Expert reveals how to spot the top 5 most common scams

With scams on the rise as scammers become more tech-savvy and sophisticated with their tricks, an expert has warned of the top five scams that catch people.

Speaking on This Morning, UK consumer affairs presenter Alexis Conran said more vigilance is needed as fraudsters not only continue their old tricks but also exploit the current crises.

He told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield that the most common cases are people impersonating your child, scammers faking services such as ticket sales, and bogus “recruitment campaigns.”

The pro stressed the importance of always making sure you verify where you buy things through official channels and don’t just trust websites that appear at the top of your Google search.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the worst online scams to watch out for…

THE ‘MOM AND DAD’ SCAM

This scam plays on parents’ concerns by sending the victim a text message pretending to be from their child. It will usually claim that your son or daughter has lost their phone, and this is their new number.

It’s not long before they claim that their bank won’t let them access their account because it’s linked to online banking – hence asking the parents to send money to an account.

“Now a lot of people are getting caught,” Alex explained. “And it’s not just that one-time payment…sometimes they ask you to make payments to individuals or to other businesses.

“And, of course, they get their hands on your bank details and bank details — so it could be even worse than that one-off payment.”

The expert advises that the best first step is to call back your child’s original number – which they claim to have lost.

“Most likely you will pick up the phone, call the original number and your son or daughter will say ‘no, I didn’t send you anything, I didn’t lose my phone…everything is fine’. So just remove it.’

But if they really happen to have lost or not answering their phone as well, it’s worth agreeing a “passphrase” with your kids or asking the person on the other line a question only they can answer ; which is not easily accessible on social media.

PASSPORT SCAM

Thanks to the strike backlog, many people will be worried about arranging passport renewals and getting their documents back in time for their summer vacation.

And scammers have taken advantage of that fear by setting up websites that offer bogus services that promise a quick turnaround time, rather than the current expected wait time of up to 10 weeks.

“If you want to renew your passport, go to the government website,” Alex emphasized.

He urged Google never to search for such services because scammers “pay to get their websites high on the page.”

CARD FRAUD

As the festival season kicks off, Alex says ticket fraud for concerts, gigs and other events is now “really big.”

“We saw a 500% increase in ticket fraud in February, April and March,” he said. “This is when everyone buys their tickets.”

The expert adds that on average people lose more than £100 from these fraudsters.

“The danger sometimes is that if you come on a fake website, you pay for your ticket, they send you a PDF of your ticket, it has a QR code on it and you think everything is fine,” Alex explains.

“And you don’t know it’s not right until you get to the location, they scan it, they say ‘this isn’t a real ticket’.”

He says the key is to be more vigilant about where you buy tickets — you can always verify the seller with the venue — and buy it on your credit card.

RECRUITMENT SCAMS

Alex says hiring scams are difficult because a potential employer inherently and legitimately needs a lot of personal information about you – including your bank details – in order to pay you.

He says to make sure you double check the companies that contact you – and verify the alleged agency with the hiring employer.

The expert also recommended setting up a bank account that you can simply use online – with many affordable options available at challenger banks – where you can only hold a small amount of money.

This way, if someone asks for your details for nefarious purposes, at least not all of your assets are at risk.

‘STORAGE FULL’ SCAM

Specifically targeting Microsoft Office users, this scam sends the victim an email telling them that their OneDrive storage is full – and they must pay to access more space.

Since this could be something that can happen legitimately and in real life, it’s important to be vigilant when checking the email and don’t just click on any link that is being sent around.

‘Watch out for these, there are many around,’ Alex stressed.

He added that the best way to deal with it is to log into your account and simply check your storage – as fraudsters can be very good at forging official-looking emails.