The Biggest Financial Scams in the UK to Watch Out for in 2020

It’s a new decade and so many things in life are now becoming more advanced, and this includes financial scams. With the rise of social media and the modern-day capabilities of web design, it has become increasingly easy for scammers to target individuals and take away their hard-earned money. Thankfully, however, it’s quite easy to spot if you’ve been a victim. As well as this, there are plenty of claims management specialists such as Expert Pension Claims who can help you claim compensation for your mis-sold financial products, click on the link to see how it works and the fees for successful claims.In this article, you will know about The Biggest Financial Scams in the UK to Watch Out for in 2020.

Want to know how exactly you can be mis-sold? Have a read of this essential guide that details the UK’s biggest financial scams to watch out for in 2020. 

Facebook impersonation scams 

Facebook may have been created over ten years ago, but the social media platform is still going strong in 2020. However, Facebook isn’t just all about the love-heart reactions and comedic shares – illegal actions do take place on it as well. An alarming example of this is a Facebook impersonation scam. In this type of scam, an attacker will create a duplicate account of someone’s existing Facebook profile, complete with matching profile pictures and biographies. They will use this account to gain access to the person’s close connections, and will proceed to ask these people for money or loans. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? On the bright side, however, there are various precautionary measures you can take to ensure that your account won’t be targeted by this operation. These include never sharing your password, accepting requests from strangers, or leaving yourself logged in on any public devices. 

Dating scams 

We live in a world of digital communication, and the scammers of today take full advantage of this, sometimes through online dating scams. In such an operation, a person will generally get a social media message or email with a link from an attacker. As well as this, some attackers will want you to send them money so that you can meet up, while others may resort to various coercive blackmail techniques. To avoid falling for this scam, it’s important to get into the habit of not clicking on links that you’re not 100% sure about, and to always be sure of who exactly you’re talking to online. 

Duplicate banking websites 

Over the years, scammers have used crafty website design tricks to scam people. They may, for instance, send crafty emails from what appears to be your bank. It is typical for these kinds of emails to contain a link to a website that looks exactly like the website of your bank’s. If you do receive such an email and are unsure of whether the communication is actually from your financial provider, contact your bank straight away. They will be able to confirm whether they’ve sent this email in an instant. 

CEO email compromise

As we have already touched upon, scammers can target all aspects of a person’s life, and this includes their job. For example, an attacker can pose as a company boss or CEO and send an email to an employee who is in charge of the firm’s finances. Typically, this email will instruct them to transfer money into an account that they own. Emails like this don’t get sent often and so if you do receive this communication, make sure to check with your boss straight away about whether they’ve sent this. 

Boiler-room schemes

This is a conventional scamming scheme, but it’s most certainly one to keep a watch out for in 2020. A boiler-room scheme is an operation where salespeople target a list of investors in order to get them to fall for money traps. Victims of this scheme will likely receive a phone call out of the blue and be offered an investment opportunity with ‘sky-high returns’. Compared to other scams, this scheme is the easiest to spot because calls are made up of a whole range of aggressive tactics. If you think you’re being targeted, do not engage with the caller at all costs. 

Pension mis-selling

Now, you may have already seen this type of financial scam plastered all over news headlines. Over recent years, there has been an increasing number of people who have had their pensions mis-sold to them by financial advisors. These advisors pressure investors to give up their hard-earned pensions in exchange for ‘high return/low-risk’ investment opportunities. Like with a boiler-room scheme, sellers use crafty tactics to get pensioners to invest. Unfortunately, it seems that these tactics do work, as pensions get mis-sold to thousands of people every year. 

What to do if you have been mis-sold a pension 

You can always make a claim yourself directly with the advisor or mediation organisation, like the Financial Ombudsman. Thankfully, however, there are a number of pension claims specialists who can help you claim the compensation you deserve for your mis-sold pension, so shop around for the best fee. 

As mentioned, the team at Manchester-based firm, Expert Pension Claims, have an excellent success rate when it comes to doing this. They are happy to assist with queries related to pension mis-selling, SIPP mis-selling and investment mis-selling. It costs nothing to enquire and they don’t even charge a cancellation fee.