Our consumer expert has warned Brits they need to be increasingly vigilant about fraud and scams after criminals stole nearly £1.3 billion through payment fraud and scams in the UK last year.

Jane Hawkes, who runs the consumer advice website www.ladyjaney.co.uk, says the increase in AI is making it harder for people to distinguish between genuine customer service teams and scammers.

Here she shares her advice to help people avoid falling foul of fraud which now accounts for roughly 41% of all crime against individuals in England and Wales.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates around there were around 4.2 million incidents of fraud in the year ending March 2025, an increase of 31% from the previous year.

With increased use of internet banking and apps, as well as AI providing virtually instant information to scammers from around the world, it’s never been more important to be ultra vigilant.

And one of the growing ways scammers are trying to defraud people of their money is through pretending to be legitimate customer service departments.

If you're making a complaint publicly, remember that scammers can be watching for exactly that opportunity. A post saying 'I've been trying to get a refund from X for three weeks' can effectively advertise that you're a potential target.

Victims were tricked into sending £576.4 million directly to criminals through scams, an increase of 19%. This is despite campaigns trying to warn people of the risks, so we still have our work cut out if we don’t want to end up as another fraud statistics.

According to Citizens Advice, online shopping traps remain the most common personal scam and two-thirds of authorised scams originate online, frequently through social media platforms and digital ads.

Just like the internet, AI isn’t going anywhere so it’s important, particularly as our population ages, that we become wise to the tricks being used.

These are my ten tips to avoid falling foul of fraudsters.

1. Start from the company’s official website


Never click on a customer service link sent to you by someone on social media, WhatsApp, email or even a complaints platform. Type the company’s web address yourself or use an app you already have. Scammers can create very convincing customer service profiles and links across all social media channels.

2. Treat unsolicited ‘help’ with suspicion

If you've posted a complaint publicly and suddenly someone contacts you saying they can resolve it, stop and check. Genuine companies may reach out but scammers know that people who are already frustrated with a company are particularly receptive to offers of help.

3. Check the account, not just the name or logo

There’s nothing to stop someone setting up a convincing looking account with a company logo and tricking you into thinking you are finally getting somewhere with your complaint.

A scammer can copy a company's name, profile picture, branding and even verification-style imagery. Look at the account handle, how long the account has existed, its previous posts and whether it links back to the company's genuine website.

4. Never move a complaint somewhere simply because you're asked to

Be particularly cautious if someone says, “DM me,” “message us on WhatsApp,” or “contact this number and we'll sort it out.” Don’t move platforms: Independently find the company's official contact details and use those instead.

5. Ask who or what you're actually talking to

It's perfectly reasonable to ask: “Am I speaking to a human customer-service agent or an AI assistant?” If the answer is AI, you can then decide whether you want to continue or ask for a human. Don't assume that because a conversation feels natural that there's a person at the other end.

6. Don't mistake a convincing conversation for proof of authenticity

AI can now produce remarkably plausible replies, understand context and mimic the tone of a helpful customer-service representative. Conversely, a scammer can use AI to make their messages look highly professional. Good grammar, empathy and detailed replies are no longer proof that someone is genuine.

7. Never give security information to ‘verify’ your identity

A genuine company may need to establish who you are, but be extremely wary of anyone asking for passwords, one-time passcodes, PINs, full card details or banking credentials. Never read out a verification code that has just arrived on your phone because someone claiming to be customer services asks you to.

8. Check information independently

If an alleged agent gives you a phone number, email address, payment link or website, don't automatically use it. Find the company's contact details independently and ask whether the person, case number or proposed procedure is genuine. Use a different route to verify the first route.

9. Don't pay to get your complaint ‘unblocked’ or refunded

One particularly sneaky tactic is telling consumers that a refund, compensation payment or account recovery requires a fee, deposit or ‘verification payment’. Stop. Go back to the company's official website and check its refund and complaints process yourself.

10. Don’t download any apps to process a refund

One common way scammers, particularly those operating abroad, are defrauding people is by getting them to download apps which allow you to transfer money from your bank account to an account on an app set up in your name. As soon as you’ve made the transfer, they will then change the password and take your money. Legitimate companies will not use third party apps to process refunds so if someone asks you to do this, end the conversation straight away.

Bonus Tip!

You don't have to keep responding just because someone claims to be customer services. Say you'll contact the company through its official channel instead. A genuine customer-service team shouldn't object to you independently verifying who you're dealing with. Being slightly inconvenient is much better than being scammed.