Britain is in the throes of a hidden “scamdemic” which is ruining thousands of peoples’ lives each year with £400million lost every year. according to new leading law firm.
Richardson Hartley Law, which specialises in fraud recovery, is sharing with GB News a stark warning over the devastating impact scams are having on society.
The organisation is urging the Government, banks, tech giants and social media companies to do more to prevent fraud and protect Britons’ cash.
According to the law firm, the current situation can only going to get worse with developing technologies placing consumers at greater risk.
As part of its efforts, Richardson Hartley Law has set up a new specialist brand and website called NationalFraudHelpline.co.uk .
The service recovers scam victims’ money on a no win, no fee basis and is developing anti-fraud technology, campaigning for better scam safeguards and raising awareness of the scale of the problem.
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Calls for better protection comes after new rules were introduced last week that mean UK banks should reimburse fraud victims within five business days if they paid the scammer via authorised push payment (APP).
This payment type is when customers pay via their banking app or through logging in online.
Solicitor Martin Richardson, senior partner, at NationalFraudHelpline.co.uk, welcomed the new fraud regulations imposed by the Payment Services Regulator.
However, he said he was disappointed that the banks had recently pressured it to reduce the maximum that they had to pay out from £415,000 to £85,000.
Speaking with GB News, Richardson explained: “There’s a hidden fraud pandemic in the UK that’s being hugely under-estimated. We’re describing it as a ‘scamdemic’ and the impact is devastating.
“Many victims of fraud are having their lives ruined. We deal with people who have been left homeless, split up with their partners, been plunged into depression and forced to take on extra jobs.
“Fraud is a multi-billion pound global business. Many victims in this country are falling victim to frauds that are perpetrated by people held in slave camps in South East Asia. where an estimated 200,000 people have been human trafficked and are forced to commit scams.
“International criminals are harnessing the power of technology to commit increasingly sophisticated scams. With the advent of AI this is only going to get worse, and quickly.”
Britons are losing more of their money to scammers
PA
NationalFraudHelpline.co.uk has joined forces with leading UK Artificial Intelligence company, Time Machine Capital Squared, to create innovative anti-fraud technology solutions.
A spokesperson for Time Machine Capital Squared said: “We are confident that Machine Learning and AI are vital tools in the fight against fraud. AI will be particularly effective in helping to quickly thwart new frauds as scammers change their tactics and targets.”
“It is estimated that in 2024 one in ten people will fall victim to a scam which will total £7.5billlion,” Richardson added.
“That is an incredible number. The banks are suggesting people are being defrauded of around £400m a year through APP fraud alone. We believe that the true figure is between £3billion to £4billion. The issue of fraud needs to be high up on everyone’s agenda.”
