18 Million Brits Targeted by Scams in Three Months: Privacy Lessons from Virgin Media O2’s Scam Index

Virgin Media O2 published its first quarterly Scam Index and said more than 18 million UK adults had been targeted by scammers in just three months. The company says the index combines internal data with consumer research to track how often people are targeted and which scam tactics are most common.

The report says more than a third of adults see at least one scam every week, while one in five have been told their personal information appeared in a data breach. It also says victims who lost money reported an average loss of more than £1,800.

The most common scam trends named by Virgin Media O2 are familiar because they work: fake delivery messages, online shopping scams, and fake account-suspension alerts for services such as Apple, Microsoft, PayPal, Netflix, Amazon, or social media. They all use urgency and realistic-looking links to push people into acting quickly.

The company also points to AI making scams more dangerous, especially deepfake-style images, video or audio. That does not mean every scam is technically advanced. It means the line between a clumsy fake and a convincing fake is getting harder for ordinary people to judge at speed.

Treat delivery, shopping and account-lock messages as prompts to check manually, not links to tap. Open the official app or type the known website address yourself. If a message says an account will be suspended, go directly to that provider rather than following the link in the message.

Use unique passwords and multi-factor authentication for email, banking, phone provider, shopping and cloud accounts. If you know your details appeared in a breach, be extra cautious about messages that include your real name, phone number, school, workplace, old password, or order details. Breached data makes scams feel personal.

A VPN is useful on public Wi-Fi and other networks you do not control because it reduces what the local network can see and makes casual interception harder. It is a sensible layer for travel, cafes, hotels and shared accommodation.

But a VPN cannot tell whether a parcel text is fake, stop you entering card details into a phishing page, recover money from a payment scam, or protect an account that reuses a breached password. Scam protection is mostly about behaviour, authentication and slowing down before clicking.

The useful lesson from the Scam Index is that privacy and security are not only technical settings. They are daily habits: checking links, using password managers, enabling MFA, keeping devices updated, and treating urgency as a warning sign.

A good VPN belongs in that stack, especially away from home, but it is not an anti-scam shield. The strongest setup combines a trustworthy VPN with strong accounts, careful payment habits and scepticism toward messages that demand immediate action.