A new wave of text messages could be putting millions of Britons at risk of losing their savings.
Experts are warning that just three types of message could be enough to empty your bank account.
The stark alert comes after an elderly man was tricked into handing over cash just weeks before he died, with the fraud only uncovered when relatives later combed through his finances. It underlines the growing scale of the threat, with online scams costing victims hundreds of billions globally last year – and more than half of adults reporting they have been targeted in the past 12 months.
Crucially, the tell-tale signs people once relied on – spelling mistakes and clumsy wording – are fast disappearing. Cyber criminals are now producing slick, professional messages that closely mimic trusted organisations such as banks, delivery firms and HMRC.
Instead, experts say consumers need to focus on three key warning signs that are designed to push them into making costly mistakes. The first is urgency – messages warning your account will be closed, a payment has failed or a parcel will be returned unless you act immediately.
These are crafted to trigger panic and override common sense. The second is an unexpected link or phone number – often posing as a bank, Royal Mail, Evri or DPD – urging you to click or call without question.
And the third is fear – with texts claiming suspicious activity, missed obligations or security problems that must be resolved straight away.
Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN, said: “Scam texts might have been obvious once upon a time, but that’s not the case anymore. They can be highly sophisticated and very convincing at first glance, especially to the untrained eye or when you don’t receive them often.
“What usually gives them away is not bad spelling or strange formatting. It’s the pressure. The message wants you to do something quickly, before you’ve had time to stop and think. They also tend to play on emotion. The message is written to make you worry that money has left your account, you’ve missed a payment, or something has gone wrong with a delivery.”
His warning is simple: never click links or call numbers in unexpected texts — and instead check directly through official websites or apps. In response to the growing threat, NordVPN has launched a free scam checker tool allowing users to paste in suspicious messages or upload screenshots.
The system scans text and images, checking links, phone numbers and email addresses against databases of known fraud. But behind the statistics lies a human cost. Debbie Porter, managing director at Destination Digital Marketing, said her father-in-law fell victim to scammers shortly before his death.
“My father-in-law was scammed a few weeks before he died, and being elderly, he was trusting. In going through his papers, we discovered a payment from his bank account that led to its discovery,” she said.
“The bank took no responsibility for this fraudulent payout because he had consented to the payment, which is the path the scammers are trying to lead you down.”
She warned that recognising the hallmarks of a scam is vital to prevent others suffering similar losses.
“Almost all urgent ‘pay now’ messages should be treated with a high degree of vigilance. If it comes from a business you have purchased from, then independently researching the company’s telephone number and calling them direct rather than from the text is a best practice every single time. This new scam checker tool from NordVPN is a great idea if it helps people avoid the trap my elderly father-in-law fell into.”
There are also mounting concerns that artificial intelligence will make the problem worse. Dil Gujral, chief AI trainer at AI Now Academy, told Newspage: “If you think scam texts are bad, wait till they start using AI to impersonate family members for extortion.”
Rohit Parmar-Mistry, founder of Pattrn Data, said the sophistication of modern scams means they now closely resemble everyday service updates.
He said: “Advice like this matters because scam texts now look and feel like real service messages. The language is polished, the sender name can be spoofed, and the story is designed to get you to act before you think. Urgency plus a link is the classic trap.”
“My simple rule is: do not interact with the message. Do not tap the link, do not reply, and do not call the number in the text. Instead, go to the organisation via a channel you already trust.”
Colette Mason, an AI consultant, said scam texts are increasingly an “infrastructure problem”.
“The person who falls for one isn’t careless. They’re a parent distracted at school pickup, or someone genuinely worried about a missed delivery,” she said.
“Until the infrastructure changes, ‘look out for urgency and dodgy links’ is a sticking plaster on a structural wound.”