Outlining the full scale of card, cheque, phone and online fraud between January and June the FFA found that scams were perpetrated every 15 seconds, a significant 53 per cent rise on the same period a year ago.
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The first half of the financial year saw a financial scam committed every 15 seconds in the United Kingdom, prompting a new campaign to highlight the risks.
FFA UK, along with major banks and financial services providers, has launched a campaign called Take Five, which encourages people to pause and think before they respond to any financial requests or hand over any personal details.
The FFA, backed by payment card businesses and banks, want to raise awareness in a bid to stop fraud.
Katy Worobec, Director of FFA UK said in the report that banks stopped £7 in every £10 of attempted fraud – though of course that means that by value, thirty percent of such frauds are successful.
The group is launching a new initiative to educate people about financial fraud such as email and phone scams and phishing attempts.
“They prey on people who are trying to get on with their lives but in a moment where they are busy or distracted become vulnerable. Take Five is about knowing it is fine to stop a conversation or not to respond to an email so you can take a moment to think and take back control of the situation”.
According to new research published by the organisation, nearly three quarters of people claim they are aware of the methods fraudsters use, whereas more than a quarter admit that they still provide personal details to people claiming to be from their bank even if they do not think they should.
Police experts say that many are aware of the dangers of giving out their personal details but are still getting caught out.
Research found that nearly half (45 per cent) of those questioned in the region said that they do stop and think when asked for information by someone claiming to be from their bank.
A survey by FFA suggested that this was most commonly because victims felt the caller was genuine, with almost four in 10 being caught out as they felt pressurised, with a similar proportion letting their guard down when they were busy.
“But as the banks’ systems get more advanced, fraudsters turn their attention elsewhere and sadly this often means tricking people out of their personal details and money”. A further four in ten (38%) said it was because they were busy/in the middle of something and wanted to get them off the phone quickly.
Almost a quarter of financial fraud victims admitted the main reason they were duped was because the fraudster was extremely convincing.
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However, more than a third (37%) of people thought they were being scammed during the conversation – but still continued with the transaction.
