9m people caught out by financial scams in past year, Citizens Advice estimates

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. As part of its Scams Awareness campaign, Citizens Advice wants to help people stay safe by exposing scammers’ tactics. I had no clue that you could so easily lose all that almost overnight Scam victim It said the most common financial scams included fake debt advice being offered on social media, scammers posing as a “friend in need”, pension scams, investment scams and parking QR code scams in which stickers with bogus codes are placed over genuine ones at car parks. I had no clue that you could so easily lose all that almost overnight.” It’s particularly worrying to see the impact on people’s finances afterwards, especially if they have to borrow to get by Dame Clare Moriarty, Citizens Advice Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Anyone can fall victim to a scam and we know scammers aren’t only targeting those looking to invest money, but also those simply going about their day-to-day lives. Underreporting of scams is a major problem and we need people to come forward so we can stop these criminals in their tracks.” John Herriman, chief executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said: “CTSI is very concerned to see the number of people that are targeted every year by financial scams, whether these are fake debt, pension advice, or parking scams.