Former Strictly Come Dancing head judge Len Goodman has become the first graduate of the Scam Avoidance School (SAS), a new in-branch initiative from Santander designed to help the over 60s beat fraudsters.
According to stats from Age UK, more than half of people over 65 have been targeted by scammers and many more are worried about being tricked by unscrupulous crooks.
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From next week, Santander is rolling out its SAS initiative to all of its 806 UK branches, enlisting employees to deliver bespoke lessons, complete with interactive activities and a handout to take away.
Put together with input from psychology professor Paul Seager, the lessons cover the tricks scammers use to reel people in, how to spot email and text scams as well as covering contactless fraud and cashpoint fraud.
Len Goodman has become the first alumnus, signing up after crooks waltzed off with £16,000 of his daughter-in-law's money.
Len Goodman comments, "It seems like scammers and fraudsters are everywhere today, using all kinds of sneaky tricks to scam us over 60s - whether it’s with emails, cold calls or even at the cash machine.
"But enough is enough. 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."
Santander has a history of roping in celebrities for its fraud campaigns; last year F1 driver Jenson Button took the wheel of a Phish & Chips van - serving fish and chips to the public in exchange for phishing emails and dodgy mobile texts.
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