UK consumers losing £3.5billion to scams each year

Research published by the OFT today has revealed that UK consumers lose around £3.5billion to scams every year.

The groundbreaking study into the prevalence of mass marketed scams in the UK provides the first ever detailed analysis of the financial impact and harm caused by such scams. The survey, involving over 11,200 interviews, found that nearly half of the UK adult population has been targeted by a scam and that every year one in 15 people (3.2 million adults) in the UK fall victim to a scam involving deceptive unsolicited mailings, phone calls, or emails. The average amount lost per scam was £850.

The research suggests that consumers lose around £1.2 billion every year to bogus holiday clubs, £490 million to high risk investment scams, £420 million to pyramid and get-rich-quick schemes, and £260 million to fake foreign lotteries. On average a victim has a 30 per cent chance of falling for another scam within 12 months of first being caught out, most likely because their personal details are added to a so-called 'suckers list', which are then sold on to other scammers.

So if someone is offering you something for nothing, that's pretty much what you'll get.