Overview
- The UK government and mobile operators signed an agreement this week to eliminate foreign call-centre spoofing and to introduce advanced call tracing to support police investigations.
- Survey data show widespread exposure to fraud, with 20% of adults losing money in the year to March and 67% encountering a scam in the past 12 months.
- A quarter of adults report facing scam attempts multiple times each week, underscoring the scale and persistence of the threat.
- Shopping and purchase scams were the most common type at 45%, often starting via emails, phone calls, texts, social media, digital ads and online marketplaces.
- Victims frequently seek remedies, with 77% reporting to their payment service and 47% recovering at least some funds, while 34% report wellbeing impacts and younger adults face larger average losses.