Scam warnings and advice
Beware One-time Password Scams
Many of us will now be familiar with one-time passwords, often a series of numbers generated to allow us to make online payments to people and access online accounts etc. Fraudsters attempt to obtain one-time passwords in order access bank and other online accounts and steal money.
You might receive an unexpected phone call, text, or email from someone falsely claiming to be from your bank. They may already know a lot about you, including your name and address and even account numbers and sort codes. They may claim that your account has been ‘suspended’ or they have ‘detected strange withdrawals’ or other ‘fraudulent activity’. And they will almost certainly want you to act quickly and not discuss these issues with anyone else. The fraudsters may try to convince you to move your money to a ‘safe account’ under their control, but to do this they may require you to divulge other information, including one-time passwords!
These frauds are on the rise. Remember, no legitimate business will ever ask you to divulge a one-time password. Do not share these codes.
Celebrity and AI Investment Scams
Warwickshire residents have reported losing tens of thousands of pounds after being scammed by bogus AI investments. These bogus investment companies, which often appear on social media use fake endorsements from celebrities and tech gurus to claim that investing money in stocks and shares through them will generate huge profits. The fraudsters may also throw in references to Artificial Intelligence to make the investments sound more exciting. They may put pressure on victims to invest more money to ‘make more’ and use false information to suggest that the investment is growing when it may not be. Indeed, it is very likely your money is not invested at all!
Victims who have invested have reported being declined when trying to make a withdrawal or told that they can only withdraw their money if they first send more! However, fraudsters do not return money to their victims and the money disappears, often followed quickly by the fraudsters!
If you are interested in investing, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has information you may find useful.
You can check if a company is authorised and registered with the FCA here
In the UK, almost all financial firms must be authorised by the FCA.
If you deal with a firm that isn’t authorised, or that doesn’t have permission for the activities you need, you won’t have access to the Financial Ombudsman if you have a complaint. You also won’t be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the firm goes out of business. This means that it’s unlikely you’d get your money back.
Look out for clone companies. These are fraudulent companies that use the names of genuine businesses. Make sure that you are dealing with a genuine business. Find out more.
Employment Scams
Warwickshire job seekers have reported being targeted by scam employment opportunities.
These approaches, which are sometimes made via WhatsApp and similar messaging services or email are sent to people who registered their details with what they wrongly believed were genuine employment agencies but were actually scammers.
The scammers offer them jobs they can do online, for example reviewing businesses/hotels etc. and say they will pay in crypto currency. When victims start work, they may get paid small amounts but very soon the scammers ask them (the victims) to deposit their own money to keep working and meet what are unachievable targets.