Your investigation (‘Deepfakes, cash and crypto: how call centre scammers duped 6,000 people’, 5 March) is an all too depressing reminder that the UK remains in the grip of a fraud epidemic. It is also an important warning: people don’t fall for scams because they’re careless, but because they’re targeted by ruthless criminals.
The reality is that fraudsters, often members of organised criminal networks, are finding it far too easy to exploit weaknesses in protections for consumers. Many banks and payment firms aren’t doing enough to prevent their customers from sending money to fraudsters, while tech giants remain sluggish when it comes to removing fraudulent material, like scam ads, that can ensnare so many users.
