Lowes Magazine Issue 120

TAX

Impersonation scams more than double

NEW FIGURES FROM UK FINANCE SHOW THE SERIOUS threat financial scams have become over the past year. Impersonation scams have more than doubled in the first half of 2021. This is a threat which is not going away anytime soon and can wreck lives. Hence, we feel it is an issue worth raising with clients again. In six months, 33,115 impersonation scam cases were reported, with criminals stealing £129.4 million through this type of fraud. In the same period last year there were 14,947 impersonation scam cases which led to £57.9 million being stolen. In an impersonation scam, a criminal pretends to be from a trusted organisation such as a bank, the police, a government department or a service provider. The criminal then tricks their victim into transferring money using a range of cover stories. These include claiming they need to protect an account from fraud, that a fine or tax needs to be paid or an erroneous refund must be returned. Criminals can get away with these scams by preying on people’s reluctance to say ‘no’ to a request for personal information from a stranger via email or text or phone calls because they don’t want to appear rude. Instead, research has found that people use phrases like ‘I’m not sure’, ‘I don’t think so’, ‘Let me think about it’, and ‘I can’t at the moment’. When criminals hear these phrases they use this reluctance as a way to win people over.

Should you be approached in this way, the advice from the Stop Fraud campaign, is as follows:

Stop: Taking a moment to stop and think before parting with your money or information could help keep you safe. Challenge: Could it be fake? It’s ok to reject, refuse or ignore any requests. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you. Protect: Contact your bank immediately if you think you’ve fallen for a scam and report it to Action Fraud.

Investment scams Latest figures from the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), show that £570 million has been lost to investment scams in 2020-2021. Investment scams take many forms, such as cold calling, false websites and advertising on social media, most often tempting investors in with promises of high levels of return. They can be highly convincing. Our advice is to invest nothing before talking with Lowes.

11 Lowes.co.uk