The shocking rise of SCAMS

This past year has seen the number of people falling victim to fraud skyrocket. With scams becoming more sophisticated than ever, Woman looks at what we can do to protect ourselves

Fraud has long been one of the most commonly experienced crimes in the UK, but since the start of the pandemic last year, the number of victims has increased significantly.

As the country shut down and businesses closed their doors – some for good – unemployment crept up. And, while many people struggled financially, criminals were quick to capitalise on the situation. Last year, the UK’s cybersecurity agency identified and removed more scams than in the past three years combined. Criminals even exploited the vaccine roll-out, creating fake NHS apps to harvest personal information for the purposes of fraud.

Action Fraud has estimated that £34.5m has been stolen since March last year. But it’s not just the financial impact that cripples victims – the effects on mental health can be devastating. With a new scam uncovered on average every five minutes, Woman investigates the full impact of fraud on victims.

‘I COULDN’T BELIEVE WE’D BEEN SO FOOLISH’

Sue Flood, 63, lives in Essex with her husband, 59, and their two daughters, 23 and 20.

It was back in early 2011, after spotting an ad in a newspaper in Spain – where we were living at the time – that my husband and I enquired to receive professional financial advice from a supposedly fully qualified and regulated independent financial advisor.