Nearly 3,000 scam complaints registered in six months, says Action Fraud. Consumers were cheated out of nearly £1.3m in the six months to the end of October as a result of spiralling entertainment and sport ticket fraud. With 2,885 reports registered with Action Fraud covering the six months to the end of October – and […]
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Mandate Fraud in the Travel Industry
We have received numerous reports of companies being targeted by mandate fraud in the travel industry, please see below information provided by Action Fraud. Mandate fraud is when someone gets you to change a direct debit, standing order or bank transfer mandate, by purporting to be an organisation you make regular payments to, for example […]
Lads holiday goes wrong as boys hit by fraud
A lads holiday went horribly wrong after a group of students realised they’d become victims of fraud and lost all their money before they even got there. Chris Kenny, 20, along with 13 of his friends had saved up for six months and were looking forward to the £400 ten-day trip to the Greek island […]
Fraudsters behind £100k LFC ticket scam jailed
Craig O’Donohue, 29, and Paul Murgatroyd, 28, duped hundreds of fans who paid over the odds to watch the team play at Anfield. Two crooks who plotted a £100,000 scam to forge Liverpool FC tickets have been jailed for a total of seven-and-a-half-years. Craig O’Donohue, 29, and Paul Murgatroyd, 28, duped hundreds of fans who […]
Keeping Fraud at Bay Requires a Joint Effort
Fraudsters are drawn to airlines like a moth to a flame, but they aren’t the ones who get burned. Air ticket sales are a “prime target” for fraud, said Jose Hernandez, fraud manager at Orbitz Worldwide. “With consumer goods, you can call up UPS and say, ‘Hey, send it back. You can’t do that with […]
133 detained in global action tackling airline fraud
On 3 and 4 November 2015 law enforcement agencies from across the world, supported by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), joined forces with the airline, travel and payment card industries in a major concerted operation to combat online fraud in the airline sector. The operation was organised globally through coordination centres at Europol in The […]
Airbnb ‘must do more to protect against fraudsters’
Is Airbnb doing enough to protect its users against fraud? I ask this question because one of the most regular complaints we receive comes from readers who have lost money through scams perpetrated on the site. It’s a stream that shows no signs of abating. In September alone, we received nine complaints from victims – […]
Victims of cyber crime
Victims of cyber crime should be ‘low priority’ if they fail to take security steps. Official study backed by City of London Police suggests ‘hard decisions’ should be made if victims admit they did not follow security advice. Victims who fail to take precautions against cyber crime should be treated as a lower priority by […]
Fraud rises 10 per cent in a year
Almost 600,000 cases of fraud were referred to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau over the past year, a 9.4 per cent increase, according to figures published today. However, the true scale of fraud is likely to be much higher, as the NFIB only receives information on fraud where there is actionable intelligence on the crime. […]
Invoice fraud
With invoice fraud on the increase, here are some ways to spot the increasingly sophisticated techniques used and protect your business. Invoice fraud is on the increase in the UK, with a number of sizeable frauds recently hitting the headlines, including one for over £1million. Fraudsters are targeting their victims with increased sophistication, enabled partly […]
Combating electronic payment fraud
As payment channels evolve, not only do Financial Institutions (FIs) continue to fight the growing threat of electronic payments fraud, they also face a growing variation of fraud techniques across multiple channels. New mobile payment systems, such as Apple Pay, provide consumers with extreme convenience by allowing them to pay retailers directly with their phones, […]
15 million online bookings are scams by rogue websites
When it comes to booking a hotel, it pays to go straight to the source. A new study conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) reveals that one in three people are worried about online booking scams, which affect millions of unsuspecting consumers. Early estimates suggested that some 2.5 million hotel bookings a […]
Loneliness and the risk of fraudulent mail
It was the number of letters which her aunt was receiving that first made Penny Eggebrecht suspicious. That and the fact her aunt was getting through a chequebook almost every week sending money in response. The letters were from overseas lottery companies offering cash prizes but requesting payments each time. It was a scam but […]
Sim swap gives fraudsters access to your mobile phone
There’s a new, little-known scam designed to empty your bank account, as one Vodafone customer found to her cost. When Emma Franks’ mobile phone stopped working she assumed there was a technical problem and called her provider, Vodafone. To her surprise she was told that her sim card had been changed. She was promised the […]
Police awards £33m fraud reporting contract
IBM has been awarded a £33m contract by City of London Police (CoLP) to provide a fraud, cyber reporting and law enforcement solution. The action and ‘know fraud’ system has been procured by the force to support the work of its National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) in developing a wider integrated fraud intelligence landscape within […]
Banking and card fraud rises to £325 million
Losses from fraudulent use of payment cards, cheques, and online and mobile banking rose 6% to £325.3 million in the first half of 2015, according to figures released today. Financial Fraud UK (FFAUK) said that even though the total amount of fraud increased by £17.6 million, fraud losses as a proportion of total spending fell […]
Hilton Hotels investigating card fraud claims
The Hilton Hotel chain is investigating claims that customers’ credit and debit card details were compromised as a result of point-of-sale malware implanted on its cash till. The compromise occurred between 21 April and 27 July, according to reports, with sources at five different banks telling high-profile security researcher Brian Krebs that the breaches could […]
Man who duped people in online scams jailed
A young man who duped dozens of people in online scams while breaking free from a strict Baptist upbringing has been jailed for almost five years. Joash Boyton was 19 when he embarked on a series of deceptions that ultimately became so complex they required Victoria Police’s e-crimes squad to devote hundreds of man hours […]
Business scammed into handing over £1million
A company in Suffolk is thought to have become the biggest single victim of a phone scam after handing over £1 million to bogus caller. A business was conned into handing over more than £1m to a bogus caller who was pretending to be from the firm’s bank. The fraud is believed to have netted […]
Tour operator in court over fraud charges
The owner of a Christian tour operator has appeared in court charged with fraud. Robert Fleming, 62, of Selwyn Road, New Malden, did not enter any pleas when he appeared at Kingston Crown Court today. He faces two counts of carrying on business of a company with intent to defraud creditors, one count of fraud […]