Millennials are falling victim to scams involving handing money to fraudsters more than any other age group, according to Lloyds Bank.
New data shows that victims aged 18 to 34 are losing £2,630 on average to the fraud, which typically involve scammers impersonating banking staff, the police or HMRC.
Ian Bradbury, CTO for Financial Services at Fujitsu, told TFT:
“Fraud has always been a challenge for the financial services industry – last year alone criminals stole £1.2 billion through fraud and scams. Unfortunately millennials’ appetite for speed and convenience puts them at risk because of their greater use of online banking, which is increasingly a target for cybercriminals. On the bright side, it’s great seeing banks and other financial services organisations take extra steps in educating their customers.
last year alone criminals stole £1.2 billion through fraud and scams
Many consumers can get easily complacent online with sharing their personal details on multiple sites, banks and the financial services industry overall need to do more to alert and educate them on simple best practices, such as spotting impersonation emails from banks and the HMRC. But while many financial services organisations are doing their best to protect people from scams – for example through multi-factor authentication – ultimately it comes down to individual vigilance. At the end of the day, you can have the best technical protection mechanisms in place, but without the person being aware of scams, the technical protection mechanisms will not always work.
The sense of urgency around the topic – 31% of millennials admitted they are concerned about cybersecurity threats – means that financial services organisations need to work even more closely together with each other, their partners and with the government to take that urgency and turn it into the practical knowledge that will protect our younger generations’ financial wellbeing.”
