N T S   S C A M   A L E R T 26th November 2018 NTS Scams Team, updating you on the world of scams in the UK. Online scams Police in Sussex are warning people about the dangers of falling victim to online romance criminals 14th November 2018 149 victims were targeted in the county in the year to the end of September, losing £2,280,000 in total with an average loss of £18,700. Sadly four out of five attempts succeeded in Sussex in that time frame.Romance scam typically involves the criminal contacting someone on a dating site and gaining their trust. They tell their victim they need money for a family emergency, flights over to see them, or various other pretexts. more Trading Standards warns Christmas shoppers about resale 14th November 2018 Trading Standards (TS) has urged customers to be vigilant when purchasing tickets from the secondary market, as people start preparing for Christmas. The festive season sees people rushing to get in on passes for traditional pantomimes and concert tickets as gifts, but the TS released a statement Monday warning consumers about buying online. more University students being targeted by spike in tax scams 17th November 2018 Criminals are bombarding university students across the country with large numbers of fake tax refund emails, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is warning. The criminals are using seemingly legitimate university email addresses to appear convincing – such as “@uc.ac.uk”. more Six holiday scams hackers use to target consumers 21st November 2018 Cybercriminals love the Christmas season, not only because people are shopping more but also because they are overburdened and stressed out. This latter factor makes them an easier target for “social engineering” holiday scams, ranging from phishing emails to phone scams. more  Online shoppers urged to be cautious on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 21st November 2018 Shoppers in Wales say they have been victims of internet scams amid continued high levels of online crime and low levels of cyber security. 17% of them are losing money due to a combination of internet scams, weak passwords and misplaced trust in websites. more Telephone scams ‘It frightened the life out of me’ – woman speaks out after nearly falling victim to £25,000 scam 14th November 2018 A Norfolk woman who almost fell victim to a scam in which she would have lost £25,000 said the fear of the experience left her in tears. more RBS customer lost thousands of pounds in scam 21st November 2018 A Royal Bank of Scotland customer had more than £4,300 stolen from her account by a fraudulent caller who answered one of her security questions wrongly, BBC Watchdog Live has found. more Elderly East Hoathly man loses £8,600 in telephone scam 21st November 2018 Heartless criminals claiming to be police officers from Hertfordshire have defrauded an elderly East Hoathly man out of £8,600 in a subtly executed telephone deception. more Phishing scam Increase in ‘sextortion’ scam attempts reported in North Wales 16th November 2018 Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre said it has seen an increase in cases of ‘sextortion’ since the start of October. Thirteen sextortion scam attempts were reported in the North Wales area last month. Sextortion scams are a type of phishing attack where people are coerced into paying a BitCoin ransom because they have been threatened with sharing video of themselves visiting adult websites. more Friends Against Scams Sara Hope and Adam Carter from the team attended a financial abuse event at the Innovation Birmingham Campus. They delivered a FAS session, gave an overview of the NTS Scams Teams work and spoke about the teams Scam Marshal project. To find out more about Scam Marshals and how you can get involved, get in touch with Adam Carter at FriendsAgainstScams@surreycc.gov.uk