The FINANCIAL — New data from Barclays has revealed on September 12 that young people are five and a half times more likely to fall victim to scams than those over 65, with 30 per cent of 18-24-year-old scam victims not believing ‘there is not much to do’ to protect themselves in future.
However, impersonation scams, where a criminal pretends to be from the police or the victim’s bank and asks the victim to make a payment, sees the largest concentration in the over 65s. These can be particularly devastating, with a third of cases reported to Barclays over £5000.
Nearly two thirds of high value shopping scams are from London, East and South East England, whilst Plymouth, Sheffield and Southampton are also identified as scam hotspots.
Barclays has revealed the findings as it launches new measures to fight crooks, including becoming the first UK bank to introduce a new call verification feature for its online and mobile banking customers so they can be sure the call from their bank is genuine.
To help customers protect themselves against impersonation scams, Barclays is becoming the first UK bank to introduce a new call verification feature for its online and mobile banking customers so they can be sure the call from their bank is genuine.
When a customer receives a call from Barclays and are concerned about the caller’s identity, they will be offered the chance to receive an alert in their app or online banking confirming the details of the employee who is calling them. The customer can then choose to accept the call, knowing that they are not giving out any sensitive information to the wrong person.
This new functionality will be rolled out from today to Barclays Premier customers and will be available to all customers in the coming months.
Barclays top tips for preventing scams
Never share your PIN, Passcode or Password with anyone – even if they claim to be from the police or your bank
Do not click on any links, or open any attachments in emails from people you don’t recognise
No genuine bank or the police would ask you to transfer money to a ‘safe account’ – ignore anyone who asks you to do this, whether it’s by phone, email or any other method.
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