By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-03-20 09:37:00
When it comes to the risk posed by fraudsters and fraudsters, fraudsters are increasingly relying on convincing people to send them money – rather than stealing it directly from their bank accounts.
Fake text messages or phone calls purporting to come from official companies or financial institutions are on the rise. A 2025 study by Mastercard found that 80% of British respondents had been the victim of a fraud attempt in the previous year.
This issue led to 66% of people agreeing that it is now more difficult to protect their information on digital platforms than their own home.
“While cybercrime and fraud are nothing new, it is the convergence of the two into a single, more complex and rapidly changing problem that has changed the landscape as we know it,” said Laura Quevedo, Executive Vice President, Fraud & Decisioning Solutions at Mastercard.
To combat this, the global payments technology company has introduced new systems to detect threats early and in real time, and not…
