Don’t let fraudsters ruin your festive fun with their top 12 Christmas cons The City of London Police, Action Fraud and Get Safe Online are warning consumers to take extra care when shopping for Christmas gifts online. Christmas is a time for celebration, a time to be with friends and family. Unfortunately it is also […]
Month: November 2013
Identity theft a rising threat
Nearly half of financial frauds being uncovered involve criminals trying to use someone else’s stolen personal details, a credit checking company has warned. Experian said that identity theft is a “significant and rising threat,” accounting for 46% of financial frauds detected this year, which is almost double the rate of just over one-quarter (27%) of […]
Fake ticket fraud
Hull family of 11 paid £7,500 for holiday in Turkey – only to discover at airport travel agent Ellen Harrison had given them fake tickets. A family of 11 turned up at an airport for their dream holiday only to discover the travel agent had given them bogus tickets and stolen their money. Travel agent […]
Retailers lose £3.4bn to retail crime
Shoplifting, employee theft and organised retail crime are on the rise in the UK. Shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud, organised retail crime and administrative errors cost the UK high street more than £3.4bn last year and represented 1.2 per cent of retail sales on average, according to the 2012-2013 Global Retail Theft Barometer. Link to […]
Internal fraud costs 3 times more than initial lose
CIFAS – the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service today releases The True Cost of internal Fraud, A report based on research conducted by the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Counter Fraud Studies. The findings give organisations much food for thought. Link to article
Fraudsters convicted over fake job adverts
The National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police Service has convicted the UK’s first home-grown financial malware writer of fraud after an investigation into fake job adverts. Tyrone Ellis, age 27, was a part of a south London-based criminal network of six, which used malware to record keystrokes of people who applied to bogus job […]
No fraud found after hacking attack
Despite cyber criminals accessing details of more than 500,000 credit card holders last month, it is believed that many of the cards have expired or are no longer in use. The Clare-based marketing business Loyaltybuild, which has run rewards schemes for companies in Ireland, the UK, Scandinavia and Switzerland, was targeted in the attack in […]
Credit card holders’ details stolen in breach
The full credit card details of more than 376,000 people who took advantage of a customer loyalty offer have been stolen in a criminal attack. The personal details of 1.12m clients were also taken in the data breach at Loyaltybuild, based in Ireland. Link to article
Travel agent in £7,000 fraud escapes jail
A fraudulent travel agent who never booked a family’s trip worth nearly £7,000 has avoided a prison sentence. Ellen Harrison, who owned the Turkish Riviera Travel agency in Hull, took the booking from the family for the Titanic Beach Lara Hotel near Antalya, the Daily Mail has reported. However, the 49-year-old then used the £6,800 […]
Top ten tips on preventing fraud in the workplace
Fraud perpetrated by either management or employees accounted for 80 per cent of the financial loss through fraud experienced by UK businesses in 2012. This figure should not be ignored by any organisation. The number of cases involving employee fraud rose to 35 in 2012, up from 22 the year before, according to KMPG. Their […]
British businesses plagued by fraud
Identity checking website 192.com has launched the first ever Background Reports on UK residents, offering protection from deception and fraud. The reports launch as a 192.com poll found that one in 10 fake their address, 18% change their age, 28% have not been truthful about their salary or debt, and one in 10 will lie […]
12 Scams of Christmas
McAfee released its annual 12 Scams of Christmas list to educate the public on the most common scams that criminals use during the holiday season to take advantage of consumers as they shop on their digital devices. Cybercriminals leverage these scams to steal personal information, earn fast cash, and spread malware. Link to article
Carbon credit boiler rooms shut down
High-pressure scams persuaded elderly investors to part with thousands of pounds for worthless carbon credits. More than a dozen companies that “preyed on older people” through carbon credit scams have been closed by the industry’s regulator, a minister has announced. Link to article
Insurance fraud register
An Insurance Fraud Register (IFR) – a first industry-owned, cross-sector register of known insurance fraudsters – has been hailed by an insurance trade body as a ‘big ticket initiative’. Link to article
29 Arrested In £7.5m Credit Card Fraud
The European Cyber Crime Centre (EC3) and its global partners have arrested 29 as part of an investigation into a massive credit card fraud operation, which may have caused losses of at least $12 million (£7.5m). Crooks tampered with point of sale (PoS) systems to pilfer credit card data in shopping centres across Europe and […]
Fraudsters target BBC reporter in investment scam
Police have launched an investigation into a gang selling fake gold investments after they were exposed by the BBC. Victims handed over tens of thousands of pounds after being contacted at home and promised large profits. Link to article
Conman jailed over hotel scam
A conman who ran up large hotel bills and fled without paying a penny is today getting used to the surroundings of a prison cell. Posing as a businessman entertaining clients, Mark Leslie enjoyed luxury suites and fine dining at two top North East hotels. The trickster even took his family along for the scam, […]
The top 20 dumbest passwords
Adobe was recently hit by a massive hack-attack affecting over 38 million users and putting their classified information at risk including that of credit card details. It is indeed astonishing to find that despite the increased threat of every piece of information put on any tech company’s database being on the hit list of hackers, […]
Link between compromised cards and ID theft
A quarter of US consumers who had their payment card information compromised in a data breach last year experienced identity theft, according to a new report. According to the report, 15.8 million US consumers had their payment card compromised in a data breach last year and 4.4m of those affected suffered fraud on existing credit […]
Oyster card scam
Mariathas Thevathas, 54, docked a few pounds from thousands of transactions during an eighteen-month spell, leaving customers with less money on their Oyster cards than they had paid for. The Sri Lankan asylum seeker, of Catford, was sentenced yesterday to ten months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to perform 150 hours community service. […]