Latest news with #AdrianHood
The Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Major warning to billions of WhatsApp users over worrying ‘cloning' tool that tricks victims into handing over £1,000s
AN URGENT warning has gone out to WhatsApp users after news broke of a scam which could cost users thousands of pounds. The sinister scheme sees hackers 'cloning' leading investment firms in order to take their victims' cash. 1 The Investment Association found that there was a 57 per cent surge in cloning scams during the second half of 2024. Often, the scam begins with users being added to fake WhatsApp groups, emails or websites. Scammers make sure the group looks as though it was created by a reputable investment company, before inviting users to transfer their money. By pretending to invest your money, the scammers can then duplicate your details - allowing them to steal your cash. According to experts, one in four of the attempts proved successful. In total, nearly 500 'cloning' attempts were recorded by the Investment Association alone. A staggering £2.7 million has been lost through the scam. Adrian Hood, a financial crime expert said: "The growth of AI is likely to see increasingly sophisticated scams, with criminals better able to mimic legitimate firms." Chilling vid outlines the dangers posed by sex extortion In 2024, £1.7 million was recovered from scammers out of a total loss of £5.4 million through fraud. The news come after Google issued an urgent warning to its users. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Google's reported fraud losses jumped to $12.5 billion in 2024. In response, the tech company said: "Scammers are more effective and act without fear of punishment when people are uninformed about fraud and scam tactics." Using AI technology, scammers can impersonate representatives from prominent companies. Victims with valuable online assets, including crypto wallets, and social media influencers are also being increasingly targeted. How to keep yourself safe from hackers and scammers FOLLOW these steps to protect yourself from hackers in the future: Make a 'strong' password with 8 or more characters and a combination of upper case characters, numbers and symbols Don't do online banking on public WiFi, unless absolutely necessary Don't click on dodgy email links claiming to be from banks Use different passwords for different sites Never re-use your main email password Use anti-virus software Don't accept Facebook friend requests or LinkedIn invitations from people you don't know Think before you put personal info on social media Find My iPhone, Android Lost and BlackBerry Protect all allow you to remotely wipe a stolen phone. Set this feature up Only shop online on secure sites Don't store your card details on websites Password protect your phone and other devices
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Major warning to billions of WhatsApp users over worrying ‘cloning' tool that tricks victims into handing over £1,000s
AN URGENT warning has gone out to WhatsApp users after news broke of a scam which could cost users thousands of pounds. The sinister scheme sees hackers 1 Millions of WhatsApp users have been warned about a chilling scam Credit: Getty The Investment Association found that there was a 57 per cent surge in cloning scams during the second half of 2024. Often, the scam begins with users being added to fake Scammers make sure the group looks as though it was created by a reputable investment company, before inviting users to transfer their money. By pretending to invest your money, the scammers can then Read More on WhatsApp According to experts, one in four of the attempts proved successful. In total, nearly 500 'cloning' attempts were recorded by the Investment Association alone. A staggering £2.7 million has been lost through the scam. Adrian Hood, a financial crime expert said: "The growth of AI is likely to see increasingly sophisticated scams, with criminals better able to mimic legitimate firms." Most read in Tech Chilling vid outlines the dangers posed by sex extortion In 2024, £1.7 million was recovered from scammers out of a total loss of £5.4 million through fraud. The news come after Google issued According to the Federal Trade Commission, Google's reported fraud losses jumped to $12.5 billion in 2024. In response, the tech company said: "Scammers are more effective and act without fear of punishment when people are uninformed about fraud and scam tactics." Using AI technology, scammers can impersonate representatives from prominent companies. Victims with valuable online assets, including crypto wallets, and social media influencers are also being increasingly targeted. How to keep yourself safe from hackers and scammers FOLLOW these steps to protect yourself from hackers in the future: Make a 'strong' password with 8 or more characters and a combination of upper case characters, numbers and symbols Don't do online banking on public WiFi, unless absolutely necessary Don't click on dodgy email links claiming to be from banks Use different passwords for different sites Never re-use your main email password Use anti-virus software Don't accept Facebook friend requests or LinkedIn invitations from people you don't know Think before you put personal info on social media Find My iPhone, Android Lost and BlackBerry Protect all allow you to remotely wipe a stolen phone. Set this feature up Only shop online on secure sites Don't store your card details on websites Password protect your phone and other devices
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Investors lose millions as scammers clone legitimate firms - and AI is making the ruse more convincing
Investors are being warned over a wave of cloning fraud which aims to trick them into handing over huge sums of cash. In the second half of 2024, there were 478 reports of investment management firms being impersonated by scammers in order to steal money from investors, according to the Investment Association. Almost a quarter, 23 per cent, of these scam attempts were successful and consumers lost £2.7million as a result. These scams see fraudsters masquerading as legitimate companies by creating duplicate websites, false emails or Whatsapp groups using a firm's brand and logo in order to steal money from unsuspecting victims. The trade body warned that potential investors need to be wary of scam attempts. It said investors should take the time to consider if something could be fraud, challenge any requests that might be a potential scam, and contact their investment provider immediately if they think they might have been scammed. Adrian Hood, regulatory and financial crime expert at the IA, said: 'Criminals will use a variety of means to trick people into parting with their money, whether that's impersonating genuine investment managers, stealing card details, or fraudulently logging into a person's account. 'That's why we're urging consumers to stay vigilant. With cloning scams topping the list of threats, consumers should double check whether websites or emails are legitimate before transferring any money.' While the number of reported cloning scams in the second half of 2024 was lower than the 536 attempts reported in the first half of the year, the total for 2024 was 1,014, well above the 645 reports made in 2023. In 2022, just 212 cloning scam attempts were reported. Hood added: 'The growth of AI is likely to see increasingly sophisticated scams, with criminals better able to mimic legitimate firms.' Action Fraud received 25,843 reports related to investment fraud in 2024, and says more than £649million was lost as a result of these. While cloning scams appear to be the most prevalent of schemes targeting investors, the trade body also warned against account takeovers, with 132 instances of these reported in the second half. Scammers use victims' information to change address or payment details of an account in order to take investment gains for themselves. There were also 17 reports during the period of fraudsters using stolen card details to make investments. In total, the Investment Association said 179 fraud attempts were successful with investors losing an initial £5.4million. Just £1.7million of this was recovered. However, these losses had decreased 29 per cent from the first half's losses of £7.6million, while the value of the losses prevented increased to £11.9million, some 17 per cent higher than the £10.2million of losses prevented in the first half.
