Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) has announced the launch of its annual national awareness week in partnership with Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) to focus on phone scams as criminals increasingly focus on scams that avoid face-to-face contact.
Backed by 173,000 volunteers, the national awareness week will see NHW warn people about the dangers of phone scams as volunteers give people advice on how to protect themselves from today (Monday 22 June) for the next week and telling people to “hang up on fraud”.
Volunteers will urge their neighbours to share these warnings and pass on advice to three of their friends so that over 2 million people can be reached by the end of the campaign.
The campaign is also being backed by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), the specialist police unit funded by the banking industry to investigate, disrupt and arrest criminals involved in financial fraud.
This is the first time that NHW have conducted a campaign on phone scams, and it reflects the changing tactics of criminals who now prefer to minimise the risk of arrest by never coming into direct contact with their victim.
It comes as FFA UK publishes new figures on what is currently the most widespread phone scam – which involves victims being tricked into transferring money directly from their own bank account into the fraudsters. A total of £23.6m was lost in this way across the UK in the space of a year.
While there are variations on this scam – the fraud typically works by the criminal calling their victim and pretending to be from their bank. The fraudster will then convince the victim that fraud has been detected on their bank account and that they have to act fast by moving their money into a so-called ‘safe account’ or risk losing all their money. The fraud is often successful because criminals will use a range of techniques to dupe their victim – such as ‘spoofing’ the telephone number on the person’s caller ID display so that it matches their bank’s number, or making reference to genuine account information which they have fraudulently obtained elsewhere, in a bid to make the call seem genuine.
Neighbourhood Watch Scotland will also be launching their own Neighbourhood Watch Week which will cover a wide variety of safety and crime prevention issues, including scam safety and how to avoid falling victim to phone fraud.
Jim Maddan, Chairman of the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network (England & Wales) said: “Neighbourhood Watch coordinators are well-known and trusted within their communities and they are keen to be proactive in keeping people safe. They are ideally placed to provide advice to their neighbours, as well as vulnerable people within their neighbourhood, about how they can avoid phone scams.
“People are often unwilling to confide in their family but Neighbourhood Watch coordinators have a long and successful history of supporting people to protect themselves against crime. With the present increase in phone fraud they are now bringing their skills to bear on this issue to help keep more people safe.”
Katy Worobec, Director of Financial Fraud Action UK, said: “More and more people have heard about the dangers of phone scams and how they work, but unfortunately there is still a significant number who are unaware that highly professional criminals are systematically targeting members of the public to deceive them out of their savings. We want to declare this week a time for all those who are aware of these threats to talk to relatives and neighbours and warn them about suspect calls and how to protect themselves.”
DCI Perry Stokes, Head of the DCPCU, said: “Phone scams are being widely used by criminals to con people out of their hard earned cash and savings. Always be wary of unsolicited calls, even if the caller claims to be from a trusted organisation like your bank or the police. Unfortunately, thousands of people have fallen victim to phone scams so before you even consider revealing personal information over the phone or making a financial investment with a cold caller, always consider if you really know who the person is. If the answer is no, don’t be a victim, just hang up the phone.”
