More than seven in 10 UK adults (71%) say they have received suspected scam emails or texts and the experience of scams is on the rise compared to this time last year, according to new research from The Global Signal Exchange (GSE).
At a time when around half the population say they now predominantly go online to do their everyday banking, shopping, holiday booking, music listening and film entertainment[1] – the sheer breadth of attempted scams experienced by people across the UK spans: home delivery scams (24%), HMRC payment scams (20%), bank scams (20%), online payment scam queries (19%), prize and lottery scams (18%), investment scams (16%), employment scams (15%), romance scams (13%), cryptocurrency scams (13%) and charity scams (12%).
Furthermore, the new poll of a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults for The Global Signal Exchange reveals that the regularity of suspected scam experiences by text and email is on the rise in the UK, compared to a year ago.
Emily Taylor CEO at Oxford Information Labs and Co-Founder of the Global Signal Exchange comments: “Online scams are so much more than an annoyance or an inconvenience. We are actually at a seismic tipping-point where the scale, frequency and human impact of scams on people is almost out of control – and it’s becoming something far too big for individual brands, law enforcement agencies or even national governments to deal with on their own. It is time for organisations to work together and to work bigger, faster and smarter to beat the scammers at their own game – and that is the reason why we launched the Global Signal Exchange earlier this year, supported by our co-founding partners Google and the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA).”
Global Signal Exchange leads the fightback to protect consumers
Powered by UK-based Oxford Information Labs (OXIL), The non-profit Global Signal Exchange (GSE) is the world’s first global, multi-stakeholder and cross-sector clearing house for sharing abuse data and related information (often called ‘signals’). Tracking more than 350,000,000 threat signals worldwide and in real-time, the Global Signal Exchange enables accredited, member organisations to work together in sharing threat data and harness the imperatives of speed and scale to stop online scams, fraud and abuse faster – making them less effective and less profitable. Already tech giants Google, Meta and Microsoft have joined the GSE, followed by 30 other international organisations, allowing member organisations to tackle online scams, fraud and abuse with unprecedented pace, software capabilities and scale.
Taylor adds: “Turning the tables on the scammers is achievable but it involves businesses, governments and enforcement agencies to work much more closely together. We warmly welcome Microsoft and Meta to the Global Signal Exchange and we are excited by the significant contribution they will make in helping us all to change the narrative on crime, fraud and abuse. The level of global support for the Global Signal Exchange signifies a step-change in the fight against online crime, as we facilitate a new culture of co-operation and data sharing. A great deal has been achieved in a very short time, but more needs to be done and we invite anyone with a legitimate interest in acting against online scams to join us. Together we are stronger and together we can be the change that consumers and businesses need.”
Supporting the Global Signal Exchange’s new UK consumer research, data from international partner and GSE co-founder The Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) reveals that UK consumer experiences are part of a global problem. For example, GASA’s global report for 2024 revealed that phone calls and text/SMS messages remained the primary methods through which scammers operate[2]. GASA’s 2025 consumer research in Germany revealed that 84% of scam attempts the last 12 months occurred on platforms that have a Direct Message function. GASA’s new Thailand research also revealed that nearly three-quarters of online abuse attacks (73%) happened through platforms with direct messaging.