Nearly three quarters of people 'have been targeted by scam messages'

Over a quarter believed the communications to be genuine, and 7 per cent subsequently fell victim to the scammers

(Getty)

Nearly three-quarters of adults have been targeted by scammers with phishing emails, texts or cold calls, research suggests.

Santander found 74 per cent of people said they had been targeted, receiving an average of 16 fraudulent emails, texts or calls in the past year.

Over a quarter (27 per cent) believed the communications to be genuine, and 7 per cent subsequently fell victim to the scammers, seeing their identities stolen, money withdrawn from their accounts and fraudulent payments made on their credit cards.

To help raise awareness of the dangers, the bank is touring a “phish and chips” van around Britain, which is giving out fish and chips to customers and non-customers who show phishing emails or texts or who take a short quiz to identify scam emails and texts.

The van will be in Manchester on Thursday and in the coming weeks will also visit Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Leeds and Glasgow.

As well as dishing out fish and chips, Santander UK is giving tips to avoid becoming a victim of phishing scams:

• Never share Pin numbers or online banking passwords with anyone
• Never download software or let anyone log on to your computer devices remotely during or after a cold call
• Never enter your online banking details after clicking on a link in an email or text message
• Some 2,000 people took part in the survey.

PA