Fraud losses from coronavirus scams hit £5m mark

11,000 scams

Hope William-Smith
clock • 2 min read

A total of £5.1m worth of losses to fraud have been reported across the UK since February, according to ActionFraud.

More than 11,000 coronavirus-themed scams have been brought to ActionFraud since the start of the lockdown, the Press Association reported, with the most common identified as including a pension-related scam. This is commonly in the form of fraudsters convincing victims to transfer their pension pots or release funds. The sharp increase in scam activity comes despite continued warnings throught April and May from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) about heightened fraud risk. TPR chief executive Charles Counsell said: "These figures once again show the true devastation of scams; anyone c...

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