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The most common scams and how to avoid them

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Created on February 25, 2025

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The most common scams and how to avoid them

How is it done?

Phishing scams

How is it done?

A phishing scam is a type of cyberattack where scammers impersonate legitimate organisations, such as banks or delivery companies, to trick their victims into revealing personal and financial information. This is typically done through a text, social media message or email, asking the recipient to click on a link that may download a virus or steal your personal information.

How to avoid?

Fake e-shops

AI-powered scams

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An AI-powered scam is a type of fraud that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deceive and manipulate victims. This can be done in a number of different ways, including deepfakes, voice cloning and fake websites. AI scams tend to be harder to spot as they can manipulate real images or voices to convey false information.

How to avoid?

How to avoid?

Pension pot scams

Pension pot scams

A pension pot scam is when a fraudulent individual or company tries to persuade someone to transfer the entirety of their pension savings into a scheme controlled by the scammer. They often promise high returns or early access to funds when they actually intend to steal the whole amount or ‘loan’ you some of your pension while they take a high fee.

How to avoid?

Fake e-shops

Fake e-shop scams are fraudulent online stores that appear to sell legitimate products but are actually set up to steal customer’s money and personal details. These websites often impersonate well-known retailers or offer tempting deals. However, once someone places and pays for an order, they’ll either receive counterfeit goods or nothing at all.

How to avoid?

Pension pot scams

How to avoid phishing scams

Check the sender. Often emails from scammers will be slightly different to the official one, e.g. support@paypa1.com instead of support@paypal.com.

Look for spelling errors. Official messages from companies generally don’t contain bad grammar or typos so if you do spot them, it could be fraudulent.

Verify with the company. If you’re not sure if a message is legitimate, it’s best to contact the company directly via their official website to find out if they sent you the message.

How to avoid AI-powered scams

Use a ‘safeword’. Agree on a word with friends and family members which you can ask for to verify it’s them asking for money in an emergency situation.

Look for deepfake clues. Look for unnatural facial movements, mismatched lip sync or robotic voice tones. Anything that doesn’t seem natural could suggest it’s a deepfake.

Reverse image search. This may lead you to the original source of the image which you can check is trustworthy. It may also identify if it’s AI-generated.

How to avoid fake e-shops scams

Check the URL. If it’s a clone of a website, the URL likely won’t match the official one. You can also check if the URL is secure by looking for a padlock or https at the start.

Look for contact information. If there’s no real phone number, address or customer service, it’s likely a scam.

Pay with a credit card. Credit cards are more secure than debit cards as they offer better protection if any unauthorised charges are made to your card.

How to avoid penison pot scams

Review the personal pension age. You can only access money from your personal pension when you reach 55 so if you’re younger than that, it’s likely a scam.

Check the company is FCA-registered. If a company isn’t registered by the FCA, it means they’re not authorised to conduct financial activities in the UK.

Reject unexpected offers. It’s illegal to cold call about pensions so if this does happen, it is most likely a scam.