Under 25s are more likely to have been victims of impersonation scams, according to new research by UK Finance.

The trade body for the UK's financial sector found that around half of 18-24 year olds had been contacted by an impersonation scammer compared to a third of those aged over 55. Of the 18-24 year olds who had been targeted, 52 per cent said they had shared personal information or made a payment as a result of the request.

Additionally, UK Finance said that young adults were the most confident of any age group in their ability to identify a scam, with 91 per cent of them claiming they would be able to spot a fake request for information online.

UK Finance warned that this confidence could put them at risk, as just 27 per cent said they will take steps to check if a potential scammer can be trusted. This compares to 60 per cent of over 55s saying they took steps to verify unexpected requests for information.

UK Finance said impersonation scams can be very sophisticated and criminals will gain a person’s trust to trick them into sharing information to allow them to steal money.

Over £1.2 billion was stolen through fraud in 2022 and there were 45,367 cases of impersonation scams in 2022 costing a total of £177.6 million, the research showed.

Commenting on the report's findings, Ben Donaldson, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance said: “Criminals who commit fraud are willing to target us all and they don’t need much information to create an identity online. They can then use that identity to steal our money and fund other crimes, which causes huge damage to both individuals and society.

“I'm very concerned about the number of young adults who are giving their personal information to criminals, who go on to cause so much harm.”

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