Brits have been placed on red alert and urged to watch out for a barrage of new scams arriving on phones, PCs and tablets. According to the team at Virgin Media O2, online attacks continue to rise, with the firm’s Scam Index showing a whopping 18 million adults in the UK have been targeted by cyber crooks in the past three months alone. In fact, during June, the operator flagged more suspicious calls than at any point in its history. It’s now warning the public to stay alert.

Virgin Media O2 has now published the top 10 most popular attacks being used by hackers, which include delivery scams, online shopping scams, account suspension scams and banking scams.

Other things to watch out for are tech support scams, lottery scams that suggest “You’ve won!”, and government HMRC scams that warn money is owed, or a rebate is due.

The infamous friends or family impersonation scam also continues to catch people out, and it’s vital that users never hand over money if contacted from a number they don’t know.

This latest data shows how scammers use believable requests, realistic websites and urgency to trick victims into clicking on links or handing over data without realising.

“We see first-hand how fraud is constantly changing and the devastating impact it can have on victims,” said Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention at Virgin Media O2.

“We work around the clock to protect our customers, from blocking scam texts to flagging suspicious calls, and we’re doing everything we can to shut out scammers.

“Our new Scam Index will track the threat and help raise awareness of the tactics criminals use, so the public can spot the warning signs before it’s too late. With June a record month for suspicious calls, people should be on high alert.”

Virgin Media has already blocked millions of scams, but the firm is now urging Brits to report suspicious calls and messages by forwarding them to 7726

7726 is a free service available to customers on every UK mobile network, which can be used to report suspected scam calls and messages.

Virgin says that by analysing scam messages and calls, it gets deep insights into the fraudsters’ tactics. This is then used to investigate and block mobile numbers used by crooks, refine blocking services and identify new trends faster in future. It’s hoped that, with customer help, more attacks will be stopped and fewer people will be affected.