One in four UK adults ‘encounter scams multiple times each week’

One in four (24%) adults say they encounter scams multiple times each week, a report has found.

Emails, phone calls, texts, social media messages, digital adverts and online marketplaces were common starting points for scam encounters, according to the State of Scams in the UK report.

The research was released by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), in partnership with fraud prevention service Cifas and financial software provider Tietoevry Banking.

It also indicated that a fifth (20%) of people said they had been targeted by scams and had money taken from them in the year to March.

And one in six (16%) parents with children aged seven to 17 years old said at least one of their children has been scammed.

Two-thirds (67%) of adults surveyed said they had encountered a “scam experience” in the past 12 months, regardless of whether or not the scam was successful for the criminal.

Shopping or purchase scams were the most common type of fraud, affecting 45% of this group.

Nearly four-fifths (77%) of victims said they did report the scam to their payment service, and nearly half (47%) were able to recover at least part of their money.

Looking at why people thought they had been scammed, 22% said the fraud had seemed very realistic, 9% said they had acted too quickly to realise it was a scam, 9% said it had appeared to be an attractive offer, 7% said it had been their first time using a platform or service and 6% said they were not familiar enough with the genuine brand that the scammer was impersonating.

Nine in 10 (91%) adults said they take steps to verify whether an offer is genuine. The most common steps included considering that if an offer “seems too good to be true, it probably is” and checking for spelling and grammatical mistakes.

The research also found that Millennials aged 29 to 44 had an average of £1,456.90 stolen – compared with an average of £444.10 for the Gen-X age group aged 45 to 60.

The report also said: “The impact of scams also extends beyond finances. In the UK, 34% of victims reported a significant or moderate effect on their mental wellbeing. Many feel shame or stigma when, in fact, they were manipulated by professionals.”

With Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season approaching, GASA, Cifas and Tietoevry Banking warned that scammers often exploit seasonal shopping spikes.

Jorij Abraham, managing director of GASA, said: “Scams are no longer isolated incidents. They’ve become a systemic, data-driven threat to the UK’s digital economy.”

Mike Haley, chief executive of Cifas, said: “Fraud is a national emergency costing the UK billions each year and affecting millions of lives. What’s especially alarming is the growing number of younger victims, including children, being targeted by increasingly sophisticated scams.

“As we head into the busiest shopping season of the year, it’s vital that consumers stay vigilant and verify before they buy.”

Gunnar Koren, head of financial crime prevention at Tietoevry Banking, said: “Today’s criminals create highly targeted and convincing attacks.”

Opinium Research carried out a survey of 2,000 people across the UK in February and March.

A new agreement between Government and industry has been signed this week to help safeguard the UK’s mobile network from fraud.

It will make it harder for criminals to trick people through scam calls.

Mobile networks have committed to upgrading their network within the next year to eliminate the ability for foreign call centres to spoof UK numbers, making it clear that calls are originating from abroad.

Advanced call tracing technology will also be rolled out across mobile networks to give police the intelligence to track down scammers operating across the country and dismantle their operations.

Minister for Fraud, Lord Hanson, said on Wednesday: “We’re stepping up our defences to protect victims and make sure the UK is the hardest place in the world for scammers to operate.”