Presented by KIS Finance
The last couple of years has seen fundamental changes in what businesses, consumers, and criminals do online. More and more aspects of our lives were already shifting towards the internet, but this has been accelerated by the pandemic while we couldn’t see our loved ones, meet up with friends, or go to work in the office for most of 2020 and start of 2021.
This shift in behaviour has seen a huge increase in cybercrime as criminals take advantage of higher online activity.
Action Fraud, Cifas, and UK Finance collectively received 822,276 fraud reports in 2019-20 (1). Of which, 698,934 (85%) were online based scams. The National Crime Agency also state that, roughly, just 20% of scams are reported so we could be looking at a total figure of around 3,494,670 cases of cybercrime every year.
Looking at this in monetary terms, there was £2.3bn reported loss, which means a possible total figure of around £11.5bn in just one year.
Based on growing trends, this guide outlines what we are expecting the biggest online scams of 2022 to be.
Cryptocurrency investment scams have increased significantly over the last couple of years with a staggering £146.2 million being lost to crypto scams between January and October this year alone (2).
This is almost 30% more than the amount that was lost throughout the whole of 2020.
The average loss per victim was £20,500, making this a very dangerous scam with the potential for huge losses
Young adults (aged 18 – 25) accounted for the highest percentage of crypto scam reports and over half of victims were aged between 18 and 45.
One of the most common tactics that scammers use for this type of scam is advertising on social media and using fake celebrity endorsements. They will create adverts using the picture of a well-known celebrity or social media influencer and create fake testimonials saying how much money they had made by investing with this firm or cryptocurrency.
These adverts will almost always promise high returns in a short space of time in order to appeal to those who are looking for a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.
As cryptocurrencies continue to become a more mainstream method of investment, we are expecting crypto related scams to continue with the current trend of rising reports.
Since the start of the pandemic scammers have been using every opportunity they can to con people out of their hard earned cash. From setting up fake retail websites selling face masks and hand sanitisers that don’t exist, to tricking people into paying for Covid-19 vaccines and tests, the whole pandemic has given a huge advantage to criminals.
With the Covid-19 booster roll out set to continue into 2022, there’s no doubt that scammers will continue to use this as the subject for scams.
Since the start of the initial vaccine roll-out in December 2020, scammers have been trying to con people into paying for vaccines by sending out fake NHS text messages, emails, and also by cold calling.
The NHS are contacting patients via letters and text messages to let them know when it’s their turn for their vaccine or booster, however they will never ask you for your personal information, log-in details and passwords, or bank details.
It’s very important that you don’t respond to requests for payment as Covid-19 vaccines are free for everybody under the NHS.
If you’re attending an event in the UK or travelling abroad, it’s likely that you will have to show your NHS COVID pass.
These passes are completely free to obtain by going on the NHS website or app, but scammers have been exploiting this by sending text messages to people asking for payment.
The texts appear to be from the NHS and reads something along the lines of ‘you are now eligible to apply for your COVID Pass, proving you have been vaccinated’. A link will be included which will take you to a malicious website, designed to look like the NHS website, where you will be asked for your personal details and for payment to obtain your pass.
It’s important to remember that the NHS will contact you regarding your NHS pass, this is something you can obtain yourself through their website or app. You will also never have to pay to access your COVID Pass, so stay well away from anybody asking for payment.
With most of 2020 and the start of 2021 spent in national lockdowns, this forced more people to turn to online dating website and apps to find love.
This has evidently caused an increase in the number of online dating scam reports.
According to UK Finance’s half year fraud update 2021 (3) , romance scams have increased significantly over the last couple of years. The increase in the number of romance scam reports increased by 38% when comparing the first half of 2019 to H1 2020, and by a massive 74% when comparing H1 2019 to H1 2021.
Romance scams typically involve malicious minded criminals who develop relationships with people over a long period of time so they can build their trust. Once they’ve built up enough trust, they’ll start to make up reasons why they need money and plead for your help.
Alternatively, they may try to convince you to make an investment in cryptocurrencies or another commodity. They will explain how they’ve made thousands of pounds doing so, when in reality, they are just trying to get your bank details.
Payment diversion fraud is usually aimed at small to medium sized business and home buyers. They like to take advantage of smaller businesses who have less comprehensive IT systems, and they target home buyers because of the scale of transactions.
In the year leading to September 2021, Action Fraud received 4,600 reports of PDF with the average loss being around £30,000 (4).
This type of fraud involves scammers intercepting payments or creating /amending invoices in order to divert money to bank accounts under their control.
Payment diversion fraud is incredibly dangerous as it can see individuals and businesses losing thousands of pounds, and some have ended up losing their entire house deposit to scammers.
For businesses, scammers may pose as a genuine supplier and send you an email letting you know that their bank details have changed for future invoices and payments. For home buyers, the scammers will pose as the individual’s solicitor and say the same, giving new bank details to which the house deposit should be transferred to.
Data
(1) https://data.actionfraud.police.uk/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Fraud-crime-trends.pdf
(2) https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/cryptocurrency-fraud-leads-to-millions-in-losses-so-far-this-year
(3) https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/system/files/Half-year-fraud-update-2021-FINAL.pdf
(4) https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/house-buyers-and-businesses-warned-of-payment-diversion-fraud
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Last updated: 10 December 2021 | © KIS Bridging Loans 2024 | Terms & Conditions
