Phone scams have been going for years but, as with all fraud, scammers are thinking up new ways to get people to part with their money. New research from Bionic, the business essentials experts, has revealed which areas of the UK were being targeted with phone scams most frequently over the last 13 months.
Let’s take a look at what they found and what are currently the most popular types of phone scams.
What are the most popular phone scams?
Phone scams work by fraudsters pretending to be someone else to get sensitive information, and ultimately take money, from their victims.
Phone scams have increased by a third (34%) in the last few months, and the two most common are:
- Vishing is a phone scam that’s designed to get you to share personal information — like your bank details or credit card number — with cyber criminals who pose as employees from reputable companies.
- VoIP scams are similar, with the only difference being these calls are made over the internet and target employees for data, bank details and company intellectual property. VoIP makes it easier for scammers to create fake numbers or emulate existing ones.
As far as subjects go, if you get a phone call about any of the following, be cautious about handing over any personal or financial details:
- Broadband
- Energy saving
- Insurance
- Accident claims
- Debt management
- Energy supply
- Lifestyle surveys
- Banking
- No answer/silent
- Computers
What parts of the UK are scammed the most?
The research also looked a which parts of the country suffered from scams the most. Here are the top ten places that fell foul of scams over the last year, as well as the type of scams that were involved.
- London – Broadband scams
- Reading – Energy saving scams
- Southampton – Energy saving scams
- Edinburgh – Broadband scams
- Bristol – PPI scams
- Guildford – Energy saving scams
- Leicester – Broadband scams
- Coventry – Broadband scams
- Birmingham – Broadband scams
- Brighton – Broadband scams
Overall, there were 2,482 instances of consumer phone fraud reported to UK Police across the last 13 months. This amounted to £1.8m in losses and of this £520,700 was lost by organisations and businesses.
What to do if you think you’ve been scammed
If you or your business has been a victim of a scam, you should do the following as soon as possible:
- Change your passwords
- Contact your bank account or credit card company
- Report it
How to report a phone scam
If you want to report scam phone numbers or text messages, you can do so by using the 7726 number – this spells ‘SPAM” on an alphanumeric keypad.
If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you can visit www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040. If you live in Scotland, call 101.
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