What looks like fraud, feels like fraud but isn’t fraud? What about a company website that pops up when you search for the government agency that issues driving licences, and charges a handsome fee for forwarding your details to the real website?
Personal finance campaigners have been complaining about such sites for years, but I think there is a broader lesson to be drawn about the way we spend our money these days. Between outright fraud and honest commerce there may be a sharp legal line — but economically and psychologically the distinction is a gradual blur.
I worry that we now live in that blur, spending cash without clearly perceiving what happened. The pandemic, with its shift to contactless or online spending, has served to catalyse the process further.