Top scams of 2020 revealed as warnings are issued
Criminals exploiting the Covid- 19 pandemic by targeting people and businesses in Ayrshire are among the most common scams recorded in 2020.
Scammers adopted unscrupulous new tactics such as telling people they had been in contact with someone with coronavirus and demanding their bank details to pay for a test.
Scams around illegal puppy farms were also reported during the year with an increase in people seeking to buy pets during lockdown, resulting in some heartbreaking cases where puppies purchased online were found to have serious illnesses.
Cold calls and texts purportedly from banks continued to be prevalent in 2020, with the most frequently reported scams claiming there had been a problem with a consumer’s account and requesting a transfer of money to a ‘ safe’ account.
The Trading Standards Scotland ‘ scam share’ reporting bulletin has listed the top scams of the year as: Covid scams, bank scams, HMRC scams, ‘ phishing’ messages supposedly from companies such as Amazon, cloned and fake websites, business scams such as fake grants, cold callers, counterfeit goods, misleading energy marketing, and the illegal puppy trade.
Advice Direct Scotland, which runs Scotland’s national consumer advice service ( consumeradvice. scot), launched a ‘ ScamWatch’ tool to collect data on scams, which can then be passed to Trading Standards teams and other authorities for investigation.
The organisation has published its top tips for taking on the scammers in 2021.
If you are speaking to a person, don’t give them any personal information, don’t agree to make any payments and never allow them to access your computer remotely.
Don’t click on any buttons or links in unsolicited emails, even if they look official.
Contact your bank immediately if you think you may have made a payment to a scammer, or if you are worried that a fraudulent transaction has been made from your account.
Use the phone number on your bank statement or a publicly listed number ( don’t use a number given to you by a cold caller).
Contact Advice Direct Scotland for free, impartial and practical advice if you are worried something might be a scam, or if think you have been scammed.