Fraud comes in all shapes and forms. New scams are constantly emerging as fraudsters exploit different methods and media channels to get people to part with money, financial data or personal information. Anyone can be targeted, and anyone can become a victim.
Some common types of fraud to be aware of
Here you can see just a handful of fraud types to show how wide-ranging it can be. The more alert you are to the varied nature of fraud, the better prepared you’ll be to spot a fraud attempt.
Advance fee fraud
A huge amount of fraud is designed to persuade people to make an upfront payment for goods or services that don’t exist. This is known as advance fee fraud or advance payment fraud. It can take many forms, including (but not limited to):
- inheritance fraud – you’re told you’re in line to inherit a large sum of money, but you’ll need to pay a fee to release the funds
- investment fraud – you’re offered investment opportunities such as cryptocurrency, often advertised on social media using deepfake (digitally altered or created videos, images and audio recordings) celebrity endorsements
- loan fraud – you’re asked to pay a fee to secure a loan
- lottery fraud – you’re told you’ve won big in a lottery or competition, but you’ll need to pay an admin fee before you can claim it
- recovery fraud – after you’ve been a victim of fraud, you’re approached by someone claiming they can recover your losses – for a fee
- recruitment fraud – you respond to a job ad, but are asked by the ‘recruiter’ to pay a fee to run various checks or provide training – for a job that doesn’t exist
Banking fraud
Banking fraud occurs when bank cards or bank account information is stolen and used to make payments on someone’s account without their knowledge. The victim might only realise when they see transactions on their statement that they didn’t make.
Dating fraud
Dating or romance fraud involves manipulating people into sending money to criminals, who go to great lengths to gain their trust and convince them that they are in a genuine relationship.
Online shopping fraud
Online shopping fraud takes place on online auction sites and marketplaces. Using the anonymity of the internet, fraudsters persuade people to pay them for poor-quality or non-existent items, or they pretend to be a genuine buyer but never pay for the goods.
Pension fraud
Pension scams can be hard to spot. Fraudsters may contact you by phone, text or social media and make attractive offers to persuade you to transfer your pension pot to them or to release funds from it. They may also ask you to share personal information that they can use to impersonate you to gain access to your pension fund.
What to look out for
Fraudsters may claim to be from a pension provider, often with credible-looking websites, testimonials and materials that are hard to distinguish from the real thing.
Legitimate pension providers are highly unlikely to contact you unexpectedly about your pension, be wary:
- if you’re pressured to act quickly to share information
- of unexpected offers, promises of high guaranteed returns, unusual and complicated investment structures and a lack of checkable information. Unusual investments often include property, renewable energy bonds and forestry, many of which tend to be overseas, making it difficult to check ownership or even whether the investment exists.
How to protect yourself
- If you receive a call or message claiming to be from your pension firm always take time to stop and think if the request is genuine before handing over personal information. Check a request is genuine by contacting your pension provider via their official website or app.
- Before investing or moving funds to a new pension provider check if a firm is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA Firm Checker allows you to check if financial services firms are authorised and have permission to sell you products and services
- Always check their contact details against the Firm Checker to see if they match.
- Before making significant financial decisions, speak with trusted friends or family members, or seek professional independent advice. Money Helper provides free and impartial guidance on pensions.
If you’ve been a victim of pension fraud
- If you have suspicions of pension fraud or have been a victim, contact Report Fraud immediately.
- If you are offered help or promises to get your money back, take time to stop, think and check who you’re dealing with, as it could be a fraudster.
- Take a look at our advice on how to recover from fraud
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