More than half (53%) of High Net Worth individuals say they have been victims of a financial scam - a 10% rise in just six months.

According to a new study by wealth manager and Financial Planner Saltus Wealth, self-employed HNW individuals are 1.5 times more likely to believe they have been scammed and twice as likely to have lost their money compared to employed respondents.

Women were also more likely to be hit by scammers with 60% saying they had been scammed, although men lost more on average.

Overall those who say they have been scammed lost nearly £9,000 on average. 

One-in-four HNW individuals see financial scams as the biggest risk to their wealth.

The self-employed or those with a net worth of more than £3m were the most likely to have been targeted, according to the survey of 1,000 people with investable assets over £250,000 and a net worth of at least £1.5m.

The Saltus Wealth Index revealed that 53% of HNW individuals said they have been victim of a financial cybercrime - up from 49% six months ago. 

When ranking the biggest threats to their wealth, cyber threats were the fourth biggest threat for HNW individuals - with just inflation, Covid-19 and exchange rates being seen as bigger threats. One in four rated cybercrime as the biggest financial threat

Of those who had been a victim of a financial scam, 36% say they lost £8,952 on average. One in five (21%) admitted to losing more than £10,000 and nearly one-in-25 said they had lost more than £25,000.

Those most likely to be targeted and lose money were the self-employed, where 74% said they had fallen victim to financial crime compared to 47% of employed respondents. Some 41% of self-employed respondents who had been targeted said losses averaged £9,272.

The data also revealed that the higher the net worth, the more likely the respondent was to say that they had been hit by scammers. Among those with assets of between £250,000 and £500,000, 36% admitted they had been a victim, but for those with assets of £3m or more this rose to 73%. 

Victims with a net worth of more than £3m lost £12,534 on average - almost £5,000 more than those with a net worth of less than £500,000 who had been scammed.

Women were more likely to say they have fallen victim to financial scammers than men - with 60% saying they have been scammed, a rise of 15% in six months - compared to 51% of men. However, men who had been scammed lost more - £10,000 on average for men compared to £6,000 for women.

The younger the respondent, the more likely they were to say they have been scammed, with three-in-five people under 45 admitting they have been victim to a financial crime. This fell to less than half of those aged 45-54, less than one-in-five for 55-64s and then rising again slightly to one-in-four of those over 65. Of those who had lost money, those aged 35-44 lost the most on average - £10,307.

Mike Stimpson, partner at Saltus, said: “With our research showing that 36% of High Net Worth Individuals had lost money to a scam, this is no longer an issue for a small minority but a very real danger to all.

“Financial advisers know markets, they know when something is too good to be true and they have clients’ best interests at heart. Ultimately, this means they are a client’s best line of defence when it comes to securing their finances from scammers.”

Saltus is a wealth management company which started as an investment management firm in 2004. Saltus Financial Planning was launched in 2015 and the Saltus group now employs over 100 people and manages £2bn for clients.

• The survey was carried out between 28 February and 15 March by Censuswide for Saltus.