Why do I keep getting targeted after being scammed once?

People often describe the period after a fraud as the phone never stopping. That is not paranoia and it is not bad luck. Lists of people who have responded to a fraudulent approach are compiled and sold, and being on one is worth far more to a criminal than a random number.

Safety

Step by step

1. Understand what is being sold.A list of names, numbers, addresses and often the type and amount of the earlier loss. It is worth paying for because it identifies people who answered, engaged and paid. Nothing about it reflects on your judgement.
2. Expect the recovery approach specifically.The most common follow-up offers to get the money back for a fee. It may claim to be a law firm, a recovery agency, the police, the FCA or the Financial Ombudsman. All unsolicited recovery offers are fraudulent.
3. Expect impersonation of the people who helped you.Callers claiming to be from your bank's fraud team, referencing your case number, are common in the weeks afterwards. Hang up and ring 159 or the number on your card.
4. Reduce the incoming volume.Register with the Telephone Preference Service, turn on silencing of unknown callers, report every scam text to 7726, and ask your network what free call protection it offers.
5. Separate your important accounts from your public address.Use one email address for banking and government, and a different one for shopping, marketing and sign-ups. It limits how much of the incoming noise can reach the accounts that matter.
6. Tell your bank you have been a fraud victim.Most banks can add extra verification to your account, restrict certain payment types, or flag telephone banking. Ask what they offer — it is not automatic and it is not advertised.
7. Tell one other person.Repeat targeting works on isolation. Someone who knows what happened is a check on the next decision, and this is the single most effective protection there is.
8. Report each approach.Action Fraud, or Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland. Repeat approaches to a known victim are treated seriously and build the picture of an organised group.

Tips

• If a caller knows the amount and date of the earlier fraud, that is evidence they bought the list, not evidence they are official.
• The Financial Ombudsman Service, Action Fraud and the FCA do not ring people offering to recover money. They respond to cases you have raised.
• A gap of a year or more before the follow-up is normal. Lists are resold repeatedly, and a quiet period is not the end of it.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a second approach must be genuine because it references real details — The details are the product being sold. Accurate detail is exactly what to expect from a repeat approach.
• Staying silent out of embarrassment — It removes the one thing that reliably interrupts a second fraud — another person hearing the story before money moves.

Questions people ask