Campaign uses free fish and chips to raise awareness of scams
Charities and community groups are being urged to get wise about online scams as part of a major new campaign.
Scotland’s third sector is particularly vulnerable to scams as evidenced by a recent spate of fraud.
Last week Bulldog charity The Edward Foundation lost out on £21,000 after falling victim to a vishing scam. And earlier in the year the Highland Hospice is thought to have lost a six figure sum after it was targeted by phone fraud.
Banks are now saying the nation is in the grip of an online fraud epidemic, with a staggering three quarters of Britons targeted by scammers.
With each person targeted receiving an average of 16 fraudulent emails, texts or calls last year, this means up to 600 million phishing, smishing and vishing attempts potentially took place in the UK in the last 12 months.
To raise awareness, banking giant Santander is launching a campaign with a mobile fish and chips van that actually accepts payment in the form of phishing emails and smishing texts.
Phishing, vishing, smishing and pharming are all methods used by criminals to fraudulently obtain personal information such as a social security number, bank account information, or credit card information.
Each method has its own distinguishing characteristics, but they all have the same goal: stealing your money.
Customers at Santander’s new Phish & Chips van can present staff with a phishing email or smishing text,in exchange for a portion of fish and chips, along with a side of advice on avoiding the tricks criminals use in their attempts to steal people’s money and identities. Customers without a phishing email or text to show can alternatively take a short quiz to identify a scam email or text.
The Phish & Chips van will be visiting Glasgow on Saturday 28 October from 12pm - 2pm and will be parked on Buchanan Street, Glasgow.
While ‘phishing’ as a term may have entered the mainstream lexicon, Santander’s research shows that one in seven people don’t know the terms phishing, smishing or vishing at all, while almost three quarters of people are not fully familiar with their meaning.
Reza Attar-Zadeh from Santander UK, said: “Santander takes the fight against fraud very seriously – we have seen the life changing impact it can have on people’s lives.
"Consumer awareness is absolutely key to tackling what is currently one of the biggest threats to the security of people’s finances.
"Our Phish & Chips van is a way of delivering our three key fraud prevention messages in an engaging way while educating people that both banks and consumers have a role to play in keeping the fraudsters at bay.”
