Vigilance the best way to beat the scammers
Today's report that British consumers have been conned out of £18.4 million by scammers in the first three months of this year is disturbing indeed.
On the positive side, the number has fallen by 13 per cent compared to last year, but the number is still huge.
What is more disturbing is that there has been a significant increase in the number of young and elderly people who have fallen prey, which suggests the fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated in who they target.
Indeed, it appears that the con-artists are actively targeting different demographics, with younger people being taken in by bogus ticket offers, while elderly people are increasingly falling for people impersonating official bodies such as the police or tax office.
The study, by Santander, also shows the continued growth in the number of transactions being conducted by contactless payment methods. As Britain moves towards becoming a cashless society, it has never been easier to transfer money money from one bank account to another. And while this might be convenient for customers, it is also pretty useful for scammers too, who can empty your bank account and disappear into the ether before you even know your money is missing.
Fraud has become big business, and a very corrosive one indeed. There is a misguided line of thought that scams are somehow less serious than other forms of theft, but anyone who has fallen victim to these fraudsters will testify just how traumatic this can be.
Our law enforcement bodies need to be given the powers and the resources to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice, and it might be time to look at beefing up sentences at the same time. The problem is, so many of these crimes are committed by people in other countries, making it all the harder to bring them to justice.
Most importantly of all, prevention is better than cure. We must all be vigilant to the risk of falling prey to scammers. And more than that, we have a responsibility to protect our loved ones from these criminals.
Defrauding people out of their hard-earned cash is a nasty offence at the best of times. Targeting the most vulnerable members of society is beyond the pale.