Why 1 in 5 people would call back an unknown number

According to Independent Digital News and Media, a survey for Nationwide Building Society has found that a fifth of people would be likely to call back an unknown number that had just called them, a habit that plays directly into a scammer's hands.

The same survey found that 15% of people have given personal information to someone before realising that person was not genuine. Ten per cent said they would trust an unexpected caller claiming to be from their bank simply because the caller sounded professional. Fourteen per cent said knowing their full name would build trust, and 13% said knowing their date of birth would do the same, even though both details can be gathered by criminals from elsewhere.

Trust is built before the call, not during it

The survey shows that the moment a scam call succeeds is not the call itself. It is everything that happened before it. A criminal who already has a name, a date of birth or other personal details from a phishing email or a fake website can walk into a phone call sounding credible from the first sentence. The call is the delivery mechanism. The trust was manufactured earlier.

Annya Burskys, head of fraud operations at Nationwide, described how these scams connect. Criminals may first obtain information through a fraudulent website, a phishing email or a text message, then use those details to make a later impersonation call convincing. Some also coach the person they are calling on what to say if their bank questions a payment, framing it as something that will speed the process up. Nationwide's data puts the average loss from an impersonation scam at nearly £2,200.

Actress Lisa Riley, who took part in Nationwide's awareness campaign, described giving personal information to what she believed was a genuine travel permit website. She had completed the same process many times before, so nothing about it raised concern. The website looked legitimate, and she believed she was doing the right thing.

What this means for spotting the pattern

A caller who sounds professional and already knows some personal details is not proof of anything. It only shows that information has moved from somewhere to someone. Nationwide's own advice reflects this: the more a bank knows about a genuine situation, the better it can help, so a caller asking a customer to withhold information from their bank is a signal worth treating with suspicion on its own.

Flggd exists to notice this kind of pattern automatically, flagging the moment personal information starts moving in ways that later feed into a convincing call.

The survey was carried out by Censuswide among 2,000 people across the UK in September.