UK bank warns customers of £27m purchase scam warning

Customers are being warned of a rising number of people online losing an average of £570 to scams.

Lloyds bank said there has been a rising popularity of online shopping which has brought a surge in fraudsters selling products that don't exist. It comes after data from Facebook and Instagram showed purchase scams are expected to cost people in the UK more than £27m this year.

The bank chain highlighted that customers are often lured by the false promise of slashed prices or rare items. People are then asked to send money directly from their account to another via bank transfer - this provides little protection if something goes wrong.

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New research by Lloyds Banking Group found that more than two thirds (68 per cent) of all purchase scams now start on Facebook, including Facebook Marketplace, and Instagram. The data also shows that victims in the UK fall for a shopping scam on these platforms every seven minutes.

The most common falsely advertised goods include lothes, trainers, gaming consoles and mobile phones. Liz Ziegler, Lloyds' fraud prevention director, told the Liverpool Echo: Social media has become the Wild West of online shopping in recent years, with very few checks in place to verify who is selling what.

"This has left consumers increasingly exposed to ruthless fraudsters, with hundreds of new victims targeted every day and tens of millions of pounds flowing to organised crime gangs each year. Banks have been at the forefront of tackling the epidemic of scams, but they cannot fight it alone.

"It’s high time tech companies stepped up to share responsibility for protecting their own customers. This means stopping scams at source and