Phone and online ‘copycat’ scams now make up THIRD of all money fraud: Two victims speak out

According to Barclays, impersonation scams have become one of the most common ways fraudsters target their victims.

Nearly a third of all money lost to fraudsters last year was the result of these vicious copycats.

Scammers often try to impersonate someone’s family member, friend, the police, a bank, company or public figure.

And according to Barclays, more than a quarter of Britons have now been targeted by a scammer posing as a celebrity or knowing someone who has. Those who fall victim lose an average of £4,330.

Philip, 27, a software engineer from London, recently became one such victim.

The fraudster posed as a famous flea marketer who had been following Philip on Twitter for some time.

Philip had responded to one of their tweets asking if there was a vintage jacket for sale, which the scammer then saw.

“I got a reply from someone who seemed to be the famous thrift,” Philip said, “but I didn’t know that this was actually a con artist impersonating them.

“I checked their profile, but didn’t look for the blue tick on their profile that would have indicated they were the real deal.

“Because I thought it was the famous flea market, I hadn’t taken any steps to make sure the profile was real.”

The scammer then took Philip to private messages, where they reused photos of the vintage jackets as proof that they had the jacket in their possession.

Since the famous flea market was based in the US, I did not question the scammer at the time when they instructed me to pay in the form of a $50 gift card to ship the vintage jacket.

“I immediately bought the gift card and sent the code to the scammer and waited for the jacket.”

However, it didn’t take Philip long to realize he had been duped.

“After the excitement of buying the jacket wore off, I immediately realized that I had sent the scammer’s money over the Internet in an untraceable and identifiable manner,” he says.

“I went back to check the scammer’s profile but realized the profile was not of the legitimate thrift.

“The scammer had created a username that was so subtly changed – with the addition of an underscore – that I hadn’t noticed when I first checked the profile.”

As many as four in ten of those targeted claim to have received a social media message that appears to be from a celebrity or influencer.

According to data from Barclays, 77 percent of all scams happen on tech platforms like social media. This is up from 41 percent since early 2021.

“I was very embarrassed,” Philip adds, “considering that I was a software engineer and had learned in college how social engineering can be used to con or scam people.”

However, according to Barclays, it’s not just celebrities and influencers who impersonate scammers.

Nearly half of all money lost to impersonation scams are from scammers impersonating the police or someone’s bank.

Grace, 24, was the victim of a bank fraud and lost £10,000 in the process.

She says, “I got a call one afternoon from a number that matched the number my bank had listed on its website. They told me that my account had been hacked and that I had to act quickly.

‘They knew personal information and told me to transfer all my money plus an overdraft of £5,000 to a new bank account they had created in my name.

“I was on the phone for two and a half hours and they asked how I was feeling several times, reassuring me and not being too pushy.

“They also walked me through the steps online and convinced me that they knew the system like the back of their hand.”

A resounding feeling shared by the victims of imitation scams is one of shame.

Grace says: ‘I knew I had been scammed when they hung up the phone as soon as I made the final transfer. I then called my bank who confirmed that the call was not from them.

“I was so embarrassed and embarrassed that I had fallen into a scam, and it felt like a huge invasion of my privacy.”

Both Philip and Grace are determined to prevent others from following in their footsteps.

“My advice to others would be that your bank will never call you to ask you to transfer money,” says Grace.

“Even if the number seems real, don’t believe it because scammers can mask phone numbers.”

Philip adds: ‘Always double check the profile to make sure the profile you are trying to send is the real one.

“Don’t send money or anything of value without verifying that the recipient is genuine or identifiable.”

The names have been changed to protect the identity of the victims.