One in two (51 per cent) UK adults have, or know someone who has, experienced a financial scam attempt in the past 12 months, according to research by Canada Life.
This equates to approximately 26.8mn UK adults and of these, 3.6mn went on to personally fall victim to the scam.
The research found that the average amount lost to scams was £4,715 per person, or £17bn as a nation.
Of those scammed, more than two in five victims (43 per cent) got all their money back, but over a quarter (26 per cent) did not recover any of their stolen funds.
The top three financial scam types are tax or debt collection (32 per cent), advance fee scams (25 per cent) - for example someone tells you you’re inheriting a sum of money that requires you to pay an upfront fee or provide bank details - and “hello mum” scams (23 per cent) when a scammer poses as a child or grandchild requesting an urgent bill or payment to be made.
Julia Peake, tax and estate planning specialist at Canada Life, said: “With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to squeeze many households, it’s a real field day for criminals and scammers to target vulnerable people.
“They are opportunistic and play on insecurities, family connections and fear, taking advantage of crises and market disruptions both home or around the world, and the number of people being targeted seems to be going up.
“With the development of AI and fake adverts, the range of communication and types of financial scams are becoming ever more intrusive and sophisticated.”
Scammers do not age discriminate
The findings showed that those who are aged 55 or over are more likely to have been targeted (48 per cent) in a scam attempt but are less likely to have been a victim compared to younger demographics.
A greater proportion of young people (in the 18–34 bracket) have personally fallen victim to a financial scam (18 per cent) than those in an older age group.
Of those who experienced a scam attempt, 7 per cent said this was via AI.
Peake said: “Martin Lewis was recently a victim of this and took to the airwaves to air his concern and raise awareness with the public.
“If you experience a scam attempt, or if you fall victim to one, the best thing you can do is to speak up and report it.
“Unfortunately, the reality is that many people could be caught up in a scam so, should you fall victim, know that you are not alone. These criminal scammers can only be held accountable and brought to justice if the authorities and platforms know about it.”
Meanwhile, the research revealed that two in three (67 per cent) UK adults believe that AI will make financial scams more sophisticated, while half (48 per cent) believe AI will make it more likely that they would fall for a financial scam.
Around 30 per cent of those scammed said they did not contact anybody after experiencing a financial scam attempt, rising to 38 per cent amongst those aged 55 or over.
For those that did seek support, the most common source approached were the victim’s bank (28 per cent), the police or related organisations (14 per cent), family members (10 per cent), the platform where they experienced the scam attempt (10 per cent), or the person or business that the scammer was purporting to be (9 per cent).
sonia.rach@ft.com
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