Police are investigating the disappearance of around £150,000 paid by a school to a tour operator for a dream Caribbean sporting holiday for pupils that never materialised. Parents of children at Wrekin College, near Telford, Shropshire, had forked out thousands of pounds for the luxury sunshine break to Barbados on April 7. But they were […]
Month: March 2014
Fraud probe over collapsed golf tour firm
A criminal investigation is expected to be launched into a Yorkshire tour operator that took about £500,000 for overseas trips that it allegedly never booked. More than 200 people, including a number of charities, have been left out of pocket following the collapse of Augusta Golf Tours Ltd. Link to article
Raids on frauds involving credit hire cars
A total of 17 people have been arrested in raids across England by detectives investigating criminal gangs making false insurance claims for courtesy cars provided to motorists while their own vehicle is being fixed. Link to article
Cheap Flights Ticket – bogus websites
Welcome to Cheap Flights Ticket! Your online travel agency. As one of the world’s leading online travel companies, we make it easy to plan your next business or leisure trip. Explore our site, mobile apps, and Facebook page to discover destination ideas, get information about flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and more, then book and […]
WestJet warns about ongoing phone scam
WestJet today issued another warning to Canadians to avoid sharing their credit card numbers and other private information with fraudsters posing as WestJet or WestJet Vacations. Link to article
Why So Many Retail Stores Get Hacked
When a big retailer gets hacked, it’s often quick to note that it has complied with cybersecurity rules set by the credit card industry. MasterCard (MA), Visa (V), and other card companies require retailers to pass an audit sanctioned by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council, an industry group. Link to article
Mexico holiday swindle
A woman who tried to claim a refund on a £5,000 holiday she hadn’t finished paying escaped a prison sentence after she admitted fraud. Kimberley Hooper, 29, booked a holiday to Mexico through the travel agent Holidays Your Way Ltd in Cwmbran, where she worked as a telesales assistant. Link to article
ABI confirms £11.7m investment in IFED
Police department will use the money to recruit more detectives. The ABI has confirmed that it will extend its funding of the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for at least another three years. The £11.7m investment will allow IFED to expand its operations and hire more detectives to the 38-strong unit, which is dedicated to […]
Travel agent stole 100k from Bridlington firm
The manager of a travel agency falsified records and accounts to fund expensive holidays for herself and her family, a court heard, reports the Hull Daily Mail. Belinda Traves, 51, has gone on trial accused of stealing and defrauding £100,000 from Bridlington-based Holiday Travel, a family-run firm that had employed her for 11 years. Link […]
Call clearing time to be slashed to prevent fraud
Criminals are exploiting the lengthy call clearing times to trap gullible victims. UK phone companies are modifying their networks amid increasing fraud in a bid to drop features that are exploited by cyber criminals. Link to article
Fraud from stolen bank cards highest since 06
Fraud due to stolen credit and debit cards has risen to its highest levels since its peak in 2006. Some £58.9million was lost in 2013, marking a 7 per cent increase on the previous year. The total rises to £450.4million when crimes such as identity theft, cloned cards, computer viruses and internet scams are included […]
Email scams: a neat trick to sniff them out
If you receive an email that seems dodgy, here’s an easy trick for testing its trustworthiness. If you receive an email that seems dodgy, an easy trick for testing its trustworthiness is to run the screen cursor over any embedded links, according to a German computer magazine. Link to article
Stay off the sucker lists
Unfortunately, that seems to be the current thinking of today’s con artists who, according to a new survey, are specifically targeting consumers who have already fallen victim to a scam. Below, I’ll explain how this fraud works, so neither you nor your parents get fleeced. Link to article
Travel – a rich hunting ground for cyber-attackers
David Jones was the founder of Travelink, before selling the company to Comtec in 2006. He is now back in the travel industry as investor and non-executive at Cardiff-based Tigerbay. He is also a director of Westgate Cyber Security, an information security consultancy. Link to article
FIFA World Cup scams
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) is aware of a potential threat of fraudsters using the FIFA World Cup in Brazil to scam victims out of money. Action Fraud in partnership with the NFIB have identified three key trends relating to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil 2014. Link to article
Domain name scam
Dear CEO/Principal, We are the department of Asian Domain Registration Service in China. Here I have something to confirm with you. We formally received an application on March 10, 2014 that a company claimed “Englhan Investment Co” were applying to register “xxxxxx” as their Net Brand and some “xxxxxx” Asian countries top-level domain names through […]
Disney tries again to toughen ticket-fraud law
Walt Disney World is trying again this year to toughen the state’s ticket-fraud laws, this time with the help of the lawmaker who killed the proposal last year as well as an influential Orlando Republican who will become Senate president next year. Link to article
Airlines confront credit card fraud in the air
When it comes to credit card fraud while flying, it is the airlines that may be the most common victims, said Mary Kirby, the CEO of Runway Girl Network, an aviation industry media company. It’s a little-known fact that most credit card purchases that take place in the air don’t actually go through to the […]
Fraudsters’ five most wanted items
Over 221,000 people fell victim to fraud last year, according to new figures from the CIFAS National Fraud Database. While this marks an 11 per cent reduction on the remarkable levels witnessed the previous year, a closer look at the figures ‘completely dispels the idea that the tide has turned in the fight against fraud’, […]
Beyonce fans hit by ticket scam
Detectives launched an investigation into a £28,000 ticket scam that duped music fans across the country. Beyonce played sold-out shows at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro on Thursday, February 20 and Friday, February 21. Investigating officers said the fake ticket cases to relate the singer’s concerts at the Phones 4U Arena in Manchester. But British Transport Police […]