Three warns of hike in fraud over festive season

Three says scam activity increased threefold during the month of Black Friday compared to the monthly average from August to October 2023, while over Christmas scam messages went up over five times the normal rate, which apparently equates to 171,000 more scam messages than in the previous quarter.

Three says its firewall systems blocked more than 7.6m scam messages throughout November and December last year.

It’s commissioned a poll carried out by Censuswide, in which 47% of respondents said they have received messages or calls they are suspicious of, 33% said they have fallen for a scam, and 17% have lost more than £100 as a result.

Younger people appear to be the most affected in the survey, with 49% of respondents under 34 saying that they have fallen for a scam, compared with 16% of those aged 55 or over – though of course much hangs on the make up of the sample group with these things.

Fraudsters are increasingly using missed parcel scams to target people, says Three. The ploy involves criminals sending a text or email saying a courier is attempting to deliver a parcel, but a fee needs to be paid to rearrange collection.

83% reported blocking or reporting scam messages, while 78% say that they know how to spot the warning signs of a scam.

“The British public are being increasingly savvy and will be seeking out deals over the next few months, but this also increases the risk of falling victim to fraud,” said Mark Fitzgerald, Director of Finance and Fraud from Three UK. “At Three UK, we are doing all we can to prevent this from happening but in the event customers are targeted they should remember to follow our simple guidelines.”

Before the Christmas season, Three said it was already seeing a month-on-month increase in customers reporting scam messages. This is reflected in any report concerned with the matter you can find, and fellow UK operator VMO2 this week called on the Government to appoint a dedicated minister for fraud, and set up a centralised national body that handles all instances of it.