Online investment fraud shot up by 50 per cent during the pandemic as savers lost £535million.
The number of cases reported to Action Fraud climbed to 20,989 in the 12 months to April, according to data analysed by consumer champion Which?.
This meant the average would-be investor who fell victim to one of the bogus opportunities was scammed out of more than £25,000.
Scam victims: The number of cases of online investment fraud reported to Action Fraud climbed to 20,989 in the 12 months to April, according to data analysed by Which?
Despite the rise in online investment scams, during a time when criminals took advantage of savers stuck at home using the internet to find a place to invest their cash, the Government has so far refused to include financial harm in its Online Safety Bill.
The Mail is pushing through its Stamp Out Investment Fraud campaign for online scams to be included in the bill, so web giants such as Google and Facebook – and hosting providers who sell space for websites on the internet – have a legal duty to check adverts and sites which they host are not fraudulent.
Jenny Ross, money editor at Which?, said: ‘Fraudsters have added to the suffering that many people have faced by using the pandemic and the increase in online shopping as a springboard for tricking a growing number of victims.
‘Tech giants, banks, telecoms providers, regulators and the Government need to keep up with the evolving tactics of scammers and make sure people cannot be targeted.
‘The Online Safety Bill must give online platforms a legal responsibility to identify, remove and prevent fake and fraudulent content on their sites, including the adverts often used by fraudsters.’
The rise in investment fraud came amid an avalanche of wider online cons.
The biggest increase in scamming was where criminals have been selling items which never turn up.
Second-largest was phone and text scams, where con artists call or message a person and trick them into sending money by pretending to be a legitimate company.
Investment fraud was the third-largest scam but by far the most costly, with more than £535million lost.
The Mail’s campaign has been backed by banks including Santander, Lloyds and TSB, which want to see financial harm included in the Online Safety Bill.
Investment firms including Quilter, M&G, Aviva and Hargreaves Lansdown, which have all had their brands copied by criminals in an attempt to lure victims, also support the call.
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