31 May 2023 , 14:29
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Lloyds Bank has issued a warning to everyone who uses social media as more and more people are losing money to scams on these platforms with the average amount lost being £570.
The high street bank found that there had been a "surge" in criminals tricking people into paying for goods and services that don’t exist on social media.
This type of scam is called a "Purchase Scam".
Analysis from the high street bank found that two thirds of 25million reported cases of purchase scams originated on the Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
Purchase scams on these sites are expected to cost people in the UK more than £27million this year alone.
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The bank also found that someone falls victim on Meta-owned platforms every seven minutes.
Victims of these types of scams are typically lured in by the promise of cut-price or hard-to-find items that are often advertised on social media.
People are then usually asked to send money directly from their account to another account through bank transfer - this is also known as a Faster Payment.
Sadly, this payment method provides very little consumer protection when something goes wrong.
The bank found that clothes, trainers, gaming consoles and mobile phones were among the most common goods being falsely advertised.
Across the industry, the average amount being lost by the victims of purchase scams is around £570.
Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director, at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Social media has become the Wild West of online shopping in recent years, with very few checks in place to verify who is selling what.
"This has left consumers increasingly exposed to ruthless fraudsters, with hundreds of new victims targeted every day and tens of millions of pounds flowing to organised crime gangs each year."
Liz explained how high street banks had been at the forefront of tackling the "epidemic of scams" but they couldn't fight it alone.
She added: "It’s high time tech companies stepped up to share responsibility for protecting their own customers.
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"This means stopping scams at source and contributing to refunds when their platforms are used to defraud innocent victims.”
However, reimbursement does not fully address the emotional trauma of becoming a victim of fraud, nor does it stop the flow of money to organised crime.
Falling victim to a scam is profoundly distressing and casts a long shadow beyond the financial impact, including on mental health and confidence, leaving people deeply affected by the experience.
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, said: “This is an industry-wide issue and scammers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to defraud people in a range of ways including email, SMS and offline.
"We don’t want anyone to fall victim to these criminals which is why our platforms have systems to block scams, financial services advertisers now have to be FCA authorised and we run consumer awareness campaigns on how to spot fraudulent behaviour.
"People can also report this content in a few simple clicks and we work with the police to support their investigations.”
How to avoid falling victim to purchase scams
Lloyds Bank has compiled ways you can protect yourself when buying items through social media - these include:
- Always be cautious - you don’t know if the user profile and item are genuine and have few ways of checking, a good rule of thumb is to only buy things you have seen in person.
- Avoid deals that look too good to be true – adverts with low prices or for sold-out items should ring alarm bells, you should always look for similar offers elsewhere to work out if they’re realistic
- Buy from trusted retailers – this is usually the safest way to shop online, but watch out for fake websites and emails, and be wary of mixed, bad or no reviews at all
- Use your debit or credit card – this helps to protect your money should something go wrong, PayPal is another option that’s usually safer than paying by bank transfer.
- Pay attention to warnings – your bank is likely to provide a warning when you set up a new payee or make an unusual payment, so you should always follow any advice provided top you