A homeworker who defrauded Advantage Travel Partnership of tens of thousands of pounds has been handed a suspended jail sentence. Rita Hunter, who ran Hunters Travel in Liverpool, was ordered to pay back £33,000 to the consortium. Hunter admitted using former customers’ credit and debit cards to pay for new bookings through the consortium, while […]
Category: Latest Fraud News
Credit card with fraud-busting display
A credit card with a digital display that randomly generates a security code is being launched as a way of combating fraud. Oberthur Technologies is currently in discussions with UK banks about rolling out the technology and will have cards “in the hands” of consumers in France by the end of the year. Credit card […]
One in ten credit card users fall victim to fraudsters
More than four million people were forced to cancel credit or debit cards after falling victim to fraud in the last year, making you more likely to be mugged online than in the street. A survey of more than 2,000 adults in the UK found one in 10 were targeted by scams that meant they […]
UK banks urged to protect customers from fraudsters
British banks must do more to protect customers from transferring money to scam artists, says a new “super-complaint” to the UK’s payments watchdog. Which?, the consumer group behind the complaint, said banks had to take responsibility if customers sent money to schemes that turned out to be fraudulent. As an example, it said it had […]
Financial fraud happens every 15 seconds
Every 15 seconds, a financial scam happens in the UK – amounting to more than a million in the first half of this year. This information was released by Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) today, as it launches a campaign to combat financial fraud. The campaign, named Take Five, wants to remind everyone to […]
Fraud soars by 53% in a year
Official industry data shows that a total of 1,007,094 cases of financial fraud – involving online and phone banking, debit and credit cards, and cheques – occurred between 1 January and 30 June this year. That compares with the 660,308 cases reported during the same six-month period in 2015. This means that an incident is […]
Online scammers speed up
There were over one million fraud attempts in the UK in the first six months of 2016, or one every 15 seconds – more than 50 per cent higher than the same period of last year. Between January and June 2016 there were 1,007,094 fraud cases in the UK compared to 660,308 in the first […]
Data breach at chain hotels
Independent hotel firm HEI Hotels, which operates hotels for the nation’s biggest brands such as Marriott, Starwood and Hyatt, says it has been hit by a data breach. The company says malware was discovered on point of sale systems linked to 20 hotels in 10 states. The hack was discovered in June and dates back […]
£12m lost to holiday-home scams
Holidaymakers heading off to a sunny poolside villa are being urged to check that the property exists as UK travel companies are accused of not doing enough to prevent online holiday-home fraud. Despite companies knowing about the problem for years, people are still losing precious breaks and millions of pounds after falling victim to scammers. […]
Thomas Cook employee jailed for £60k credit card frauds
A Thomas Cook business assistant was jailed for nearly five years for duping the travel firm and a previous employer out of more than £60,000. Angelika Schell, 54, treated herself to lunches, flights abroad, and taxis rides to work with her Thomas Cook company credit card. She stole £37,000 over two years, and tried to […]
Employees still falling for phishing scams
One third of employees are still likely to fall victim to phishing attacks, risking their company’s entire network security, it has been found. The figures come from Duo Security via one of its free tools, which it launched at the time of RSA conference in March 2016. 11,542 employees across 400 companies were put to […]
Scams con artists will use to steal your passport
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has revealed some of the most common ways British tourists have had their passports nicked while on holiday. With more than 21,000 passports stolen or lost last year, the FCO has launched a social media campaign – called #PassportAware – to encourage Britons to prevent their travel documents from falling […]
Cybercrime is flourishing
It is very clear from the figures released by the various fraud prevention agencies that there is a dramatic increase in cybercrime and real-time fraud. Should the losses continue to persist at the current growth rate, the financial services industry is in for torrid times! Ultimately, it is the attitudes around fraud that need to […]
British Airways is not giving away free airline tickets
If you’ve seen a photo of a first class British Airways ticket being posted on friends’ Facebook walls with captions like ‘worth a shot’ or ‘probably fake but giving it a try anyway’, don’t be tempted to join them. This viral post claims to be a competition held by British Airways to give out 100 […]
Irishman accused of organising Olympic ticket fraud
Police in Rio de Janeiro have arrested an Irishman on suspicion of organising a massive Olympics ticket fraud – for a British company accused of the same offence during the 2014 World Cup. Kevin James Mallon, 36, was arrested on Friday night near the Maracana stadium, after being caught selling tickets for the Olympics opening […]
Long-haul specialist blames credit card fraud for collapse
A London-based operator specialising in holidays to the Middle East and Indian Ocean has ceased trading. A message on Elegant Travels’ website blamed credit card fraud for its collapse. The company, based in Barnet, also traded under the names Airchoice, Glen Carriers Travel and Travel Sri Lanka. It owned the websites elegantdubai.co.uk, elegantmaldives.co.uk, eleganttravels.co.uk, glencarrierstravel.co.uk, […]
Airline warns public about online scam
AirAsia has warned the public not to be taken in by an online survey promising free flights. The Malaysia-based airline issued a statement saying the survey, which has been circulating through social media channels, is a hoax. Along with completing the survey, users are asked to share the link on social media to claim a […]
Russian Cybercriminal Gets Prison For StubHub Scam
Law360, New York (July 6, 2016, 9:17 PM ET) — A Russian national accused of masterminding an international cybercrime scheme on Wednesday was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for ripping off personal data from users of online ticket marketplace StubHub, which was used to resell tickets to sporting events, Broadway shows and […]
Identity fraud up by 57% as thieves ‘hunt’ on social media
The number of victims of identity theft rose by 57% last year, figures from fraud prevention service Cifas suggest. The data, taken from 261 companies in the UK, suggests fraudsters are increasingly getting people’s personal information from social media sites. Cifas said Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn had become a “hunting ground” for identity thieves. It […]
Fraud victims outside London have ‘little chance’ of police help
Fraud victims outside London whose cases are reported to the police have “little chance of any kind of investigation”, an an authoritative study has found. In a damning assessment the Fraud Advisory Panel said yesterday that Britain’s anti-fraud and cyber-crime measures were “under resourced” and suffered from “widespread ignorance of threats and [an] uncoordinated approach”. […]