The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued an urgent warning about the increasing prevalence of screen-sharing scams.
These are scams in which criminals embed themselves in victims' devices such as computers, giving them access to personal and financial information.
According to the FCA, scammers have taken advantage of the increased popularity of online meetings as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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More people are using virtual meeting programs such as Zoom and Teams for work and socialising, and are therefore more vulnerable to falling victim to the scam.
Spokesperson for Advice Direct Scotland Colin Mathieson said: "Unfortunately, we have seen throughout the pandemic that fraudsters will seem to exploit the public health crisis at any opportunity to gain personal information and bank details.
“Previous scams have included attempts to target the contact tracing programme and the vaccination roll-out, as well as the sale of counterfeit PPE.
“This warning from the FCA shows that scammers are now targeting the increase in online meetings brought about by a shift towards remote and hybrid working.
“We urge all Scots to remain scam aware, and to think very carefully before clicking links from unknown parties.
“If you think a message, email or screen-sharing request doesn’t seem right, then it probably isn’t.”
Advice Direct Scotland runs the national consumer advice service consumeradvice.scot.
