A campaign has been launched to combat financial fraudsters who "prey on people's trusting nature", as figures show one scam takes place every 15 seconds across the UK.

More than one million cases of financial fraud where victims lost money were detected in the first half of 2016 - a 53% increase compared with a year earlier - according to Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK).

FFA UK, along with major banks and financial services providers, has launched a campaign called Take Five, which aims to help people avoid becoming victims of payment card fraud, cheque fraud and online and telephone banking fraud. 

The campaign encourages people to pause and think before they respond to any financial requests or hand over any personal details. This pausing could be by stopping a phone conversation or delaying a reply to an email or text.

The drive focuses on financial frauds directly targeting customers, such as email deception - known as phishing - and phone and text-based scams, known as vishing and smishing. 

It aims to help protect people from criminals duping them into moving money into bank accounts controlled by fraudsters.

The Take Five campaign asks consumers to help protect themselves from financial fraud by remembering some advice:

1. KEEP YOUR PIN SAFE: Never disclose security details, such as your Pin or full password.
2. BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT EMAILS: Don't assume an email request or caller is genuine - people are not always who they say they are.
3. TAKE YOUR TIME: Don't be rushed. A bank or genuine organisation will not mind waiting to give you time to stop and think.
4. LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS: If something feels wrong then it is usually right to pause and question it.
5. STAY IN CONTROL: Have the confidence to refuse unusual requests for information.

People may find themselves falling victim to fraud when a criminal calls them pretending to be from a legitimate body such as their bank, the police, a utility company or HM Revenue and Customs.

Katy Worobec, director of FFA UK, said the campaign aims to "empower people to take back control of conversations and not feel that they've got to listen politely while someone cons them out of their money".

She said in some cases fraudsters pose on the phone as police officers and pretend the victim's account is at risk, telling them they need to urgently transfer their money into a "safe account" that really belongs to the criminal. Con artists will also send texts and emails pretending to be from their victim's bank. Sometimes fraudsters even send couriers to a victim's home to collect bank cards.

Ms Worobec said people should not feel under pressure and "react by doing something you wouldn't normally do if you were to stop and think about it".

Research for the campaign found nearly three-quarters of people claim they are aware of fraudsters' methods.

But more than a quarter admit they still provide personal details to people claiming to be from their bank, even if they do not think they should.

The most common reason for respondents sharing their details was because they felt the person seemed genuine.