Consumers are being urged to stay alert when shopping after new data has revealed there has been a 17 per cent increase in scams over the last three months.
Over half of the reported cases were purchase scams, with fraudsters becoming expert behavioural manipulators, according to Barclays.
Purchase scams involve fraudsters selling non-existent products at reduced prices to attract victims. They accounted for 53 per cent of reported frauds, with an average value of £980 stolen, in the last three months.
The number of scams numbers skyrocketed throughout the pandemic, as criminals attempted to take advantage of changing consumer habits and vulnerabilities.
Dr Pete Brooks, Barclays’s chief behavioural scientist, explained how fraudsters are using psychological tricks to lure consumers in.
He said: “Scammers create a perceived scarcity and therefore ‘value’ in what they are selling to motivate consumers to act quickly and not rely on their better judgement.
“This might be advertising something as a ‘one-time offer’, a limited edition price or availability, or rushing us into buying something that ‘has’ to be bought now – even if you’ve never seen the product in real life.”
According to polling from Barclays, seven in 10 people said they have seen an increase in suspicious or scam-related activity in the last three months. But almost a third admitted they would not know what to do if they spotted what they thought might be a fraud.
