Surge in UK savings lost to investment scams, with fake crypto thought to top the list | Scams
The amount of money lost to investment scams by UK consumers has leapt 55% in a year as cryptocurrency fraudsters intensify their efforts to cheat people out of their savings, data shows.
Official UK banking industry data shows that while the total amount stolen by fraudsters increased 3% to £629m in the first six months of this year compared with last year, investment scam losses surged, reaching £97.7m during the period – more than £500,000 a day.
With these scams, criminals trick their victims into moving their money into a fictitious fund or paying for a fake investment, usually using the lure of a high return. While the frauds can involve assets such as gold, wine, property, carbon credits and land, it is thought that fake…
