A staggering £160,000 has been reported stolen this year due to "Hi Dad" impersonation scams, according to new data from a major bank.
Santander UK is issuing a warning to parents to be vigilant against this type of fraud, particularly ahead of Father’s Day on Sunday, June 21.
Fraudsters typically target potential victims through messages or even AI-generated phone calls, posing as their child and urgently requesting money or a payment.
Santander’s quarterly “scamtracker”, which charts volumes, values and trends in authorised push payment (APP) scams where people are tricked into sending money to criminals, found that men handed over the equivalent of £100,000 to scammers every day during the first six months of the year, with the biggest hitters by value being investment and purchase scams.
Chris Ainsley, head of fraud risk management at Santander UK, said: “As a parent myself, I know how busy life gets – juggling kids, work and a social life – and fraudsters often target people when they know they might not have time to properly consider what they’re being asked to do.
“Whether it’s an investment opportunity that sounds too good to be true, or a text or phone call out of the blue from your child asking for money, we are urging people to stay alert and stay safe ahead of this Father’s Day.”
When did the Father’s Day tradition start and why?
Father’s Day began in the United States in the early 20th century as a result of the success of Mother’s Day.
Anna Jarvis from West Virginia created a committee to establish a “Mother’s Friendship Day” in an attempt to reunite families that had been divided during the American Civil War.
Father’s Day was set up as a complement to the first successful Mother’s Days a few years after the celebrations began gaining traction.
The first observance of a “Father’s Day” was held on 5 July 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South.
How is Father’s Day celebrated in the UK?
In the UK, Father’s Day is not a public holiday, but follows the American rule of falling on the third Sunday of June.
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