Helen Nugent

It's the modern malaise: online fraud. In a world where so many of our transactions happen over the internet, it's little wonder that fraudsters have descended on the web in droves. The latest statistics paint a bleak picture. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 11.5 million incidents of crime relating to computer misuse and fraud offences in 2016. That's cybercrime on an unprecedented level. Now new research suggests that more than one in ten Britons have had to cancel a credit or debit card in the past year due to online fraud. Comparethemarket.com says this reveals a worsening state of affairs, with the number of people cancelling cards rising from 4.5 million to 5.5 million since the research was last conducted in September 2016.

A decade ago, while working for a national newspaper, I forced the then Labour government to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The papers showed that Gordon Brown defied repeated warnings from his own officials about the potentially devastating impact of this £5 billion-a-year raid on pension funds and went ahead with it regardless. Brown announced the scrapping of tax relief on dividends paid into pension funds in his first Budget in 1997 at a time when many funds were in surplus. It was the single biggest change to the system in a generation. By the time my story was published, the country's savers had been deprived of at least £100 billion. It was one of those stories which, in journalism parlance, 'has legs'.

This week’s Best Buys, provided by Moneyfacts, are Two-Year Fixed Rate Bonds.

When the sun shineth...go shopping. That's what we did in our droves during April, boosting retail sales by 4 per cent compared to the same month last year. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), anecdotal evidence from retailers suggests that good weather contributed to growth in sales, which increased by 2.3 per cent in the three months to April compared to a 1.4 per cent decline in the first quarter. And there's the fact that Easter also fell in April this year, prompting sales of furniture, golf equipment and motorbike accessories. Analysts were cheered by the data, which was beyond their expectations, but said the real test lies ahead.

Ah, Chelsea. Or in my case, ah, Tatton. It's that time of year again when the Royal Horticultural Society revs up for its slew of annual flower shows, allowing us green-fingered enthusiasts the chance to seek out the lesser-spotted Titchmarsh and the perennially pleasing Monty Don. It's also a good time to do an inventory of our own gardens, not least the garden shed. You might not know it, but that building at the bottom of the lawn could be harbouring a shed-load of uninsured valuables. While a fair few sheds are home to nothing more than old pots, bits of string and rusty shovels, many are full of items that thieves would like to get their hands on.

This week’s Best Buys, provided by Moneyfacts, are Five-Year Fixed Rate Buy-to-Let Mortgages.

I am immensely cheered by the news that one of the worst perpetrators of cold calling has been fined a record amount for making almost 100 million nuisance calls. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued its highest ever penalty of £400,000 to Keurboom Communications after more than 1,000 people complained about recorded – also known as automated – calls. The calls, made over an 18 month period, related to a wide range of subjects, including all the old chestnuts of road traffic accident claims and PPI compensation. Some people received repeat calls, sometimes on the same day and during unsociable hours. The company also hid its identity, making it harder for people to lodge a grievance.

As I watched the water creep across the kitchen floor, powerless to prevent a mini tsunami, I had an inkling of how it must feel to be the victim of flooding or burst pipes. By the third time the water invaded my kitchen, I was at the end of my tether. It later transpired that the base of my washing machine had broken in two (apparently not an uncommon occurrence) hence the folly of replacing the washers and hoping for the best. While this was a problem fixable with a mop, a packet of kitchen roll and a new appliance, it brought to mind the multitude of horror stories told by friends and family over the years. From neighbours' leaking toilets and radiators to dodgy showers and baths, many of us can recall water damage to our homes made through no fault of our own.

Do we trust politicians? Is that the same as asking if we trust estate agents, door-to-door salesmen or, er, journalists? According to new research by Comparethemarket.com, consumers overwhelmingly believe that the main political parties and their leaders do not understand the financial anxieties of ordinary people and that the next government will not have the ability to introduce measures to improve their financial situation. The research, based on a poll of more than 6,000 UK adults, found that more than a third of people feel worse off compared to the last election in May 2015. Almost nine in ten respondents believe that this is the fault of policies implemented by the current government.

I'm in one of those moods. The one where I'm beset by delusions of adequacy, I can't work up the energy to pretend I like people, and every email is filled with doom and gloom and stories of bad behaviour. Which brings me to today's missive from the comparison site uSwitch. According to new research, consumers have been stung with more than £300 million in unarranged overdraft fees by banks which prevent them from opting out of this costly system. I know, banks are (for the most part) upfront about charges for unauthorised overdrafts. But that doesn't make the stats any less startling.

As lenders' names go, The Bank of Mum and Dad is rather appealing. There's instant brand awareness, the prospect of small or non-existent interest rates, and the likelihood that financial negotiations will end with a hug and a few happy tears. I'm a member of this institution. When I moved back up North following 14 years in London, I found the perfect house outside of Manchester. But I couldn't sell my flat in the capital and was leaking money left, right and centre. A bridging loan was out of the question, as was anything resembling a deposit. So my Dad stepped in, loaned me a sizeable sum, and it all ended happily. That was seven years ago. I'm still in the property I bought with my father's help and my London pad is a distant memory.

This week’s Best Buys, provided by Moneyfacts, are Two-Year Fixed Rate Bonds.

I'll never forget the estate agent who tried to flog me my first flat. As I waited on the kerb in North London, he roared up in a Mercedes-Benz convertible, bling glittering from his hands and neck, a belt emblazoned with the word 'STUD' and a knuckle tattoo that can't be shared in a respectable publication. I was new to house-buying but even this struck me as a bit odd. I soon came to learn that a spotty teenager with a souped-up car and a penchant for gold jewellery isn't that unusual in the estate agent game. Since then, I have dealt with agents who know what they're doing and conduct themselves admirably. But I'm always alert to the fact that this is a profession that requires no qualifications and no experience.