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Safety & Scams
CalmAbout 60 min✓ Official sources · reviewed 2026-07-26

Spot and dodge the scams that target newcomers

The scripts are professional and they know you just arrived — learn them before they call.

Your progress0 of 5 steps done
  1. 1

    Install the one rule that beats them all

    Every scam, whatever its costume, ends the same way: someone who contacted YOU creates urgency and asks you to move money or share codes. So install one reflex: incoming contact + urgency + money = hang up. Then verify through the official channel you find yourself — the number on your card, the website you type in. Legitimate organisations survive a twenty-minute verification delay; scammers can't.

    Prepare

    Nothing — just this sentence, memorised.

    Watch out

    "But they knew my name and address" — data leaks make personal details cheap; knowing them proves nothing about who's calling.

    This one is serious — get real help

    This step involves a high-risk area (legal, immigration, medical or benefits). We won't advise you here. Ask MyLife AI to prepare, or contact an official or appropriately regulated service before you act.

  2. Step 2

    Know the fake-authority scripts

    The cruellest scams impersonate the institutions newcomers fear: "Home Office" callers threatening deportation unless you pay a "visa fine"; "HMRC" voicemails announcing arrest warrants for tax fraud; "police" needing your help with an investigation involving your bank account. Hear this clearly: no UK authority ever demands payment by phone, threatens arrest for non-payment, or asks you to move money. The fear is manufactured. Hang up proudly.

    Prepare

    Awareness that these calls WILL come — most newcomers get one within months.

    Watch out

    Caller ID showing a real government number — numbers are trivially spoofed; the display proves nothing.

  3. Step 3

    Spot the money-flow scams

    Three patterns drain newcomers' accounts. The "safe account" call: your bank's "fraud team" says your money is at risk and must be moved — banks never do this. The rental deposit for an unseen flat. And the "money mule" job: easy pay for letting transfers pass through your account — that's laundering, it's a crime YOU commit, and it ends bank accounts and visas. If a stranger's money touches your account, you're the one holding the evidence.

    Prepare

    Your bank's real fraud number saved from the back of your card.

    Watch out

    "Jobs" recruited via WhatsApp/Telegram offering pay for account access or parcel forwarding — every variant is the mule scam.

  4. Step 4

    Harden your accounts in ten minutes

    Make yourself expensive to rob: unique passwords via a password manager, two-factor authentication on email and banking (email first — it resets everything else), transaction notifications on, and your phone's SIM protected with a PIN. Register your number with the TPS to cut cold calls. None of this is exciting; all of it works.

    Prepare

    Ten minutes and your phone.

    Watch out

    Using your Turkish number's WhatsApp for UK banking contacts — account recovery flows get messy across countries; move critical accounts to your UK number.

  5. Step 5

    Know exactly what to do if it happens

    Speed decides how much comes back. Money sent: call your bank immediately (many banks now refund authorised-push-payment fraud — the sooner you report, the stronger your claim). Then report to Action Fraud, 0300 123 2040 — it feeds the national database. Cards: freeze in-app first, questions later. And tell your community: scammers reuse scripts on neighbours, and shame is their best friend. You did nothing stupid; you met a professional.

    Prepare

    Bank fraud line and Action Fraud number saved in contacts.

    Watch out

    Saying nothing out of embarrassment — unreported scams can't be refunded, and silence hands the scammer their next victim.

Need help? Ask MyLife

It already knows which playbook you're in. Answers come from official sources, with dates.