Scam Alert service

Scammers targeting gaming accounts

Laura got in touch with us when her daughter’s gaming account was hacked and her saved debit card details were used to spend £800 on in-game items that were ‘gifted’ to other users.

But the games platform claimed that it wasn’t fraud and would not refund her because the right username and password were used to access the account at the time of the transactions.

We explain more about what happened and how.

Gaming account hacked

£12,000 of savings stolen from Barclays account

Scammers are becoming more devious when it comes to impersonation scams. This particular one impersonated Barclays via a text supposedly from its fraud team and an 02476 Barclays phone number, which left account holder David at a loss of more than £12,000.

Here’s how Barclays responded and why we stepped in to help David get reimbursed.

The chase for reimbursement

Common scams: Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Almost £2.5 million was stolen during the 2020 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales last year alone – an average loss of almost £550 per victim.

Here, we run down common scams to avoid and provide tips to keep you safe while you shop this weekend.

Avoid dodgy deals

Stay safe,

Which? scam alert team