Warning over cost of living scams as fraudsters steal thousands

As Government support has been rolled out to help people with the soaring cost of living, criminals have been offering refunds and using other ploys to steal people’s money. The fraudsters pretend to be from banks or other organisations to get people to hand over personal or financial details.Will Ayles is director and co-founder of Refundee, which helps scam victims get their money back.He told Express.co.uk that the ‘hooks’ fraudsters use to entice their victims have changed with cost of living scams.One scam they are commonly seeing reported is the ‘safe account’ scam, when a person is duped into thinking their money is at risk.Mr Ayles explained how the scam works: ‘A victim might receive a phishing SMS that convinces them that they should enter some card details.READ MORE: Half a million pensioners to miss out on state pension rise due to where they live Cost of living scams are on the rise (Image: GETTY)’They do that and then shortly afterwards receive a call from their ‘bank’ (the fraudsters) who explain that the SMS was fraudulent, they have just shared card details, and now their entire bank account is at risk of theft.’The victim then panics, and through this clouded judgement, the fraudsters then convince the victim to send their money (all of it normally) to a new bank account under a false name.’They promise that the money will be returned to them after their account has been secured, but of course they never see it again.’Phishing SMS text messages often include links to fake websites, where people are encouraged to input personal or banking details.DON’T MISSRishi Sunak ‘will do what’s right’ pensioners told as they await verdict on 10.1% rise [TRIPLE LOCK]Halifax customer warns of ‘classic’ cold call scam where fraudsters can steal your details [FRAUD]Pensioner ‘amazed’ to get £18,000 cheque after Martin Lewis’ state pension warning [PENSIONS TIP] Victims of scams can lose thousands of pounds (Image: EXPRESS)He encouraged people to hang up if they get an unexpected call claiming to be from their bank, and to call the bank using the phone number on their card or from the website.Mr Ayles said: ‘Don’t speak to your ‘bank’ if they call you, even if the phone number matches what is showing on the website as these numbers can be spoofed. It might take an extra few minutes, but it might save you your life savings.’A person who receives a scam text can forward it to 7726, which allows it to be investigated and the sender’s number may be blocked.Victims of scams can report the incident to their bank or file a report with Action Fraud, a national reporting agency.