Hundreds scam-related issues dealt with during pandemic in Norfolk and Suffolk
Nationally the number of scams being reported has doubled.
The Citizens Advice Bureau dealt with almost 500 issues related to scams since April 2020.
Nationally at the start of the pandemic it was seeing 2,500 cases per month, that has since doubled to 5,000 per month since September.
It has also seen a rise in different types of scams, with criminals taking advantage of the current global crisis.
Scams including things like: advertising for fake PPE, emails or texts pretending to be from the Government, emails offering life insurance against coronavirus, people knocking on doors and asking for money for charity.
Easy to become a victim
Our reporter, Abi Simpson, found out the hard way how easy it is to become a victim of a scam, after waking up on Easter Monday to find her bank account empty.
After realising something was wrong, she quickly rang the bank to find out what had happened.
It turned out that someone had hacked her Moonpig account and ordered themselves 16 boxes of chocolates, totaling over £250.
She said: "I think once I realised someone had decided they could help themselves to my money, I felt really sick and burst into tears on the phone.
"I think I was shocked at how personal it felt, and then that was quickly replaced by anger that someone felt they could do that and try and get away with it."
She was quickly refunded the money by the bank and contacted Action Fraud and Moonpig to let them know what had happened.
Abi added: "I was very lucky in that the bank was really really helpful, and I had the money back within a matter of hours.
"But then I quickly realised that actually it didn't appear there was going to be any retribution for these people for what they'd done, and that just left me feeling quite angry and annoyed that they could then maybe go and do it to someone else."
How can you avoid being scammed?
Citizens Advice has a lot of top tips on how to spot and avoid scams online.
Signs of a scam:
- It seems to good to be true - for example, a holiday is much cheaper than you'd expect
- Someone you don't know contacts you unexpectedly
- You suspect you're not dealing with a real company - for example, if there's no postal address
- You've been asked to transfer money quickly
- You've been asked to pay in an unusual way - for example, by iTunes vouchers or through a transfer service like MoneyGram or Western Union
- You've been asked to give away personal information like passwords or PINs
- You haven't had a written confirmation of what's been agreed
There are lots of ways to try and avoid being scammed by protecting yourself online too:
- Check for signs of a fake shop using the Government website
- Don't click or download anything you don't trust
- Be careful about giving personal information away
- Check if your details have been shared online
- Make your online accounts secure by changing passwords regularly and adding two-step authentication where available
- Pay by debit or credit card, these offer extra protection if things go wrong
- Know how your bank operates, be aware of how they will and won't communicate with you
If you think you might have been the victim of a scam you can ring Citizens Advice Scams Action Service for free on 0808 250 5050, or visit their website.