Fraudsters impersonating real suppliers value £177.6m in 2022, UK Finance information suggests

Impersonation scams value the UK £177.6m final yr, in keeping with new information from the commerce physique for the finance business.

There had been 45,367 circumstances by which scammers impersonated buddies, relations, service suppliers equivalent to banks, the police or supply or utility corporations, in keeping with the information reported to UK Finance by its roughly 300 members.

Fraudsters generally contact shoppers by way of textual content, telephone name and electronic mail in an try to entry funds.

A separate survey of two,000 individuals carried out on-line by the physique discovered solely half of individuals (51%) at all times test whether or not a request for cash or private info is legit.

The age group most in danger are youthful adults, the survey discovered. Only 38% of 18- to 34-year-olds mentioned they at all times checked if a request was legit – the bottom share of any age group.

UK Finance warned scams have turn out to be tougher to identify.

“Once obvious typos or fraudulent looking websites are no longer solely reflective of the tactics the criminals use,” a spokesperson mentioned.

The survey discovered that, out of all types of communication, respondents had been almost definitely to test if an electronic mail deal with was from a real organisation, with 67% saying they did this.

The second most typical test individuals carried out was whether or not there have been spelling and grammar errors (59%), with 57% checking if a web site deal with was legit.

One in 5 (21%) of survey respondents who had replied to an organisation that had reached out to them mentioned they later believed the communications had been fraudulent.

UK Finance publishes half yearly fraud information. Members of the physique embrace the UK’s 4 largest banks. It’s Take Five to Stop Fraud marketing campaign encourages individuals to take a second to cease and assume earlier than parting with their cash or info.