How Easy is It for Criminals to Steal Your Money From a Checking Account
The tricks scammers use to steal your money
By Michael Race
Business organisation reporter, BBC News
Image source, Getty Images
Criminals are deploying "psychological tactics" to con people out of greenbacks amid a rise in scams, Barclays bank says.
The tricks include creating illusions of product scarcity or pretending to be an authority to "socially engineer" victims, the banking concern's chief behavioural scientist Dr Pete Brooks warned.
He said scammers used dating apps to target people over weeks in some cases to establish "emotional connections".
Dr Brooks added they preyed on people's biases and personality traits.
He told the BBC although the types of scams hadn't changed over decades, criminals were condign more sophisticated and could use "many more channels" to target people.
Using dating apps as an example, Dr Brooks said scammers would connect with people they matched with, develop a relationship over time, and then exploit people'due south personality traits to get them to transfer them coin.
"Most of u.s.a. by default are trusting," said Dr Brooks.
Image source, Getty Images
Dr Brooks said so-called "purchase scams", where appurtenances bought online don't be or never arrive, were the most common blazon.
He said such crimes involved fraudsters creating a "perceived scarcity and therefore 'value' in what they are selling to motivate consumers to human action quickly and not rely on their better judgment".
This might be advertizement something every bit a one-fourth dimension offer, he added, or a production with a limited-edition price or availability, or "rushing us into ownership something that 'has' to be bought now - fifty-fifty if you've never seen the production in real life".
Barclays said the boilerplate amount a person loses through buy scams totalled £980; however, enquiry establish scams targeting people investing led to the most money being lost.
Figures showed a 17% rise in all reported scams in the last three months, while attempts at conning people increased past 70% in the final 3 months of 2021.
'Instil fear'
Impersonation scams, Dr Brooks said, involved criminals exploiting a trait found in more than ii-thirds of Brits surveyed, as being more likely to comply with a asking if they believed it to be from a well-known establishment, such as a bank, the police or the NHS.
"In these situations, scammers will harness that sense of authority to instil fear in their victims," he said.
"Perhaps suggesting their bank account has been compromised, they are overdue a payment or that they will be fined if they do not pay the full amount. Psychologically, many of u.s. volition take these at face-value if they're coming from what we believe to be a reputable establishment."
Meanwhile, investment scams, Barclays said, saw a victim lose on average £15,788 the last iii months of 2021.
Dr Brooks said scammers were "experts at exploiting the fact people desire to grow their assets, and that we tin can sometimes put our better judgement aside for a high return opportunity".
Barclays said that was reflected in its research, with 3 in ten people admitting they would exist willing to get with an investment or savings provider they'd never heard of if they thought the returns would be higher than their existing provider.
Barclays said real phone calls from a banking concern will never ask customers to share their pivot number or security information or to transfer money to a "safe business relationship".
The bank said its communication was "always to question whether something appears also good to be true, and non to exist afraid to be suspicious".
Simply it warned "worryingly", almost a third of ii,002 people it polled admitted they "wouldn't know what to do if they found themselves being targeted".
If yous, or someone you know, accept been affected by fraud, help and support is bachelor from Action Fraud and at BBC Action Line.
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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60380467
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