The Bank of Antandec Shows People How to Detect Scams with ‘Scammer Pants’

The latest ‘Bank of Antandec’ campaign shows people how to beat the pants off of scams, and once again features Ant and Dec as the fictional banking CEOs. This time the boys are on a mission to help customers spot scams before they fall victim to them. 

The campaign, ‘Stop! Scammer Time,’ created with House 337 and Merman, in consultation with Mitre Studios, takes a visually humorous look at how to protect yourself from scams. It introduces customers to the new concept that the Bank of Antandec CEOs have come up with - ‘Fraud Detecting Scammer Pants’. They warn customers each time someone attempts to scam them by inflating, lighting up and playing an unforgettable earworm. Meanwhile, Santander takes scams seriously and reminds customers to stop and think before handing over money or personal details.

The ad features the CEOs performing a remixed version of ‘U Can’t Touch This’ by MC Hammer, with ‘Hammer time’ changed to ‘Scammer time’. Bespoke lyrics underline the ad’s key message.

We’ve seen a year-on-year increase in fraud and scams since 2019, with victim numbers up overall by more than 40%, driven by impersonation calls and purchase scams. Despite the many efforts to warn people about the dangers of scamming, messages often fail to hit home, and the number of people falling victim to scams continues to rise. 

Santander’s insight shows that the most vulnerable people are the ones who think it won’t happen to them, which is why House 337 have chosen this deliberately entertaining route, creating a campaign to lodge in peoples’ consciousness. Next time someone is on the verge of falling for a scam, maybe ‘Scammer time’ will make them stop and think.

The 60-second TV spot breaks on 15th October on and will be supported across video on demand, radio, social media and in branch activity. A TikTok-branded campaign featuring Ant and Dec and five creators using the ‘Scammer pants’ filter will also launch the following week.

The campaign supports Take Five, a national campaign that provides straightforward, impartial advice to help prevent email, phone-based and online fraud, by urging customers to stop and think before they part with money or personal details. This is suggested as a much more sensible solution than wearing ‘Scammer pants’.

Dan Sherwood, director of marketing at Santander UK said: “If we can get people to hear the words ‘Scammer time’ and pause when they’re about to part with money or personal details - then hopefully we can help thwart more of these criminals.”

“We know how ruthless scammers are and the impact they have. With the amount of people falling victim to scams going up, we’re determined to do what we can to protect people and hope that approaching the topic from a different angle - with the light-hearted nature of the Bank of Antandec – will help it stick in people’s minds.”

Jo Moore, executive creative director at House 337 said: “Fraud and scams are serious stuff, but using the Bank of Antandec  as a vehicle, this allows us to deliberately show an entertaining and light-hearted approach from those two cheeky CEOs, which engages consumers, who then get the important, sensible message from Santander. The overall takeout being ‘Stop and think’.