Hotels, restaurants and resorts are notoriously desirable targets for thieves and con artists, mainly because of the large sums of cash flowing through these businesses. And, indeed, statistics do show that theft and fraud take a serious financial toll on the bottom lines of most hospitality entities. According to industry statistics, as much as 5% […]
Category: Latest Fraud News
United and American Airlines account fraud
More than 20 travel-related websites have experienced data breaches in the past two months, according to a security expert who tracks the trade in stolen data. Data from those websites is being sold on underground forums by cybercriminals, said Alex Holden, CTO of Hold Security, a company that specializes in monitoring the illegal trade and […]
Credit Card Fraud isn’t the same as Identity Theft
Just as important as taking down the decorations, throwing out all the debris from opened gifts and getting the house back in order after the holiday activities, is that of scrutinizing your credit card statements. Why? To make sure that all the purchases on there were made by you and only you. The holiday season […]
Hackers release 13,000 passwords and credit cards
A gang of internet hackers claiming an affiliation with shadowy anarchist group Anonymous is claiming it has leaked the details of more than 13,000 users of Playstation, Xbox and online stores including Amazon. The hackers posted a document online containing username and password combinations. They also added credit card numbers as well as expiry dates. […]
Debt collectors demanding £621
I am sending you an email I received from debt collector H&J Recovery Services, demanding £621 within seven days or there will be court action. It says its client is a firm called UK Mini Break, but this has got to be a scam as my husband and I have not even been on a […]
How to detect the most ingenious email scam
If you suspect your computer might have been hacked, there’s a giveaway sign. So the new year has come and gone. For some, 2014 will be fondly remembered. For others (the executives of Sony Inc, for example), it couldn’t end soon enough. Another group that will be heaving a sigh of relief will be the […]
Sony Pictures hacking
A month after hackers launched an attack on Sony Pictures, the fallout initially led the Hollywood studio to cancel the release of satirical comedy The Interview, which involves a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The entertainment company later allowed a theatrical and online release of the movie at Christmas, which took $15m […]
Top computer graduates are being lured into cybercrime
One threat emerges above all: the surge in cyber-related crime. Organised gangs are this generation’s most-talented computer programmers – and national police forces are struggling to keep up. Most cybercrime operations are based in eastern Europe, Mr Wainwright says. The Mr Bigs of the cybercrime world are likely to speak with a Russian accent, operate […]
In Cybercrime, What’s Old Is New Again
Like most cases, this one started with a frantic call from a restaurant owner. The panic and uncertainty bled through the phone. He had just been notified his business suffered a payment card data breach and his acquiring bank mandated he hire an investigator to determine what happened. The on-site setup was typical for a […]
Fraud Prevention Market worth $20.49 Billion by 2019
MarketsandMarkets expects the Fraud Detection and Prevention market to grow from $8.87 billion in 2014 to $20.49 billion by 2019. This represents a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.2% from 2014 to 2019. MarketsandMarkets expects North America to hold the largest market for Fraud Detection and Prevention, in terms of geographical regions and over […]
email sparks phishing scam fears
A train operator has apologised to victims of the Christmas rail chaos after emails requesting their bank details so they could be refunded were mistaken for a phishing scam. East Coast is set to pay back tens of thousands of pounds to passengers but in the latest embarrassment for the company, the email address it […]
Security in 2015
Let’s face it, 2014 was a terrible year for computer security, leaving everyone feeling a little more vulnerable. Hackers stole 56 million credit card numbers and 53 million email addresses from Home Depot between April and September. They took contact information for 76 million households and 7 million small businesses from JPMorgan’s vaults. And Target […]
Watch out for premium rate “personal numbers”
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) is raising awareness of the methods used by fraudsters to trick victims into calling apparent mobile phone numbers beginning with “070” which transpire to be premium rate numbers. “070” numbers featured in over 2,600 fraud reports received by Action Fraud over the past year. Known as ‘personal numbers’, they […]
Figures show steep rise in telephone scams
Figures released by Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) show a significant rise in the number of people who have been targeted by phone scammers over the last year. The research, carried out on behalf of FFA UK by ICM, suggests that 58% of people have received suspect calls, a rise from 41% from research […]
The 10 Biggest Bank Card Hacks
The holiday buying season is upon us once again. Another event that has arrived along with the buying season is the season of big box retailer data breaches. A year ago, the Target breach made national headlines, followed shortly thereafter by a breach at Home Depot. Both breaches got a lot of attention, primarily because […]
Vishing scams cost consumers £24m
Consumers lost £24m last year to phone fraudsters who pretended to be bank staff or police officers and persuaded them to hand over their savings. Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) said losses through “vishing” were running at three times last year’s level and the problem had “got out of hand”. It has started an […]
The 12 online frauds of Christmas
This festive season the City of London Police is running ‘The 12 online frauds of Christmas’ campaign to protect millions of people across the country from falling victim to cyber-fraudsters. The campaign starts by shining a light on the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ of online shopping. This is followed by a special ‘Cyber Monday’ focus on […]
Don’t fall into online fraud web when you log on
More than half of Britons have been victims of an online crime, with over £670 million lost to just the biggest ten web frauds in the last 12 months. That’s according to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, and coming ahead of two of the UK’s biggest days for online shopping, Black Friday this week and […]
Fraud Transactions to Jump
The holiday shopping season is upon us, and it’s expected that over the Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday weekend, US merchants will experience an increase of 20% in transaction volume and value, compared to the same period in 2013. And that means gold for cyber-criminals looking to push through millions in bogus transactions. Retail Decisions is […]
Airport raids tackle cyberthieves over ticket fraud
Cyberthieves who used stolen credit cards to buy airline tickets have been targeted in a series of raids. Europol co-ordinated the raids at airports, targeting people who were trying to travel using a fraudulently bought ticket. In total, 118 people were arrested at 80 airports in 45 countries during the raids. Airlines lose more than […]