Almost two-thirds of Britons have received a suspicious phone call in the past 12 months, and 43 per cent over the past month alone. Attempted telephone fraud has gone through the roof, with eight phoney calls now taking place every second of the day, the Money Advice Service has reported.

So it was ironic that fraudsters chose ‘Get Safe Online’ week to hack in to TalkTalk’s systems leading to three days of anxiety for its four million customers.

A week ago the company reassured that “on its own, none of the data that may have been accessed could be used to leave you financially worse off”, and that credit or debit card numbers stored on site were encrypted to blank out four of the digits.

Most customers were relieved to realise that their bank account could not be drained remotely, without their knowledge.

But the episode was a gift for fraudsters who use such emergencies to exploit people’s fears with phoney calls, texts or emails claiming there has been fraud on your account.

“The fraudster will persuade their victim to divulge personal or financial information, or even to transfer money directly into a so-called ‘safe account’,” Financial Fraud Action warned. “Never give out any personal information if you are at all suspicious. Instead contact your bank on a number that you know, waiting five minutes before you make the call.”

The MAS report warned: “On average, a scam call lasts 46 seconds before the victim realises that it is not genuine. Yet 3.5 million Britons have fallen victim to telephone fraud since 2010.”

Scammers will claim to represent a range of familiar companies and organisations – such as the police, banks or utility companies. Among all adults in the past year, close to one in five (19 per cent) received a scam call where someone was impersonating a genuine organisation and one in 20 (six per cent) said the call showed up as coming from the ‘right’ number.

That’s because scammers now use software which can mimic the caller ID number of the organisation they are impersonating.

Over the past 12 months, more than a third have received a ‘suspicious automated call’ which was so believable that one in eight engaged with the call, the MAS report said.

Criminals are said to be using automated systems (IVR) and Voice over IP (VoIP) which is said to be now “extremely accessible”.

Six per cent of the survey had experienced the ‘no hang-up scam’, where the fraudster keeps the line open, spoofs a dial tone, the victim dials a genuine bank number, and the fraudster’s accomplice ‘answers’.

The over-55s are most at risk. “Older internet users are easier targets because they are more trusting of officials claiming to call from their bank, and are less aware of the technology available and tactics used by fraudsters,” says MAS.

Caroline Wayman, who heads the Financial Ombudsman Service, adds: “For the past few years, we’ve been explaining that prevention is the best way to fight back against telephone scams. We can all play a part, by speaking to relatives and neighbours who might be more vulnerable to scammers and explaining what to watch out for. But have no doubt, these scams work because they’re cheap and effective – and anyone can be taken in.”

New scams appear all the time. People working in the financial departments of companies are now liable to receive an email from a senior executive asking them to make an urgent payment, transferring money to a certain account. As with the phone number trick, the email looks just like the ones normally sent by that colleague – probably because they have been identified via the internet and their account has been hacked into.

“While an urgent request from the boss might naturally prompt a swift response, it should in fact be a warning sign of a potential scam,” says Katy Worobec, director of Financial Fraud Action UK.

Meanwhile the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has identified an emerging new investment scam involving the sale of parking spaces. It involves cold-calling and the promised of high guaranteed returns from an unregulated investment – in this case, the sale of individual parking bays at airports.

It appears to be one of the raft of exotic and often non-existent investments being dangled before over-55s who can now turn their pension pots into cash.

Tom McPhail, head of retirement advice at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “Like other scams such as property development, overseas investments and storage pods, the sales pitch can sound seductive. Investors should never trust cold-callers and critically, they should only deal with regulated businesses.

“We would like to see a more robust distinction made between FCA supervised businesses selling regulated investments, which very rarely result in poor outcomes for investors, and these unregulated salesmen who seem to be able to operate with impunity. Policymakers should look at developing a kitemark or logo for regulated businesses and investments to help potential victims to identify a possible scam. This would send a clear message that if you buy an investment without this logo, it could be a scam and would be at your own risk.”