Western Daily Press (Saturday)
How to avoid losing your savings to a Covid-19 con
Coronavirus scammers are trying to tempt investors into parting with large sums of cash. VICKY SHAW learns how to spot them
CRIMINALS have been busy during the Covid-19 crisis finding new ways to trick people out of their life savings, as investors try to seek out better returns in the uncertain economy.
They’ve created so many bogus texts, cold calls, emails and websites that more than one in five (22%) of us believe we’ve been targeted by a coronavirus-related scam in the past few months, according to research by Aviva.
To find out what to watch out for, we asked Peter Hazlewood, group financial crime risk director at Aviva, about the trends he’s seeing, along with his tips on how to avoid a Covid-19 con...
Received a message, email or letter about coronavirus?
“FRAUDSTERS are using Covid-19 as a pretext for their communications. One of the best ways consumers can protect themselves is by being alive to that,” says Peter.
For example, he adds: “One of the things we’ve seen is an interactive map, which purports to chart the spread of the virus across the globe. But when you click on the map, it’s the same as clicking on a suspicious link on an email and it launches malware on your computer. Be very careful about emails that purport to relate to Covid, and be careful about clicking on suspicious links.
“There are also text messages going around claiming to offer financial assistance by clicking on a link, which has malware,” says Peter. “So it’s about protecting yourself upfront.”
Beware of sharing details on social media
“IT’S really important to limit the amount of personal data you put out there. Things like social media quizzes – be very careful about the amount of personal data that you enter into those,” Peter advises.
“You don’t know where it’s going, and that might be the same data – like your age, your sex, your address – those are the same data points that financial services companies use to verify your identity, so be careful.”
Spotted an ‘investment opportunity’? Think before going ahead
FAKE websites can appear very convincing, and some have pretended to be part of well-known brands – including Aviva. However, these websites may be lacking contact details and photos used in them may appear blurred.
“The investment conditions the pandemic has brought about have created a lot of uncertainty in the market. Investment performance has dropped, so there are a bunch of investors who are looking for a reasonable return,” says Peter. “They may be more mature investors. We’ve seen cases where people have sold their homes, for example, and they’re looking to downsize, but because the housing market is so uncertain they want to go and find a short-term investment.
“Fraudsters have set up fake investment comparison websites. They’re advertising slightly higher than normal investment rates,” he cautions.
“And it’s very tempting for someone who has potentially got a lot of money that they’re sitting on, but it’s literally everything they have.
“So be sceptical about these offers if they seem too good to be true.”
Don’t be too embarrassed to report money scams
AVIVA’S research found more than a quarter (26%) of people would be embarrassed to admit being the victim of a financial scam, whether to friends and family or the authorities. But by reporting it, you could be helping to prevent it happening to someone else. “Customers might not want to report it, but it’s really important that they tell their provider, and that they tell Action Fraud,” says Peter. “Because we can pick up snippets of intelligence that help us to take these websites down and target these fraudsters.”
Further information and advice on how to spot a scam can be found on the Aviva website. Visit aviva.co.uk/help-and-support/ protect-yourself-from-fraud/ spot-fraud-to-stop-fraud