A bank is warning people to watch out for a cost of living scam where criminals pose as friends or family members.
TSB issued the warning after it recorded a 58% increase in "friends and family" scams in July compared with the same month the previous year. The rise was driven by scammers sending messages pretending to be from friends or family members asking for help paying bills amid the cost of living crisis.
According to its own research, TSB said a £500 fraud loss would leave three-fifths of households struggling to afford food for more than a week. The average loss in such cases is £1,500, according to the bank's analysis, although the amounts can vary hugely, with the majority of scam attempts it looked at taking place on WhatsApp.
