Stopping Financial Fraud with Giles Mason

Scammers try to take advantage of human politeness. Utilizing critical thinking and slowing down conversations with someone who claims to be an authority like a government agency or bank could be what prevents us from making a financial mistake. Today's guest is Giles Mason. Giles is the Director of Campaigns at UK Finance. He is responsible for planning and delivering the organization's communication activities to promote campaigns on behalf of the banking and finance industry.

Show Notes:

• [0:50] - Giles shares his background and current role at UK Finance.

• [2:36] - In 2016, UK Finance launched Take Five to Stop Fraud.

• [4:03] - Many victims of fraud often think after they've responded to a scammer that they could tell that something wasn't quite right.

• [5:36] - The biggest trend at the moment is purchase scams.

• [6:16] - The type of scam that normally sees the greatest fraud is impersonation scams.

• [9:08] - Scams that banks see are typically payment scams through their bank account.

• [10:10] - Once a payment is made, most of the time there's nothing you can do about it. Banks will do what they can, but it's not always possible.

• [12:38] - There are even scams that involve purchasing a home which are terrible because of the sheer amount of money involved.

• [14:04] - Hang up and call the number you know for certain is your bank.

• [17:13] - As humans, we want to be supportive and respect perceived authority.

• [18:38] - Scammers typically won't have a good reaction to you saying that you will call the number you know, which is a sign that they are not who they say they are.

• [21:10] - Young people are more willing to share information about a scam.

• [23:35] - While Giles has not fallen victim to a scam, he has had multiple attempts.

• [25:41] - Giles describes some of the trends in scamming.

• [27:48] - Stop, challenge, and protect.

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