A third of Britons have received a text message from fraudsters in the past six months, who have managed to trick 7% of us out of our money
- The most common scam claimed to be from HM Revenue and Customs
- Messaging scams aim to trick victims into clicking links or calling a number
- Which? found fraudulent PayPal messages received by 29% of respondents
- Watchdog urged firms to take action to stop messages reaching devices
A third of text message users have received at least one scam attempt in the past six months – putting them at risk of losing money or data, research shows.
Which? found that of the 34 per cent who had received a scam text, seven per cent lost personal data, money or both.
Among the victims, 42 per cent had received a message claiming to be from HM Revenue and Customs, while 34 per cent were falsely told they had won a competition and 32 per cent received a text about their supposed ‘injury claim’.
Messaging scams aim to trick victims into clicking links or calling a number to disclose personal information.
Fraudsters also use ‘number spoofing’ to make the recipient’s phone display the name of an organisation instead of a number, making the fraudulent text seem like an official message.
A spokesman for HMRC said it was working to ‘identify, frustrate and close down fraudulent operations’ (stock image)
Which? consumer rights editor, Adam French, said: ‘Firms must take action to introduce the systems needed to stop these messages reaching people’s devices… any unexpected messages could well be a scam.’
After texts, Facebook Messenger was the most common platform for messaging scams, with 16 per cent of users having received a fraudulent message in the last six months, followed by 10 per cent of WhatsApp users.
Fraudulent PayPal messages were received by 29 per cent of respondents.
HMRC announced in January that it had cut the most convincing messages reaching phones by 90 per cent, but Which? said the latest figures suggested there was ‘still work to do on this issue’.
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Adam French said: ‘We found frightening numbers of people are receiving scam messages, leaving them vulnerable to the loss of their hard-earned cash and also sensitive personal information.
‘Firms must take action to introduce the systems needed to stop these messages reaching people’s devices.
‘While we await action on this, it’s important that people remain as vigilant as possible.
‘Stop and think about a message you receive before engaging in communication. The problem is still rife – any unexpected messages could well be a scam.’
A spokesman for HMRC said: ‘HMRC is a trusted brand that fraudsters regularly try to exploit’ (stock image)
A spokesman for HMRC said: ‘HMRC is a trusted brand that fraudsters regularly try to exploit.
‘We’re aware of these scams and have a dedicated team who work with internet service providers, other Government departments and law enforcement to identify, frustrate and close down fraudulent operations.
‘We use a range of technical solutions to prevent malicious messages getting through to our customers, and offer comprehensive advice to the public to help them identify genuine communications.’
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