‘Cash stuffing’ Gen Zs targeted in spate of burglaries

Young people saving cash in envelopes at home as part of a social media trend are being targeted by burglars.

Admiral Insurance warned that it had seen a rise in claims involving cash, including where significant amounts of cash kept in envelopes have been stolen during break-ins.

“Cash stuffing”, a trend born on social media apps such as TikTok, sees savers file away cash in brightly coloured envelopes at home, rather than in current accounts.

In one video posted by TikTok user Budgetswithbeth, the self- described cash-stuffer organises her savings in various wallets with labels such as monthly money, petrol, window cleaning and back to bank.

In the video Beth says: “I often get comments asking me, ‘ what is wrong with a bank, why do I not keep this money in there?’ For me, having the physical cash in front of me means that I know what my budget is and I do not overspend. Since starting cash-stuffing I have saved more money than I ever did using my bank account, so for me, this works really well.”

Beth divides her money between essential spending such as petrol and food before setting aside money for weekend and social spending. Any surplus money from previous months, she adds, is put into a savings account. Dozens of similar videos are posted to the app under the hashtag cashstuffing.

TikTok places a disclaimer underneath cash-stuffing videos with “tips to avoid making harmful financial decisions”, urging users to be “mindful of content that promotes financial products and services”.

Admiral said one customer who was using the cash-stuffing hack had envelopes containing £1,700 stolen. The insurer added that, in that case, the claim was covered.

Noel Summerfield, of Admiral, said: “Allocating different spending pots can be an effective way of budgeting and staying on top of spending.

“However, having large amounts of cash in the house has its risks. We’ve seen multiple claims where large amounts of cash kept in envelopes have been stolen during a break-in.”

Admiral’s own data indicate that the average cash theft claim is for £333.