And finally…Santander dispatches ‘phish & chips van’ in anti-fraud drive

The novel initiative comes as the UK remains in the grip of a phishing epidemic, with a staggering three quarters (74 per cent) of Britons targeted by scammers with phishing emails, smishing texts and vishing calls.

The Phish & Chips van will be visiting Glasgow on Saturday 28th October from 12pm - 2pm and will be parked on Buchanan Street, Glasgow outside John Lewis.

Customers without a phishing email or text to show can alternatively take a short quiz to identify a scam email or text.

While ‘phishing’ as a term may have entered the mainstream lexicon, Santander’s research shows that one in seven people don’t know the terms phishing, smishing or vishing at all, while almost three quarters of people are not fully familiar with their meaning.

The research shows that when it comes to the UK’s phishing hotspots, Scotland is the phisherman’s favourite trawling ground, followed closely by South East England and North East England.

The South West, meanwhile, is the least targeted relative to other regions.

With each person targeted receiving an average of 16 fraudulent emails, texts or calls last year, this means up to 600 million phishing, smishing and vishing attempts potentially took place in the UK in the last 12 months.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, Head of Customer Experience at Santander UK, said: “Santander takes the fight against fraud very seriously – we have seen the life changing impact it can have on people’s lives. Consumer awareness is absolutely key to tackling what is currently one of the biggest threats to the security of people’s finances. Our Phish & Chips van is a way of delivering our three key fraud prevention messages in an engaging way while educating people that both banks and consumers have a role to play in keeping the fraudsters at bay.”

Santander UK’s phishing research shows:

- It is those aged 25 – 34 that are most likely to receive scam communications. However, it is the 18 – 24 year olds that are most likely to be duped by scam artists, with 39 per cent of this age group believing a phishing email, text or call to be genuine against an average of 27 per cent;

- Scammers will target those with higher incomes, with 77 per cent of those earning over £25,000 targeted compared with 71 per cent of those earning less than £25,000