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Consumers have been warned to remain in search of so -called cloning scams After a British investment trade organization found that fraudsters had obtained £ 2.7 million from members of the members of the practice in the second half of 2024.
Criminals who commit the scams create an almost identical duplicate from the website of a legitimate company, e -mail or a fake WhatsApp group to convince consumers to send them payments.
Such fraud was “at the top of the list of threats” that consumers were confronted who wanted to invest, according to a report from the Investment Association. The study was published on the occasion of the “Take Five” fraud prevention week.
There were 478 reports of imitation of investment managers in the second half of 2024, according to the report. Something under one in four was successful.
Adrian Hood, an expert in the field of regulatory and financial crime at the association, said that criminals would use “a variety of resources” to mislead people to say goodbye to their money. They can occur as real investment managers, steal card details or log in to someone’s account fraudulently.
The IA advised consumers to “remain vigilant”, to check the e-mail addresses and web addresses of the senders for small differences with those of legitimate companies.
Hood said that the risk became more acute because fraudsters used new artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
“The growth of AI will probably see more and more advanced scams, with criminals being better able to simulate legitimate companies,” he said.
There were 1,014 cloning scams against IA -connected companies detected in 2024, an increase of 57 percent compared to the previous year, despite a total decrease in the number of other detected scams.
However, the association said that efforts to prevent fraud, in general, and that losing fraud for the customers of its members fell by 29 percent to £ 5.4 million, between the first and second halves of 2024.
About £ 1.7 million scammed from members of members was found.
There was a decrease in the number of account takeovers, in which fraudsters take over the control over an account to an investment in cash too cash, from 142 to 132 between the two halves of the year. In the same period there was a decrease in reports of map fraud, in which a criminal stolen map data is used to open an investment account, from 36 to 17.
UK Finance said that criminals have already gone to the utmost to look legitimate and ai -tools could make it easier for them to do this.
“People can Register of Financial Behavioral Authority For lists with regulated companies and only use the contact details stated in the register to confirm that you are dealing with the real company before you say goodbye to your money or information, “said it.
Customers who believe they have been scammed are advised to contact their investment platform or provider immediately and to report the incident to the Action Fraud Center of the British police.