Just over half (51%) of UK adults have either personally experienced or know someone who has experienced a financial-scam attempt in the last 12 months, research from Canada Life has revealed.
This equates to approximately 26.8 million UK adults. Of these, 3.6 million went on to personally fall victim to the scam.
The research also found that the average amount lost to scams was £4,715 per person, adding up to £17bn ($,€) UK-wide. More than two-in-five (43%) of victims got all their money back, but over a quarter (26%) did not.
The top three financial scam types identified were tax or debt collection (32%); advance-fee scams (where people are informed that they are inheriting a sum of money that requires them to pay an upfront fee or provide their bank details) (25%); and ‘hello mum’ scams (where a scammer poses as a child or grandchild requesting money as a matter of urgency) (23%).
Most people (40%) had been targeted by email, text or voicemail.
Of those who experienced a scam attempt, 7% said it had taken place via AI. Some 67% agreed that AI will make financial scams more sophisticated, while half (48%) believe that they will be more likely to fall for a financial scam because of AI.
Three-in-10 (30%) of those surveyed did not contact anyone after experiencing a financial scam attempt, rising to 38% amongst those aged 55 or over.
Those who did seek support contacted their bank (28%); the police (14%); family members (10%); the platform where they experienced the scam attempt (10%); or the person or business that the scammer was purporting to be (9%).
‘Intrusive and sophisticated’
Julia Peake, tax and estate planning specialist at Canada Life, said: “With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to squeeze many households, criminals and scammers have been having a field day, targeting vulnerable people.
“They are opportunistic and play on insecurities, family connections and fear, taking advantage of crises and market disruptions both at home or around the world, and the number of people being targeted seems to be going up.
“With the development of AI and fake adverts, the range of communication and types of financial scams are becoming ever more intrusive and sophisticated. Financial services broadcaster Martin Lewis was recently a victim and took to the airwaves to air his concern and raise awareness of these scams with the public.
“These criminal scammers can only be held accountable and brought to justice if the authorities and platforms know about it.”
