Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that we all need to be aware of fraud and how to make sure we avoid it. It appears that scammers are taking advantage of the COVID-19 epidemic to devise new ways to attempt to de-fraud people, so we are asking you to be extra vigilant please.

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and Action Fraud are each reporting new trends in fraud related to COVID-19. The majority of reports are related to online shopping scams where people have ordered protective face masks, hand sanitiser, and other products, which have never arrived. There is also an increase in COVID-19 themed phishing emails, attempting to trick people into opening malicious attachments which could lead to fraudsters stealing people’s personal information, email logins and passwords, and banking details.

There is a lot of very helpful comment and advice available in relation to scamming. These include how to spot and avoid scamming. We have provided some useful links below:

https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart/how-avoid-pension-scams
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/pension-scams
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/scams
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/individual-protection

Please stay alert – and remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is!