Beware of these eight heightening financial fraud schemes this year

The top eight financial scams that consumers should stay vigilant against this year include fraudsters secretly installing malware on people’s smartphones and fake websites that sell discounted FIFA World Cup tickets, according to NatWest’s digital safety report released today.

The Future Laboratory, a trend research company, partnered with the bank to identify these emerging schemes — more than £100m of different banking frauds plagued the UK during the first half of 2017. Financial fraud, according to NatWest security manager Julie McArdle, is the most common crime in the country.

“Scammers are dogged in their attempts to get their hands on people’s money and are always looking for new ways to get ahead,” McArdle said. “By being aware and staying ahead of scammers, we can stop them winning and keep the country’s money safe and secure.”

Other unfolding fraud tactics include people spying via social media to personalise scams, investment products advertised as Brexit-proof, money mules, fake wedding services websites, catfishers on dating apps and hackers who impersonate solicitors

NatWest and The Future Laboratory analysed scam data provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland to determine these eight rising fraud trends, and they found that online shopping, mobile banking and social media were common vulnerabilities that scammers exploited.

“People can be very liberal with posting information on social media. They might not realise how much they’re giving away,” McArdle said. “But to a fraudster, the posts can be very informative — and they will use these details to earn trust. They can be incredibly convincing.”

The Future Laboratory and NatWest advised people to question and directly contact any company that requests personal information and to keep devices updated with the latest anti-virus as well as anti-malware software. They also recommended that people should not trust links, files or outreach by unknown people.