Pensioners have long been perceived as an easy target for scammers seeking to steal their savings.
But a new study has found that people aged between 21 and 30 are the most likely to have reported being conned in recent months.
Amid a surge in fraud cases during the pandemic driven by online conmen and rogue traders, a survey of 2,000 people by Barclays last month found that over-70s were the victim in only 4.1 per cent of cases they had recorded.
The report compared people’s perceptions about who was most likely to fall for a scam with reported cases between April and June.
Despite 21 to 30-year-olds being the most likely victims, accounting for 29 per cent of cases, people tended to assume that older people were more likely to be tricked, the bank found.
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After twentysomethings, people aged 31 to 40 were the next most targeted group for scammers, making up 24 per cent of cases.
Purchase scams, when people buy goods online that do not exist or never arrive, were particularly prevalent among those aged 21 to 30.
Barclays’ data also showed that scammers were successfully targeting people aged 11 to 20, with this group representing 10 per cent of total purchase scam victims.
People aged 31 to 40 were particularly targeted by advance fee scams — when victims are required to send money in advance to secure goods, services or investments that never materialise.
The research also indicated that people aged 61 to 70 may be particularly susceptible to impersonation scams — particularly those claiming to be banks or the police — as well as investment scams.
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Separate figures showed that the number of cases of alleged fraud being heard in UK courts in the first half of this year almost doubled compared with the same period last year.
Figures from KPMG UK’s Fraud Barometer show that 151 cases of alleged fraud were heard in the first six months of the year as courts used video and face-to-face sessions to catch up after lockdown restrictions.
The figures do not include online fraud but do include cases with a value of more than £100,000.
The pandemic appears to have led to an increase in fraud, with cases involving British victims reaching 50 in the first half of this year, involving a value of £43.1 million, compared with only 13 cases heard over the same period in 2020 with a value of £22.6 million.
Cases relating to rogue tradesmen more than doubled in volume and were valued at £2.5 million in the first half of 2021, mostly involving elderly and vulnerable people who were tricked into paying for unnecessary work or for services that were never delivered.
