The Cyber Helpline has been awarded £10,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to help deal with the surge in demand for the victims of cost of living scams.

Growth in cost of living scams is huge

We have seen rapid and large growth in the number of scams facing the general public. 

Millions of individuals and families are being targeted due to their concerns about the cost of living. Over the past three months we have seen a 170% growth in loan scams, a 131% growth in job fraud, a 128% growth in investment scams and a huge increase in scam messages relating to energy bills.

Loan scams are tricking them into paying upfront fees for loans that don’t exist. Job scams are asking for money to be processed to apply for a job that will pay them more, but doesn’t exist. Get rich quick fake investments are taking vital funds out of people’s bank accounts. Thousands are clicking on scam texts and emails pretending to be from the government and tricking them out of money. 

The average loss for a victim of one of these scams is £5,565. For many victims this loss has a severe impact on their finances, ability to pay their bills and their mental health.

Our plans to support victims

Our project will directly support people that are facing increased victimisation as a direct result of the cost-of-living crisis. Millions of individuals are desperately worried about how they are going to make ends meet, as a result they are being ruthlessly targeted by cybercriminals. 

The Cyber Helpline is a unique charity that supports victims of cybercrime & online harm. We support individuals who are dealing with a range of issues such as fraud, scams, online harassment and cyberstalking. 

£10,000 would help us cover the cost of extra volunteers on our helpline, cover the cost of an extra demand on our self-help service - where users can remain anonymous, help us focus extra volunteers on understanding these new scams and support our associated overheads. 

This extra capability would help us support over 720 cases on our helpline, allow thousands more to use our self-help chatbot and web guides. Our team would help these victims reduce losses, avoid scams and reduce the chance of repeat victimisation.

A huge thank you to the National Lottery and the all those who play the lottery and make this funding possible.