🔥 NEW & EMERGING THREATS
- AI Voice-Clone “Hi Mum” Scam 2.0 — Fraudsters now clone a relative’s voice from social media clips and call targets pretending to be family in distress. Action Fraud saw a 300% rise in Q1 2025.
- Fake HMRC Tax-Refund Texts — Spoofed SMS claiming a £450 rebate with a .gov-look-alike link. Over 4,000 reports in the last 30 days.
- QR-Code Parking Meter Scam — Fraudulent QR stickers placed over legitimate council parking payment codes, redirecting to phishing payment pages. Active in Manchester, Birmingham, and Bristol.
- “Verification” Crypto Scam on X/Twitter — Fake Elon Musk / project accounts offering “wallet verification” that drains connected wallets.
- Fake Booking.com Emails — Phishing campaign spoofing hotel confirmation emails with malware attachments disguised as invoices.
📊 KEY STATS
- UK fraud losses hit £2.3 billion in 2024 — up 12% year-on-year
- Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud: £459.7 million lost in 2024
- 76% of purchase scams now originate on social media
- Romance fraud average loss: £10,000+ per victim
- Only 1 in 7 fraud crimes are reported to police
⚠️ OFFICIAL WARNINGS
- Action Fraud — Warning about council tax rebate phishing emails
- FCA — 15 new entities added to the Warning List including clone firms
- NCSC — Advisory on credential-stuffing attacks targeting UK retail accounts
- Which? — Alert on fake broadband deal comparison sites
🛡️ PLATFORM SAFETY TIPS
- WhatsApp — Enable “Silence Unknown Callers”. Never share 6-digit verification codes.
- Facebook Marketplace — Use in-app payments only. If a seller insists on bank transfer, walk away.
- Email — Hover over sender addresses. Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.
- Banking — Set up transaction alerts. Your bank will never ask you to move money to a “safe account”.
Sources: Action Fraud, FCA, NCSC, UK Finance, Cifas, Which?, Lloyds Banking Group, ONS