The bank has teamed up with Kurupt FM, from BAFTA-winning BBC TV show People Just Do Nothing, to help it target under-25s as part of an anti-scam drive.

Deadliest Dupes is a three episode mini-series, fronted by the self-proclaimed lyrical badman of pirate radio, MC Grindah, as he goes undercover to investigate the murky underbelly of scams and fraud, and has been created to grab the attention of younger audiences online.

Born out of statistics showing the propensity of Gen Z to fall victim to scams, and research into how their online behaviour can make them vulnerable to fraudsters, each episode focusses on fraud that commonly affects younger people. The three videos use humour to deliver an important scam avoidance message with viewers: “Don’t Get Kurupted”.

The three films are:

• The Identity Thief: Steves and Grindah come face to face with ‘Fake Steves’. It’s not long until Grindah inadvertently gives his password away to the smooth-talking scammer.
• The Online Scammer: Grindah bumps into a familiar face in Chabuddy G, who demonstrates just how easy it is to end up getting ripped off when buying online.
• The Money Mule: Beats provides protection as Grindah meets a notorious money launderer. But it turns out that it’s not just hardened criminals who do time for money laundering, it can happen to regular people if they misuse their bank account.

Industry data shows that in the past year, ID theft among people under 21 has risen by 26 per cent while 50 per cent of money mules are aged 26 or under.

Santander’s own research shows that those aged under 25 are three times more likely to act on an instruction in scam correspondence, 85 per cent have shared details on Instagram that could leave them open to ID theft, and a quarter have entered personal details on a website using unsecure WiFi.

The digitally led campaign will run across Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Paid media will drive people to an online hub where they can find out more about the tricks used by online.

Susan Allen, head of retail and business banking at Santander UK, said: “We’re committed to fighting financial crime and work hard to raise awareness of fraud and scams with all age groups. We recognised that to engage younger audiences with these important messages, we needed to do something different and memorable. We hope that everyone, no matter what age, will enjoy Deadliest Dupes and learn how to stay safe so they Don’t Get Kurupted.”

Deadliest Dupes follows previous fraud awareness campaigns run by Santander including its Phish and Chips van and the Scam Avoidance School.