Online scam warning: Fraud risk as thousands see passwords leaked | Personal Finance | Finance
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Scammers operate in a whole host of ways, from on the doorstep to via telephone and online. Sadly, these often convincing-seeming tactics can see people fall victim, with the consequences being devastating both financially and emotionally.
It’s something which is causing a great deal of concern to many, with research finding that more than half (55 percent) of UK consumers being more worried about online fraud now, than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of those UK consumers affected by fraud, the majority (58 percent) experience loss of financial data.
On top of that, those who fall victim to online fraud most commonly lose between £101 and £500, the research has found.
Sadly, eight percent of those surveyed lost more than £1,001.
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All of this shows the importance of having thorough security measures in place for personal online activity, including the ability to act quickly if any data is compromised to prevent financial loss, ClearScore said.
The credit marketplace is is launching a new, free service, ClearScore Protect, to try help combat the problem.
The tool monitors the dark web for any stolen passwords, alerting users to any potential breaches every three months.
Worryingly, of the 305,000 users who have already activated ClearScore Protect, Clearscore has said that the average person sees seven passwords from online accounts leaked on the dark web.
CEO and Co-founder of ClearScore, Justin Basini said: ‘Monitoring your credit score and report has always been a great way to protect your identity and we made this free for millions of people when we launched ClearScore back in 2015.
“However with an increase in online fraud, we wanted to ensure that consumers were protected and so we set about creating ClearScore Protect 18 months ago.
“Having fallen victim to identity theft myself, I understand how it can impact a person’s financial and mental well-being and right now everything is exacerbated by the anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are extremely proud to now be offering dark web monitoring for free, forever, and hope that it will help consumers steer clear from becoming victims of online fraud.”
Troy Hunt, founder of HaveIBeenPwned.com, said: “I receive multiple emails every day from people who’ve been a victim of digital attacks and cybercrime.
“There’s a huge amount of misunderstanding around online safety and fraud prevention which, in turn, results in both emotional and financial strain for victims and their families.
“ClearScore Protect Realtime provides consumers with tailored support from a real human at the time they need it the most.
“The launch of Protect gives consumers a great resource to help prevent and minimise the impact of online fraud.”
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