Fraudsters capitalise on lockdown uncertainty to steal £4m as investors are lured by sophisticated scams
Fraudsters have stolen around £4million from investors in recent months through large-scale sophisticated scams, the Investment Association (IA) has warned.
Aiming to capitalise on savers’ uncertainty during the coronavirus lockdown, the fraudsters have been impersonating real investment managers and their products – investment bonds in particular.
They have been promoting them on fake price comparison websites, luring victims through sponsored links on Google and Facebook, and are harvesting personal details from fake call centres.
Lockdown scams: Fraudsters have been impersonating real investment managers and their products – investment bonds in particular, promoting them on fake price comparison websites
In some cases, the IA said, scammers have set up a range of email addresses and used the names of genuine staff members in investment management firms.
The representative body for investment managers said around 300 cases had been reported with an estimated loss to savers of £4million.
Reports have shot up in recent weeks as many customers were expecting their first interest payment from the bonds they thought they had invested in.
On inquiring at the real firm which they believed they had invested through, they realised they had been scammed.
IA chief executive Chris Cummings said savers should be wary of cold calls.