One in five people have fallen victim to financial scams in the past year, research shows

Around one in five (18 percent) people in Britain have fallen victim to a financial scam – such as a fake pension or investment opportunity – in the past year, according to research for Citizens Advice.

The charity estimates that nine million people have been affected.

More than two-fifths (43 percent) of those scammed had to borrow or increase their debt in some way to make ends meet, and almost a quarter (24 percent) had to turn to friends or family for financial help. A fifth (20 percent) had to take on extra jobs or shifts at work, the Savanta survey of more than 2,100 people found.

As part of the Scams Awareness campaign, Citizens Advice wants to help people stay safe by exposing the tactics of scammers.

The most common financial scams include fake debt advice offered on social media, scammers posing as a ‘friend in need’, pension fraud, investment fraud and QR code parking scams where stickers with fake codes are placed on real cars. parks.

More than two-fifths (43 percent) of people who were scammed had to borrow or increase their debt in some way to make ends meet (stock photo)

QR code scams lead people to fake payment websites where their personal and financial information is stolen.

According to the survey conducted in August, more than three-quarters (76 percent) of all types of financial scams were carried out via social media sites.

One man contacted Citizen Advice after falling victim to cryptocurrency trading and fraud.

He had watched an online tutorial video on a legitimate trading system, but next to it was an advert leading to a fake platform run by scammers, the charity said.

The man said: ‘After I started putting money into the ‘trading system’ I immediately started getting aggressive phone calls several times a day saying, ‘You have to keep trading or you will lose everything.’ All requests to withdraw my money were ignored.

‘It is a very unpleasant, stressful, intensive and compelling experience. I was panicky, traumatized and couldn’t bear to tell my family how much I had lost.

‘I have never experienced such disastrous financial problems as this. I had paid off my mortgage and had a nice house, a family home. I had no idea you could lose all of that so easily almost overnight.”

Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: ‘Anyone can fall victim to a scam and we know that scammers target not just people looking to invest money, but also people just going about their daily lives.

More than three-quarters (76 percent) of all types of financial scams were carried out via social media sites, according to the survey conducted in August (stock photo)

One man contacted Citizens Advice after falling victim to trading and cryptocurrency fraud (stock photo)

‘It is particularly worrying to see the consequences for people’s finances afterwards, especially if they have to borrow to make ends meet.

‘It is important that we are all on our guard. If you’re not sure about something, take your time and ask for advice.’

Lord Michael Bichard, chairman of National Trading Standards, said: ‘With the cost of living still high, criminals are preying on people looking for ways to strengthen their finances or reduce their debts. Not only is their money stolen, but the consequences for their health and well-being can be devastating.

‘People should be wary of anyone offering financial advice out of the blue, especially on social media.

‘We call on anyone who has fallen victim to fraud to report it. Under-reporting of scams is a major problem and we need people to come forward so we can stop these criminals.”

John Herriman, CEO of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), said: ‘CTSI is deeply concerned about the number of people targeted by financial scams each year, whether this is fake debt, pension advice or parking scams.

‘The large number of people affected by these scams shows that there is an urgent need for greater consumer awareness in this area. The hope is that this campaign will remove the stigma associated with being a victim of a scam and empower those affected to come forward and help bring these criminals to task.”

Citizens Advice consumer expert Jane Parsons said the main warning signs of a scam include something that seems too good to be true: when you are pressured to transfer money quickly, when you are asked to transfer money in an unusual way to pay, such as with a voucher or transfer service, when asking for personal information such as passwords or characters, the person or organization is not real, such as a strange email address.