The strangest scams of 2023

We'd all like to think that if we fell for a scam, it would be one of the elaborate ones involving technological trickery we couldn’t hope to detect. But it’s often the simple ones that catch us out. 

Every one of us has times when we’re stressed, tired, lonely or in turmoil, where our critical skills abandon us. These moments of vulnerability are exactly what fraudsters seek out. 

Each year we round up some of the most eyebrow-raising scams we’ve seen, often sent in by our members and supporters.

The examples here vary from bizarre to brazen or inexplicably badly written – and you may be thinking: ‘I’d never fall for that!’ Yet it takes a brief lapse of concentration, or just a few tweaks to the scam, to make them effective. 

And with fraud the most common crime in the UK, it’s possible you’ll see more convincing versions of these very scams sent your way in 2024. Stay one step ahead of the scammers by signing up to our free Scam Alert email or WhatsApp service, or join our Scam Action and Alerts Facebook Group. 

Read on to see some of the strangest scams we've seen this year. 

1. 'You are under the rest'

One scam text message was certainly ‘under the rest’ in terms of coherent written English, and the way it speaks as the singular first-person voice of the government adds a note of comedy rather than the Orwellian menace that was perhaps intended. 

Yet we are likely to see fewer of these oddly phrased scams in future years, as fraudsters use AI chatbots to polish and perfect their English. Suspect spelling will cease to be a reliable way of spotting scams. 

Better to look at what the scammer is asking. Claiming to be the government, police, HMRC and other trusted (and intimidating) organisations is a well-trodden path for fraudsters looking to panic people into rash decisions. 

The request for Apple iTunes gift cards, rather than cash, likely stems from the codes on the cards being easy to sell on to consumers for a discount, laundering the stolen money by making it unrecoverable and difficult to trace. Police in North Yorkshire warned about a spate of such scams earlier this year.

• Stay safe: Any sudden request to pay for a fine, fee, bill, service or item via iTunes, gift card or cryptocurrency should be treated with extreme caution as it’s almost always a scam. Verify requests claiming to be from the government or HMRC by visiting Gov.uk directly from your internet browser, looking up the relevant department or agency contact details and calling them to confirm.

2. A secret office admirer

‘I’m wedded and I’m a Christian,’ the email began. ‘I’m a woman that is in love with you.’ 

Furthermore, the sender stated, they were a colleague of the recipient, but operating under a pseudonym because ‘I don’t have the courage to make a pass at the office’.

It’s certainly an intriguing story, with shades of Victorian melodrama in its offer of a ‘sinful and career-threatening’ dalliance and, if the respondent replied, a promise to ‘spill the beans’. 

Yet this is a romance scam, in which a victim is tricked into believing they’re in a genuine relationship, before being persuaded to send money – or in some cases, sexual images which can be used to extort them.

In more convincing romance scams, a victim is groomed for weeks or even months into what feels like a genuine long-distance relationship before any need for money is mentioned. 

A subtype of romance fraud known as ‘pig butchering’ scams even sees the victim presented with a fake investment opportunity by their ‘lover’, with the absence of a hard sell making it feel genuine.

Two in five people who dated someone they met online reported being asked for money, in a 2022 survey from banking association UK Finance. Over half of those who were asked for money said that they actually gave it or lent it. 

In the 2022-23 financial year, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau received 8,036 reports of romance fraud. Losses totalled more than £92m – an average of £11,500 per victim.

• Stay safe: Never send money to a romantic partner you’ve only met virtually. Tell your friends and family about online relationships and keep them updated, so they can be on guard for untoward requests or behaviour. Read our advice on how to spot a romance scam.

3. Which? CEO impostor

Which? itself is no stranger to ridiculous impersonation attempts from fraudsters – so when a colleague received an email purportedly from Which? CEO Anabel Hoult, they smelled a rat.

The email had just one innocuous line: ‘What are you doing at the moment?’ The sender name showed as Anabel Hoult, yet the sender email address, ‘officeessse@gmail.com’, has nothing to do with her, or Which?. 

This, combined with the slightly odd tone of the message, was enough to alert the recipient almost instantly that it was fake.

Impersonation emails like this typically work by tricking busy and stressed employees into paying phoney invoices, or granting access to vital secure systems or databases, which can then be held to ransom.

Phishing emails that try to con us out of payment details or personal data are extraordinarily common: 6.4 million emails were reported to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) during 2022.

• Stay safe: Be on guard for unusual messages or requests which seem to come from friends, relatives or colleagues. If you receive one, contact the individual directly, either in person or via a trusted phone number, to verify what you’ve been asked to do. Read more on how to spot a phishing email.

4. Click to 'protect' your money

A dull-looking scam can still involve brazen deception. One email we were forwarded, supposedly from HSBC and including its logo, instructed the reader to click on a link to retrieve a document, read through it, and click another ‘acknowledge’ button – the type of mind-numbing admin work we’ve become used to. 

This was all necessary, the email explained, to get the protection of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which pays back deposits up to a total of £85,000 in the unlikely event that your bank or building society goes bust. 

But clicking on the link wouldn’t protect your money – quite the reverse. Doing so could download malware onto your device or lead to a page tricking you into sharing your banking or payment details. 

You don’t need to ‘acknowledge’ FSCS protection for it to apply, you are covered automatically. 

• Stay safe: Don’t click on links or call phone numbers contained within emails, texts or instant messages. If you need to reach an organisation, go direct via contact details from your bank card, letter or bill.

5. Mystery gems

If you received a package containing a gemstone ring you’d never ordered, would you be delighted, or spooked? 

Individuals in the UK, and abroad received the unsolicited packages, which contained gemstone certificates bearing the logo ‘Gem-A’. Yet these were fake, with the word ‘gemology’ misspelt. 

The real Gem-A is a gemology education charity that neither sells nor certifies gems and declared the parcels ‘baffling and worrying’. 

Some recipients said they had ordered books via a website or Facebook advert before the rings turned up, while others had no idea where their address had been obtained. 

It’s difficult to know what the motive is for this scam. However, it has similarities with ‘brushing’ scams, in which sellers on Amazon send out unsolicited items to unsuspecting people in order to boost sales numbers or generate fake reviews. 

The items are generally low value and light, making them easy to ship. 

In 2021 we found up to a million UK households had received mystery Amazon packages. 

• Stay safe: It’s hard to stop names and addresses being revealed as they’re often public, but you can avoid falling prey to purchase scams, where you pay for an item you never receive. Use trusted retailers – pay close attention to negative reviews – and always pay with card (ideally credit card) rather than bank transfer.

6. Bear Grylls 'sued by Bank of England'

Fake celebrity endorsements slapped on non-existent crypto investments are now common. For years celebrities from the world of finance – such as Martin Lewis and Deborah Meaden – have had their images used without consent on scam ads.  

But the advent of widely available generative artificial intelligence software has taken things up a notch, as scammers are now using entirely computer-generated images to flog their fake investments. 

A London Evening Standard investigation uncovered an alarming and somewhat convincing post on X (formerly Twitter) that appeared to show TV adventurer Bear Grylls being arrested. 

Users could click through to a ‘news article’ impersonating the website of The Guardian, where it was claimed – entirely falsely – that Grylls was being sued by the Bank of England for promoting an investment scheme on TV. The entire grift is in fact promoting a bogus get-rich-quick scheme. 

• Stay safe: Never invest your money solely based on the strength of a celebrity endorsement, news article or media appearance. Avoid high-risk unregulated schemes promoting exotic investments such as overseas property or land, whisky casks, fine art or wine, and check the Financial Conduct Authority warning list.

This article was co-written by Faye Lipson and Hafsa Abbidia. It first appeared in the January 2024 edition of Which? Money.

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