fraudster of some form and a quarter said they knew someone else who had fallen victim to scam.

Despite these findings, four out of five of those surveyed (83 per cent) felt confident they would be able to spot a financial scam and 77 per cent believed they were able to keep up with the potential risks of scams.

A third of respondents considered themselves "clued-up" and said they had been targeted by fraudsters but were able to put a stop to it.

The research shows the over 65s felt the most confident — 87 per cent were positive they could spot a scam — while those in the 35-44 age bracket felt the least confident.

Fake emails and phone calls were the most common way victims were targeted — 36 and 35 per cent respectively — while social media, company websites and text messages were also found to be standard scamming methods.

Paul Davis, fraud and financial crime director at Lloyds Bank, said: "We are a vigilant nation, yet it is clear from our research that many of us do still get caught out when it comes to scams. 

"Fraudsters have adapted to changing technology by using ever more sophisticated tactics, making them more difficult to spot."

Lloyds is encouraging people to talk to their friends and family about fraud so more people are able to identify the tell-tale signs of a scam.

Just last week, a Freedom of Information request found there had been more than 2.6m communications from fraudsters pretending to be from HM Revenue & Customs over the past three financial years.

Phishing emails based on tax rebates were the most popular with text messages not far behind, the HMRC data showed.

imogen.tew@ft.com

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