Abta has sent out a warning over the dangers of booking with fraudulent travel companies, as the peak booking season gets underway. In a release, the association said it wanted to remind consumers about the “risks of booking their flights and holidays on fake websites. It comes after Abta said it had seen an increase […]
Category: Latest Fraud News
Hajj pilgrims conned out of £34k
A fraudster who advertised on television, conned pilgrims out of thousands of pounds for non-existent Hajj trips, a court heard. A jury at Bolton Crown Court was told how Mudassair Shaheen set up Karwan al Madina Travel in 2013 and placed adverts for flight packages to Mecca on the Sky broadcast Ummah Channel. Several people […]
Are these messages from banks or fraudsters?
Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated – our quiz shows how easy it is to get caught out. Fraud emails used to be far easier to spot, often containing spelling mistakes and gramatical errors. You knew that the Nigerian prince or oil merchant millionaire was never going to leave you their life savings and lots of […]
Fighting fraud this shopping season
With the continuing growth in online shopping a less glamorous side of this trend is the increase in online fraud. As we head into the major shopping season of the year, expectations are that this year will be no exception. Globally online retail fraud now accounts for over one per cent of all online sales, […]
Criminals target high-end items on Cyber Monday
Fraud prevention experts say e-retailers need to be vigilant this holiday shopping season to prevent fraud. Cyber criminals are likely going to be setting their sights on such higher-end items as Rolex watches and MacBook Air computers on the Monday after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Cyber Monday, as well as digital gift cards. That’s according […]
Ticket fraud leaves British fans duped out of £1.3m
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]