Urgent scam warning issued as fraudsters pose as financial regulator
‘Pig butchering’ explained as thousands targeted in scam
- The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning about a surge in sophisticated scams where fraudsters impersonate the financial regulator to ask for bank account PINs and passwords.
- In the first half of the year, the FCA received 4,465 reports of individuals posing as its representatives, with approximately 480 people successfully duped into transferring funds.
- The majority of these reports, nearly two-thirds, originated from individuals aged 56 or above, indicating a particular vulnerability among older demographics.
- Common scam tactics include falsely claiming the FCA has recovered funds from cryptocurrency wallets or promising assistance to victims of previous loan scams, often persuading them to hand over further money.
- The FCA described ‘pig butchering’, where victims are targeted for a long-term investment scam; fraudsters would then try to impersonate the FCA and offer to help their victim recover what they have already lost.