More than 5m people have fallen victim to a financial scam since the Covid-19 pandemic or know someone who has.

According to a new report from Canada Life one in five non-retirees also say they have been contacted with offers of a ‘free pensions review’ - an approach used by some scammers.

On average Britons have received three suspicious or fraudulent messages since the outbreak began.

The most common type of scams were banking-related ones, with three in five (60%) reporting this type.

Insurance scams were also common with 35% of victims citing this, followed by pension fraud in one in five instances (19%).

Canada Life said overall 5.2m people had been victims of financial scams or knew a victim since the Coronavirus outbreak started.

When Canada Life last asked people in August 2019 if they had been approached by phone, text or email with the offer of a free pensions review, just over one in ten (12%) of non-retirees suggested they had been contacted this way in the preceding three months. This has risen to almost one in five (17%) for those people yet to retire who have received similar contact over the last three months.

Of those who have been approached with pensions ‘advice’ in the last three months, 43% were worried about scams and 25% felt increasingly vulnerable.

Separately, last week research from pension consultants Pension Bee revealed that two-thirds of 500 adults surveyed in April were unlikely to spot many pension scams.

Canada Life said the most common way for scammers to target people was through email (75%), but a third (32%) had received a phone call, and a quarter (24%) had been sent text messages. Retirees said they received significantly more phone calls, despite the ban on pension cold calling being introduced in January 2019.

Nearly one in six (13%) thought they were are more vulnerable to scams during the Covid-19 outbreak, and 26% were increasingly concerned about financial scams. A quarter (25%) did not know how to prevent fraudsters from targeting them; 30% did not know which services they can use to protect themselves and 30% would not know who to contact if they were scammed

This comes despite increased public awareness campaigns on how to spot and avoid scams. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab issued a stark warning in early May, highlighting that cyber criminals were targeting individuals and organisations in the UK using Covid-19 related scams and phishing emails.

According to the Canada Life report the financial cost of being scammed saw victims losing £566 on average per scam. One in 10 of those who knew someone who has been scammed or had been a victim themselves lost over £1,000.

Andrew Tully, technical director at Canada Life, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has provided a fertile opportunity for ‘lowlifes’ to prey on not only the vulnerable but also people who are worried and anxious about both their health and their wealth.”

• The research was based on a survey conducted by Opinium between 5 May and 7 May among 2,000 UK adults.