WECANALLFALL VICTIMTOSCAMS
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are often used to reel in targets – usually women aged 46 to 69.
Action Fraud, the UK’s cybercrime reporting centre, says it receives more than 350 reports of such scams a month and, in Scotland alone, police have launched 25 investigations since January into romance frauds worth £570,000.
At this time of year, holiday fraud is also common. If a holiday deal online looks too good to be true, it probably is.
The number of reported holiday fraud cases has risen almost 20 per cent year on year from 4910 to 5826, says Action Fraud, with the average amount lost per person to holiday fraud last year standing at £1200.
The most common types of holiday fraud relate to the sale of airline tickets, booking accommodation online as well as timeshare sales.
But some scammers will go to extreme lengths, identifying and methodically targeting a victim.
This is called “social engineering” and you might surprised by what they can find about you online.
More than 34million of us are using social media every day, making social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn a scammer’s paradise.
Now the Royal Bank of Scotland is leading calls for the public to understand and use the security measures that will keep them and their hard earned money safe.
“It’s a bit of a myth that cyber crime is a technical thing, that involves hacking and breaking into systems,” says Julie McArdle, customer security manager at Royal Bank of Scotland.
“It’s more about social engineering – how criminals will hack into people to get the information they need to go on and steal money from them.
“Most of the fraud and scams that we deal with at the bank are really simply avoided by taking more steps to protect yourself.”
Detective Inspector Eamonn Keane, who leads Police Scotland’s cyber crime operations team, says: “More of us are living our lives online, more of us are banking online, selling and buying and meeting friends online. Wherever there is that type of a presence, you will see criminal activity.”
Here, we look at two ways in which grooming, online or in person, can be used by scammers.