Less than 10 percent of British citizens can spot a scam

Four-fifths (80%) of over 2,300 people surveyed for the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign said they could confidently identify a fraudulent approach, according to the Daily Mail. However, in a separate test of over 63,000 people, less than one in 10 (9%) scored full marks in the Take Five Too Smart To Be Scammed? quiz.

Figures from trade association UK Finance show GBP 366.4 million was lost to financial fraud in the first half of 2017 – with a further GBP 101.2 million lost through authorised bank transfer scams, the online publication continues.

The quiz presents people with texts and emails and asks them to say whether they think they are from a genuine organisation or fraudulent. One text, purporting to be from a bank, asks the recipient to transfer money to a “safe” account – something which banks would never ask their customers to do. In another scenario, an email asks the recipient to click on a link – something which consumers are also warned by the campaign not to automatically do. The email contains grammatical errors – another warning sign that it is fraudulent.

The campaign warns consumers to “Stop and think before you give away any information, no matter how legitimate the person sounds – and remember – it’s My Money? My Info? I don’t think so.”