It’s getting harder than ever to spot a scam. Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated by the day. Hijacked social media accounts, fake buy-now-pay-later schemes, dodgy QR codes and even convincing-looking fake online shops are all designed to trick shoppers into handing over their money.
Online scams are rife. According to UK Finance’s 2024 fraud report, there were 131,447 reported cases of purchase scams where people paid for goods or services that never arrived, which cost victims more than £87m. The trade body says that 85 per cent of these scams started online, often via fake websites, social media ads or questionable listings on online marketplaces.
