Huge rise in money lost to phone scams

Threefold rise in losses prompts new campaign.

Victims of telephone scams or ‘vishing’ have been tricked out of an estimated £23.9 million over the last year, up from £7 million the year before, according to Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK).

The huge rise has prompted a new campaign from the group in conjunction with banks, card companies and the police to raise awareness of the tricks fraudsters use and provide clear advice on how to avoid becoming a victim.

The scams

Criminals typically cold call to deceive victims into believing they’re talking to a police officer, bank staff or someone from another trusted organisation.

Once on the phone, the fraudster will try to convince their target that they’ve been a victim of fraud and will ask them to provide personal and financial information, like PINs and passwords, to access their account.

In a survey the FFA found that there had been a 17% increase in the number people receiving suspicious calls in the past year.

It also revealed that a quarter of people made no effort to challenge the identity of callers asking for financial information, while 36% of respondents reported they found it difficult to tell the difference between genuine requests for information and fraudulent ones.

In other variations phone scammers convince a victim to transfer money to another account or hand over bank cards or cash to a courier.

Worryingly FFA UK found 10% of people surveyed would hand over cash to a courier, surrender their card or move money into another account if requested to do so by someone purporting to be from their bank.

Even though a bank would never request these actions, the FFA estimates 4.9 million bank customers nationwide fall into the trap.

And to convince suspicious victims, scammers will get them to hang up and call their bank themselves. However, when the victim ends the call the criminal doesn't and keeps the line open to continue the deception.

FFA UK says a telephone line can remain open for up to two minutes after one person has hung up, but almost 41% of the people it surveyed were unware of this trick.

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Tips to avoid phone scams

A ‘Joint Declaration of UK Banks’, supported by Police, has been launched to clarify warning signs. It says telephone users should:

• Be wary of unsolicited phone calls and cold callers who suggest you hang up and call them back. Fraudsters can remain connected by not hanging up for up to two minutes.
• Remember your bank and the police will never ask you for your four digit PIN, online banking password, to withdraw money or send someone to collect cash, PIN, payment card or cheque book if you are a victim of fraud. Neither would they ask you to purchase goods and hand them over for safe-keeping.
• If suspicious of a call, hang up, wait five minutes or preferably use a different phone line to call your bank or card issuer to report the fraud. For those that don’t have another telephone to use, call someone you know first to ensure the telephone line is clear.

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