84% of people ‘have noticed a rise in scam communications in the past year’

More than four in five people say they have noticed an increase in scam-related communications over the past year, a survey has found.

Around 84% of people have seen an increase in suspect communications in the past 12 months, according to Barclays.

The bank said its own figures on reported scams show that 45% of those occurring between January and March 2021 originated on tech platforms, including social media, auction or purchase websites, apps and dating websites.

Its survey found people are more alert to the possibility of being scammed when answering their mobile phone (69%) or landline (66%), or when reading an email (73%) or text message (69%) than when scrolling through social media (38%).

Barclays said its figures on reported scams suggest that while those originating on tech platforms are high in volume, they tend to be lower value, making up just 20% of the total value of scam claims.

It said this shows that customers should always be on the alert, even when making smaller purchases.

Jim Winters, head of fraud at Barclays said: “Fraudsters don’t discriminate when it comes to who they target, and are becoming ever more sophisticated in their tactics, requiring us all to be on high alert in order not to get caught out.”

Some 2,000 people were surveyed in May 2021.