A bid to get £15,000 for slipping on water in a Bradford supermarket is among false or exaggerated insurance claims being investigated by a crack police team. Eleven people were today arrested across the country, including two in West Yorkshire, by detectives probing dubious personal injury insurance claims. Link to article
Category: Other Fraud News
Online dating scams
Online dating scams: new tricks that fleece victims of an average ‘£9,589’. A 60-year-old’s tale of losing £60,000 through an online dating scam is a stark warning to others. Singletons sign up to online dating sites in the hope of finding love, but they are increasingly being targeted by fraudsters. Someone you have started to […]
Crash for cash scam
This shocking footage reveals the moment a brazen motorist swerved in front of a lorry driver on a busy motorway in an attempt to claim £75,000 for whiplash injuries in an insurance scam. The video shows the Ford Galaxy veering over three lanes of traffic on the M25, in front of the HGV, causing it […]
Fraudulent insurance claims running at 500 a day
Many Britons appear to take the view that honesty is not the best policy when it comes to taking out car insurance. Industry figures showed firms are uncovering almost 3,500 fraudulent applications each week. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) revealed that in 2013, UK insurers detected 180,675 attempted fraudulent applications for motor insurance – […]
Passport Office targeting postcodes for investigation
Officials are using the postal addresses of passport applicants to decide which areas to prioritise for fraud investigations and “additional checking”, the Guardian has learned. A hundred postcode districts have been identified by civil servants as places from which applications for travel documents for children should face extra scrutiny, leaked papers show. Link to article
Police arrest 13 people linked to £2.8m investment scam
The City of London Police have arrested 13 people in relation to a multi-million investment scam. Earlier this morning, a nationwide fraud operation with 120 police officers across England arrested the men on suspicion of defraud and money laundering. The gang behind the alleged fraud is believed to have run four boiler rooms, cold-calling people […]
Britain’s ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ £70m Share Scam
One of the fraudsters jailed for his involvement in a Wolf of Wall Street-style £70m share scam ring has been ordered to pay back £154,412 within six months or face another two and a half years in prison. Jon Emery, 36, was one of the six fraudsters that was involved in the largest boiler room […]
Fraudsters steal £10m in City boiler room
Matthew Noad and Clive Griston’s victims included a blind 89-year-old man, and an 87-year-old retired teacher, who both lost almost £100,000 of their savings. The scammers have been jailed for nearly five years after an investigation by the City of London Police. Between 2005 and 2010 Noad and Griston persuaded hundreds of investors to buy […]
Police make dawn raid on car fraud gang
Police made a dawn raid on four houses which were home to a Romanian ‘car fraud gang’, and seized £30,000 in cash and a top-of-the-range BMW from the house at the centre of their £1 million scam. Link to article
Leaders of cheque scam gang jailed
The gang cashed fraudulent cheques at pawnbrokers and cheque cashing agencies in Liverpool and surrounding areas. Some of the 26 members allowed fraudulent cheques to be paid in to their bank accounts. 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
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 […]
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 […]
Multi-million pound fraud racket
A suspected member of a notorious North London gang was arrested in his £2.5 million Clerkenwell townhouse today as 200 Met officers burst into 25 addresses in the capital and Home Counties. The man aged 57 was seized with his wife in an extraordinary operation as part of an inquiry into a multi-million pound fraud […]
Fake share fraudsters
Criminal kingpins who robbed British victims of millions of pounds in savings to spend on their playboy lifestyles have been targeted in an unprecedented international crackdown. Officers from City of London Police joined Spanish counterparts from the Policia Nacional in a series of dramatic raids in Barcelona, Madrid, Marbella and London this week, in one […]
Car insurance fraudsters cause 1,000 accidents a week
Insurance fraudsters have staged over 300,000 car accidents since 2008 in scams that affect more than 1,000 innocent motorists a week and push up premiums for all drivers. Link to article
Fake car insurance on Gumtree
Mohammed Samad Ali received an eight month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, and 200 hours unpaid work at the Old Bailey today (Thursday 13 February 2014) after he admitted posting five adverts offering cheap car insurance on the classifieds website in a bid to dupe drivers into paying for phoney policies. Link to article
The cost of online dating fraud
As the use of the internet for dating increases, so do the number of scams associated with it . . . and the amount of money lost. In the UK, this type of fraud is costing the victims a heart-breaking £24.5million per year, with over 2,800 people reporting online dating related crimes in 2013 alone. […]
Fraudsters jailed in cold calling scam
A judge has handed jail terms totalling almost 30 years to 14 people involved in a large scale cold calling telephone scam. Posing as Sky TV sales agents, the operation often targeted the elderly who “were pounced on in glee as easy marks” with sales patter which was “bullying and humiliating”. Link to article
Police launch crackdown on fake retailers
The police are stepping up efforts to fight fraud involving criminals impersonating large UK food retailers. Link to article