‘An evolution in organised crime’: How to spot the online scammers and stay safe

When Dr James McPherson reached out with the prospect of transferring him millions of pounds, Steve Boggan just couldn’t refuse the chance to expose the murky underworld of online scams

The number of reports of fraud has risen by over 60 per cent since 2015 (iStock)

When you’re playing cat and mouse with a fraudster – and with all your savings at stake – it is difficult not to imagine him rubbing his hands together, perhaps from excitement in a west African bedsit or from cold in a dank Russian basement.

I suspect my con man, James, is African because of certain phrases he uses but I can’t say for sure.

“My name is Dr James McPherson,” he wrote to me in an email just two weeks ago. “I am from United Kingdom, Auditor, Head of Computing department of (Lloyd [sic] Bank Plc UK) here in our branch UK. I am 55 years of age, happily married.”