One in five people lost money to scams in the past year, report reveals

"Twenty percent of people lost money to these scams in the year to March, according to the State of Scams in the UK report. The research was released by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), in partnership with fraud prevention service Cifas and financial software provider Tietoevry Banking. Emails, phone calls, texts, social media messages, digital adverts and online marketplaces were common starting points for scam encounters."

"It will make it harder for criminals to trick people through scam calls. Mobile networks have committed to upgrading their network within the next year to eliminate the ability for foreign call centres to spoof UK numbers, making it clear that calls are originating from abroad. Advanced call tracing technology will also be rolled out across mobile networks to give police the intelligence to track down scammers operating across the country and dismantle their operations."

Twenty percent of people lost money to scams in the year to March, and one in five adults reported being targeted and losing money. Sixty-seven percent of adults encountered a scam experience in the past 12 months, while 24% encounter scams multiple times each week. One in six parents of children aged seven to 17 said at least one child had been scammed. Scams commonly begin through emails, phone calls, texts, social media messages, digital adverts and online marketplaces. Mobile networks committed to upgrades to prevent number spoofing and roll out advanced call tracing to help police track and dismantle scam operations.

Read at www.independent.co.uk