Fifth of over-60s '˜faced over 10 scam attempts in a year'

The research has been released by Santander, which plans to roll out a “scam avoidance school” across its branches from next week for this age group.

Free classes will be designed to help Santander’s customers and non-customers identify common frauds and scams.

Santander found that 19% of older people believe they have been approached over 10 times by scammers in the past 12 months.

The average lost by those who had fallen victim to a scam was £401.

Two-thirds (64%) of over-60s said they are worried about the threat of fraud and scams.

Feeling vulnerable because of an illness was found to be a common reason why people are worried they might be susceptible to a scam, along with people not feeling they are financially aware as well as living alone.

One in 12 (8%) of those who had fallen victim to a scam said being ill at the time meant they let their guard down, while 18% said confusion when using technology made them particularly vulnerable at the point they were scammed.

Santander expects tens of thousands of over-60s to be helped by its lessons.

Former Strictly Come Dancing head judge Len Goodman, 73, has taken the scam lesson help to launch Santander’s scams awareness drive.

He said: “People of my age - we’ve got to have our wits about us, be more aware and more alert to scams so we can quickstep our way around the dangers and keep our bank accounts safe.

“The scam avoidance school was a real eye-opener for me: I learned a lot about how to avoid scams and I want to pass on this knowledge to as many people as I can.”