Anybody can be a scam victim - including you
- Feb 15
- 4 min read
As Trading Standards Officers, we spend our days protecting others from fraudulent scams, but how often do we stop to consider our own vulnerability?
Just recently I was reading a very interesting article highlighting Louise Baxter MBE. Louise is a fraud expert and consumer champion. Amongst many other things, she is one of the Chief Executive Officers at Consumer Friend and head of the National Trading Standards Scams Team. Louise’s role and mission is to fight the scammers, protect the innocent and champion other Officers to do the same. She is an inspiring advocate for scam prevention, who works hard to protect the vulnerable and yet in a moment of honest reflection, she shares how her own mother became a scam victim, not once but twice.
Scams are evolving….and so must we
Scams are constantly evolving, becoming more sophisticated, strategic and harder to spot. They’re no longer limited to suspicious phone calls, dodgy emails or the occasional odd letter (10 year old me is still very annoyed that I hadn’t actually won the Australian Lottery!).
Today’s fraudsters exploit trust and urgency through convincing text messages, fake romantic connections, alarming calls claiming to be from ‘HMRC’ or the ‘bank’s fraud department’, undelivered parcel alerts and even distressing ‘SOS’ messages from friends or family.
Yes, the old tricks still exist, but modern scams are calculated and patient. And the unsettling reality is that anyone can be a target, even Trading Standards Officers.
Scammers don’t discriminate, they adapt. It’s tempting to believe we’re too savvy to be fooled. We’ve all visited countless victims and heard just as many stories, but we need to remember that scammers don’t prey on ignorance. They exploit timing, emotion and circumstances.
Loneliness, bereavement, divorce and stress all heighten our vulnerability. Take a moment to think about your own life, I’m sure you can think of many times where you yourself have been vulnerable. Scammers are clever, they know how to strike during life’s darker moments. They harness the power of emotion and urgency by using manipulative tactics to bypass our suspicions, override bank warnings and evade safeguards. They often impersonate trusted figures, think GPs, banks and government agencies and manufacture urgency to short-circuit rational thought. It is common for them to use emotive language, sob stories and ask probing questions, which all help to build rapport and manipulate their victims over time.
Just because we are ‘in the know’, doesn’t make us invincible, as actress and TV personality Denise Welch discovered. Despite her being media savvy, Welch was targeted by a fraudster posing as a representative from her bank. Over a series of convincing phone calls, the scammer gained her trust and ultimately persuaded her to reveal her PIN number, a detail banks never ask for. She later admitted feeling “ashamed” and “violated” by the experience, highlighting how emotional manipulation and urgency are powerful tools in a scammer’s toolkit. Her story serves as a stark reminder that no one is immune, and that vigilance is essential, no matter how confident or informed we may feel.
They had cloned my credit card and by the time we had discovered it they had taken over £2,000 from my account. If I had been sat at home and this was happening it may have not happened but because I was at work I just wanted it sorting. I felt ridiculous about it.” – Denise Welch, The Daily Mail
Scam victims – who’s at risk?Quite simply, we all are. We, as a collective, have become better at gathering statistics, but one notable thing to highlight is that scam statistics tell us who reports fraud, not necessarily who’s most at risk.
However, patterns still emerge from reported activity. Older adults tend to report phone scams and advance-fee frauds and younger people more often report online shopping and cryptocurrency scams. A 2025 Ofcom Media Lives Study found that over-65s were more adept at spotting scam emails, while 16–24’s excelled at identifying fake social media profiles.
What Officers Can Do?
Expand your knowledge and consider becoming a Friend Against Scams.
Friends Against Scams is designed to inspire action, highlight the scale of the problem, change the perceptions of why people become victims of scams and make scams a community, regional and national topic.
By attending a Friends Against Scams awareness session or completing the online learning, anyone can learn about the different types of scams and how to spot and support a victim. With increased knowledge and awareness, people can make scams part of everyday conversation with their family, friends and neighbours, which will enable them to protect themselves and others.
Anyone can be a Friend Against Scams and make a difference in their own way.
Additionally, Trading Standards Officers should consider:
Educating communities about scam tactics and emotional manipulation.
Make sure we stay vigilant ourselves—no one is exempt from a scam.
Offer clear, accessible advice to vulnerable consumers.
Encourage victims to report scams to Action Fraud.
Share intelligence across agencies to strengthen our collective response.
And when faced with a potential scam, ask yourself:
Is this person contacting me through an unusual channel?
Am I being pressured to act quickly?
Does their language feel overly emotional or manipulative?
Are they asking for personal details?
A genuine caller will not be offended if you ask extra questions or hang up to call them back on a published number.
If something feels off—pause, verify, and report.
Final thoughts
Scams aren’t just a consumer issue, they’re a societal one. As professionals, we may be informed, but we’re not invincible. By acknowledging our own vulnerability we become better equipped to protect others.
If you or someone you know has been affected by fraud, Victim Support offers emotional help and guidance, check out their website for further details http://www.victimsupport.org.uk.
The key takeaway is – we’re all vulnerable at some point in our lives. It’s not about who’s “gullible” it’s about who’s vulnerable right now.
Further Reading:
Louise Baxter Article – telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/scam-expert-but-my-mum-still-ended-up-suckers-list/
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