Research finds complacency over fraud risk, despite 1 in 4 falling victim
Financial wellbeing research carried out by Arbuthnot Latham, the private and commercial bank, reveals that members of the UK’s affluent population are not overly concerned about becoming the victim of fraud, despite its prevalence.
The research found just 52% of respondents were worried about becoming the victim of fraud. Women were found to be more concerned than men on average, with 59% stating it as a concern.
Individuals ranked their worry from 1-10, with 1 being ‘not worried at all’ and 10 being ‘extremely worried’. The majority of participants ranked their concern between 5 and 10 (52%), with 7% categorising themselves as ‘extremely worried’. Of those surveyed, 48% selected 1-5.
Scammers now have a wide variety of ways to target vulnerable individuals and gain access to their money, with financial online tools being both easy-to-use and convenient.
But despite those over 65 traditionally considered less tech-savvy and therefore more exposed to financial fraud, only:
- 37% of those over 65 years old said they were worried about becoming a victim of financial fraud
- Whereas 72% of participants between 33 and 44 years old noted this as a concern.
A surprisingly high number of those polled had already fallen victim to financial fraud; 28% of participants said they have been scammed and 12% of respondents have been scammed multiple times.
Rob McClaren, head of fraud prevention at Arbuthnot Latham said: “Individuals need to be vigilant to avoid financial fraud, especially when managing their finances online. Our survey has shown too few individuals are actively thinking about the risk of being scammed while also indicating that a high proportion have been a victim of fraud in the past. This might suggest people are underestimating the likelihood and seriousness of being tricked by a fraudster.
“So much fraud that occurs is a result of people being tricked by sophisticated scammers into handing over things like one-time passcodes over the phone.
“There is a perception that it is a certain type of person vulnerable to fraud, but this is not true. It is incumbent upon all of us to be aware of the latest scams.”
