Fraudsters are targeting people with these scams in 2018.

• Phishing Using Social media Information

Scammers collect information on you from your social media accounts then contact you by phone, text or email and use that information to convince you they are a legitimate business you deal with e.g. an online clothes shop you buy from.  Once convinced they get more information from you, usually for selling to other scammers involved in fraud or identity theft.

• Brexit Investments

As Brexit is in the news almost daily and there is a lot of scaremongering, scammers invent ways to take advantage of this. Typical scams include investments that guarantee growth despite Brexit or investments that will make a fortune when Brexit happens.

All investments are a risk – there’s no such thing as a certainty in investment.

• Big Sporting Events e.g. The World Cup

The Football World Cup led to a lot of scams involving fake hotels, fake travel agencies, cheap match tickets etc. This also applies to other big international sports events – fake travel and fake tickets mostly.  If you’re buying such items, always use trusted suppliers.

• Wedding Lists

Many people create wedding present lists online – either they create such a list on their social media or they create a list at one of the big retailer’s websites such as Amazon.  Done properly these can be very helpful to Bride and Groom and guests, but sometimes leave the security open and the lists can be read by anyone and some scammers use the information provided to find ways to scam the new married couple.

There are also increasing numbers of fake venue hire websites, wedding catering sites etc.

• Pension scams

Scammers trying to steal your pension funds are not new but they are continuing to target people over the recent changes to pension law making it possible for people to withdraw money from their pension fund without a tax charge.  They typically start by offering advice or a free pension review.

• Money Transfer

Fraudsters who need cash to be moved are targeting hard up students, found through social media. They are offered an easy way to make money by accepting and posting on items or to pay money into their account then pay out to someone else. These activities are illegal and ignorance of that fact does not give protection from the law.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.