Nationwide Building Society warns of rise in ‘clever common’ scam stealing Brits’ money | Personal Finance | Finance

Nationwide Building Society has issued a stark warning to Brits after a surge in a “clever” scam tactic fraudsters have been using to steal cash. According to the mutual, the average UK adult receives two scam calls each week, with “impersonation” calls becoming one of the most common ways used to trick people out of their money.

An impersonation scam involves victims being convinced to make a payment or disclose their personal or financial details to a criminal posing as a trusted organisation or someone they know. This could be a bank, the police, HMRC, or a friend or family member. These scams typically occur via phone calls, texts, emails, or on social media, and fraudsters employ cruel manipulation tactics to gain the trust of those targeted. Jim Winters, director of economic crime at Nationwide, said: “Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and impersonation calls are one of the most common ways they trick people into handing over money.

He added: “We are programmed to trust people, and when someone uses clever tactics and well-practised scripts – often putting us under pressure or making us panic – it can be hard to know who to trust.”

In a new survey commissioned by Nationwide Building Society, more than half (57%) of people said they believe that suspicious calls are becoming more frequent.

More than a quarter (28%) of people surveyed said they are not confident in spotting a genuine call from their bank.

Fraudsters may ask victims to share personal details, provide security codes, transfer money, or even to lie to their bank or building society, Nationwide warned.

While over half (53%) of people said they hang up immediately when they become suspicious about a call, only 29% report it to their bank.

To help customers spot the difference, Nationwide has introduced a new feature to build on its “scam checker” service.

It enables customers to instantly confirm whether the call they are on is genuine through Nationwide’s banking app.

Customers can open the app, go to “more”, and “call checker”, to see if they are on a call with Nationwide.

Mr Winters added: “Our call checker feature gives our customers peace of mind by confirming if a call is genuine or not. It’s a simple and effective step that could prevent someone from becoming the next crime statistic.”