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.
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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.”
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
