The absurd and unrealistic forecasts seen in many Hollywood films have become reality. According to the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, organised cybercrime is now affecting more people than any other form of crime – including drugs, firearms, organised immigration crime, and money laundering. Not because it is replacing these other forms of cybercrime, but […]
Category: Other Fraud News
Uber paid hackers ransom to hush up security breach
Uber has come under fire in the UK after admitting that it hushed up a security breach that exposed the details of 57 million customers and drivers. The taxi app didn’t report the breach and paid a $100,000 ransom to the hackers to delete the data, which included the names, email addresses and phone numbers, […]
Hyatt hotels in data breach
Hyatt Hotels Corp has warned customers it suffered a data breach at point of sale (POS) terminals in dozens of hotels earlier this year. It discovered malware infected POS systems in 41 hotels globally, with a total of seven hotels in US territories Puerto Rico, Guam and in Hawaii impacted. In a letter to customers, […]
UK financial fraud losses dip 8%
Financial fraud losses of £366.4 million in the first half of 2017 were 8 per cent lower year-on-year, figures from UK Finance show. The data, which covers payment cards, remote banking and cheques, also shows that the industry prevented over £750 million of fraud during the same period, or 67 per cent of attempted fraud. […]
Equifax Hackers Stole 200k Credit Card Accounts
Visa and MasterCard are sending confidential alerts to financial institutions across the United States this week, warning them about more than 200,000 credit cards that were stolen in the epic data breach announced last week at big-three credit bureau Equifax. At first glance, the private notices obtained by KrebsOnSecurity appear to suggest that hackers initially breached Equifax […]
Identity theft at epidemic levels, warns Cifas
Identity theft is reaching “epidemic levels”, according to a fraud prevention group, with people in their 30s the most targeted group. ID fraudsters obtain personal information before pretending to be that individual and apply for loans or store cards in their name. A total of 89,000 cases were recorded in the first six months of […]
Fake online ticket epidemic
Scores of people have reported being ripped off by a ticket exchange website leaving them hundreds – and in some cases thousands – of pounds out of pocket. The issue of ticket fraud is widespread and growing. Almost 22,000 people reported losses of over £21m to criminals between 2013 and 2016, according to data from Get Safe Online, […]
Tesco Bank customers at risk of further fraud attacks
The UK’s official online safety group has warned Tesco Bank customers that fraudsters may launch further attempts to steal money and bank details in the wake of one of the largest cyber attacks on a bank in history. Get Safe Online said customers should be alert for phone calls, emails and other messages from criminals […]
Teenagers caught up in card fraud investigation
An international swoop on payment card fraudsters – or ‘carders’ – has resulted in the arrest of 15 suspects in Canada, Finland, Spain and the UK including an 18-year-old man in Birmingham. Two teenagers aged 15 and 16 were also questioned by police in connection with the investigation. At the same time that police were […]
£500 device can hack hundreds of contactless cards
A device that allows criminals to clone contactless bank cards in bulk is up for sale on the so-called dark web. The Contactless Infusion X5 can steal information from nearby cards, including the card number and the card holder’s name and address. This information can then be loaded onto blank cards to create clones that […]
Spam King sentenced to two years in prison
Sanford Wallace, 47, is nicknamed the “Spam King” and last year pleaded guilty to federal charges including fraud and criminal contempt in connection with using electronic mail. Wallace, who is from Las Vegas, also faces a fine of $310,000 (£218,500). The messages were sent to Facebook users in 2008 and 2009. An FBI investigation resulted […]
£2.75m Boiler Room Scam
The alleged investment fraud tactic known as ‘boiler room’ has continued operating for over a year. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has charged a group of five individuals with investment fraud. The allegations against Michael Nascimento, Hugh Edwards, Stuart Rea, Ryan Parker (previously known as Ryan Sell) and Jeannine Lewis come under a thorough investigation […]
Contactless cards: twice the level of fraud
Contactless payments tripled last year, and now make up an estimated one in seven of all transactions, so it’s particularly alarming to learn that people with contactless cards may be twice as likely to fall victim to fraud than those without the technology in their cards. Booming The use of contactless technology has taken off: […]
Euro 2016: Fans warned over illegal tickets
Unofficial websites illegally selling Euro 2016 tickets could leave fans being refused entry, Which? has warned. Rules by the European football body Uefa mean ticket-holders are likely to need photo ID to get into grounds, which won’t match the name on the ticket if it is an unofficial one. The investigation by the consumer group […]
Social media must do more to tackle online fraud
Social media sites must do more to tackle online ticket fraud, after being used for nearly half of all such scams last year, councils have warned. Sports and music fans have been warned by Trading Standards teams to beware of fake tickets for sale this summer. Major events, including Euro 2016 and music festivals, are […]
Fraudsters steal £9bn from Britain’s small businesses
Britain’s small businesses are losing more than £9bn a year to fraudsters who send false invoices, viruses posing as bills, or who pose as suppliers on the phone, it has emerged. Of more than 1,000 small-to-medium sized businesses (SMEs) surveyed by invoice network Tungsten, almost half had received a suspicious invoice or been a victim […]
Email ‘most popular phishing tool’
Cyber-thieves are sticking to email as their preferred way to trick victims into falling for scams, suggests a report. The online crime groups were shunning mobiles and newer technologies in favour of phishing campaigns, said the report from Verizon. The annual analysis catalogues more than 100,000 security incidents that hit thousands of companies in 2015. […]
Massive boiler room scam
Fraudsters who conducted one of the largest boiler room fraud schemes ever pursued by a UK authority have been ordered to pay their victims £11m ($15.8m, €13.9m) in compensation, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has revealed. When the investors came to sell the shares after the expiry of this period, they often found that […]
Bank details of 100,000 Britons for sale on internet
Banking details stolen from more than a million people worldwide can be bought from an website on the open internet, rather than on the “dark web”, for as little as £1.67. Criminals are selling the stolen credit and debit card details of 100,000 Britons on the internet in new market said to be “the largest […]
Criminals hack into wi-fi hotspots to get bank details
Criminals are hacking into public and commercial wi-fi hotspots to steal people’s private data and credit card details, police warned today. Detectives say victims of the attacks are often not aware of how cyber-hackers gained access to their bank accounts, and warn that the attacks are hugely under-reported. Only 33 people have said they have […]