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One Billion Reasons to Check Before You Act

A report from UK
Finance has revealed that in 2021 over £1.3billion was stolen by
scammers and fraudsters. The amount could have been even higher with
UK banks preventing a further £1.4billion of attempted fraud.

Within those figures there is a bit of a mixed picture. Fraud losses from
payment cards, remote banking and cheques may have amounted to
£730.4million in 2021 but this was down 7% on the previous year. On
the other side of the coin, push payment scams rose 38% year on year
to £583.2million. Push payment fraud happens when the victim is
deceived into transferring funds to criminals; perhaps by the
fraudsters posing as banks or the police, pretending to be friends or
family members in need, or impersonating solicitors or others in a
bid to divert invoice or property transaction funds.

Fraudsters can be extremely persuasive and, particularly in push payment fraud
attempts, will often try to instil a sense of panic or urgency in
order to get people to act before they have a chance to think.
Remember your bank or other financial institution will never ask you
for passwords or pin numbers and will never ask you to transfer money
to ‘keep it safe.’ If you receive calls of this nature then put
down the phone and get in touch with Action Fraud and always take
time to think and check before you act.

If you are looking for advice on investments, or if your situation has
changed and you may therefore need to review your existing pensions
or investments, contact Beckworth by using one of the links on our
website.