NEW ADVICE to BEAT THE SCAMMERS

Two new campaigns aim to help you take charge

What links That’s Life’s Esther Rantzen and Countdown’s Nick Hewer? The answer? They’ve both been victims of credit card fraud. It’s hardly surprising – the latest figures show there were nearly six million scam offences in 2015, which means that one in 10 adults has been a victim of cyber crime. Now Esther and Nick are fronting two separate campaigns to stop the scammers.

Nick, who is fronting the Financial Conduct Authority’s Scamsmart campaign, explains: ‘Scammers will come up with brilliant websites and perfectly executed pieces of brochure work to relieve you of your money. Their websites are slicker than anything the Government’s ever produced. They’re very compelling and they’ve got authority, so it’s difficult to spot the flaws.’ His advice to anyone who receives a cold call is to hang up immediately, without engaging.

Veteran consumer champion Esther, who is the face of Talktalk’s Beat The Scammers campaign, was contacted by her credit card company about some unusual activity. This is a common tactic used by fraudsters to trick you into handing over your security information. But this time the call was legitimate. Her card had been cloned and someone else was spending her money.

To help you tell the difference, Esther’s Talktalk campaign advises anyone receiving a cold call to follow three simple steps: 1) Hang up immediately 2) Make a cup of tea 3) Ring back the organisation that called you, using an independently sourced number from either the back of your card, a card statement or a bill. What’s the tea for? It gives you time to think through the conversation you’ve just had and to ask yourself whether you think it might be genuine. It also allows time for your telephone line to clear.

On average, someone who falls for an investment scam loses a total of £32,000. So a cup of tea that could save you that amount might be the best decision you ever make.