Most, 70 per cent of people ignore their gut feeling in situations involving money, leaving them more vulnerable to scammers. That’s according to the bank, Barclays which also suggests that purchase scams – the most common type of scam, where people buy goods which never arrive or aren’t as advertised – have risen by 70 per cent, year on year.
The bank is urging people to take a moment and listen to their gut when making decisions. Especially as three quarters (75 per cent) of people have noticed an increase in suspicious or scam related activity in the last month and almost half (47 per cent) have been targeted by a scam by email and/or text in the last few months.
Investment scams, where you’re invited to invest in something that isn’t what it seems or doesn’t exist, are the highest value, and account for just under a third (31 per cent) of all money lost to scammers, the bank suggests. Despite this, research shows that most, 85 per cent of people choose to ignore their gut feeling when investing; according to consumer research.
Hence the bank has partnered with Dr Megan Rossi, to raise awareness of the important role the gut can play in helping people to identify if they are being scammed and provide advice for how to identify when your gut is trying to tell you something.
Dr Megan Rossi (PhD, Rd) says: “Your gut and brain are in constant two-way communication. This is known as the gut:brain axis, and is made possible thanks to the impressive web of hundreds of millions of nerves that connect the two.
“That science-backed feeling in your gut is often based on intuition, and has the power to keep you safe, in more ways than one. In fact, Barclays research shows that listening to your gut might have the power to help protect against fraud and scams risks that many face each day.”
To support this knowledge gap when it comes to spotting the signs, we’ve devised a simple mnemonic that can help remind people of what to look out for when their gut is trying to tell them something: SCAM. That stands for –
Sweating
Chest tightness
Aching (head or stomach)
Mind fog.
Why might you ignore a gut feeling: a third surveyed (33 per cent) question their gut feeling if they are under time pressure, and another third (34 per cent) say they would re-consider their gut feeling based on the size or value of the opportunity.
Ross Martin, Head of Digital Safety at Barclays, says: “Too often people ignore their gut feeling when making important decisions, which unfortunately can make them more vulnerable to scams. Scammers will play on your emotions and try to instil a sense of time pressure, or create a perceived scarcity – and therefore value – when making a purchase or investment.
“You should never feel rushed into buying or investing in something. If something sounds suspicious or doesn’t feel right, speak to someone you trust – a family member, friend or your bank – for a second opinion.”
Visit: www.barclays.co.uk/scams/.
Comment
Rachel Jones, CEO of SnapDragon Monitoring, a web brand protection company, warned that fraudsters are a very canny bunch and even the most astute individuals are being taken in.
“The technology behind much of this trickery is highly sophisticated. Lookalike websites of popular brands can be incredibly hard to recognise as fake to the untrained eye. Consumers need to be alert. Checking if the site uses an https:// address is a good start. If you receive an email with a bargain, hover over the ‘sent’ address – or forward it to yourself – to see the REAL address it came from. It might say it’s from your favourite shop, but it may well not be. Check VERY carefully the name of the site being promoted. Is it your ‘favouriteonlineshop.co.uk’ or ‘your-favourite-on-line-shop.co.uk’ which although they look the same, they are absolutely not, and they could defraud you.
“Businesses need to make their customers more aware of copycat sites, and consumers need to up the ante on looking carefully for genuine websites and be highly sceptical of anything which looks too good to be true.
“Gut instinct is definitely important in life, but fraudsters are really clever and additional online vigilance is now required from both consumers and businesses. The best thing anyone can do is just think ‘could this be a scam’ before they click.”
