Young people are most confident but least prepared to tackle fraudsters

Under 25s are more likely than older age groups to have been targeted in an impersonation scam and also be swayed to provide personal or financial information, according to new research by UK Finance’s ‘Take Five to Stop Fraud’ campaign.

An impersonation scam is where a criminal contacts you pretending to be a person or organisation you trust. These scams can be very sophisticated and often start with attempts to trick you into disclosing personal and financial information. UK Finance figures show over £1.2 billion was stolen through fraud in 2022. There were 45,367 cases of impersonation scams in 2022 costing at total of £177.6m.

Young adults aged 18-24 are the most confident of any age group in their ability to identify a scam, with 91% saying they believe they would be able to spot a fake request for personal information online.

Ros spoke to Paul Maskall, fraud expert at UK Finance.

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