Fraudsters are posing as the UK’s financial watchdog to con thousands of people out of their hard-earned cash, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned.
The regulator revealed it received a worrying 4,465 reports of criminals pretending to be the FCA in just the first six months of this year.
Nearly 500 victims were tricked into sending money directly to the fraudsters.
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The FCA is sounding the alarm over a rise in scams
|GETTY
Two-thirds of those reports came from people aged 56 or older, making pensioners a prime target.
According to the FCA, the scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
In one common ploy, victims are told the FCA has recovered funds from a crypto wallet in their name and are asked to hand over cash to release it.
Another scam saw loan fraud victims contacted with promises that the regulator can recover their losses, only to be conned a second time.
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The FCA is the UK's primary financial services watchdog
|PA
Others have received fake emails claiming their creditors have secured a County Court Judgment and that payment must be made to the FCA immediately.
Steve Smart, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement, issued a stark warning: “Fraudsters are ruthless. We never ask for money or sensitive details such as PINs and passwords. If in doubt, check.”
Consumer group Which? claims Britain is in a "fraud epidemic" and accuses the Government and big businesses of failing to share vital data that could help stop scams.
Rocio Concha, the watchdog’s policy director, warned: “Without greater action, millions more hard-working people will lose money to scammers.”
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Charlene Young, senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell, said: “This new warning from the FCA makes for grim reading, as financial scammers are now impersonating the regulator itself.
"The true volume of victims and attempts will likely be much higher.
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| Getty/PA“Impersonation schemes are beautiful to these bad actors. One common technique involves a call out of the blue, with fraudsters claiming to be from the FCA and having recovered funds from cryptocurrency wallets opened in the target’s name without their knowledge.”
Ms Young warns that these schemes can give fraudsters “a second bite of the scam cherry”.
The FCA has singled out a practice it calls ‘pig butchering’, where victims are targeted using a romantic or other connection which lays the groundwork for a long-term investment scam.
Almost two-thirds of the reports to the FCA in the update came from over 55s.