Biggest scams of 2024 revealed after one in five consumers fall victim to ‘ever-evolving’ tactics
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The cost of a purchase scam claim last year was £650 on average. New research suggests almost one in five consumers have been the target of a money scam in the past year, with an average claim cost of £650 those hit by purchase scams in particular. A wide range of types make it ever-more difficult for some consumers to stay aware of what the latest approaches of scammers are, with Barclays reporting the top ten most reported scams from 2024 included approaches as diverse as claiming to be HMRC, romance scams and advance fee requests.
The report signals the “ever-evolving methods” used by fraudsters as a key reason that over half of Brits are struggling to stay vigilant to every possibility of attacks. While purchase scams fell to relatively low individual amounts, other types were far more costly.
Investment scams accounted for a third of all claims in monetary terms, with the average claim being for a total of £15,564. January was the peak for scams across the year, with more than half of those in the month being investment-based scams. Research conducted by Censuswide in December showed 18 per cent of consumers acknowledged falling victim to a scam of some description last year, with a vast majority of those - 93 per cent - saying the event originated online in one way or another.
