How criminals only need moments to guess card number and security code. Criminals can work out the card number, expiry date and security code for a Visa debit or credit card in as little as six seconds using guesswork, researchers have found. Experts from Newcastle University said it was “frighteningly easy” to do with a […]
Category: Consumer News
UK retailers facing one million fraud attempts per day
The UK’s retailers have been warned to brace themselves for a barrage of fraud attempts this busy festive shopping season, with estimates claiming they’ll be hit by one million attacks each day. Fraud prevention firm ThreatMetrix made the call based on data collected by its Digital Identity Network – which checks over 20 billion annual […]
WhatsApp free flights scam
Users of the online messaging service Whatsapp are being targeted by scammers pretending to offer them the chance to win two free flights on Emirates. Prevention of Fraud in Travel (PROFIT) said users are invited to fill out a ‘fast survey’ in order to win the tickets on the Dubai-based carrier. The link in the […]
New airline scam promises free Emirates flight tickets
Year-end celebrations are close and many people are looking to book their plane tickets to visit relatives and friends. As expected, cybercriminals are looking to exploit users over the festive period – social engineering techniques are frequent over the holidays, as demonstrated by a scam that is promising people free flight tickets. What is the […]
Bogus illness claims firm
A travel firm is reported to have used spies to catch a claims management company encouraging holidaymakers in Benidorm to make bogus allegations that they fell ill. The investigation comes as some resorts have seen a 400% increase in claims made against them, many generated by legal firms who advertise on social media sites such […]
Airline scam promising free Emirates flights
WhatsApp users are being warned of a viral scam that is currently going around. The scam offers users two free Emirates flight tickets if that fill out a “fast survey”. The link in the WhatsApp message appears to direct people to the Emirates website. However, this is not true – those who click on the […]
Banks’ online security is failing customers
The consumer group Which? has criticised some of Britain’s biggest banks for failing to invest in security systems that would better protect their customers from fraudsters. Against a backdrop of booming bank fraud, Which? tested the UK’s 11 biggest banks and building societies and found that the security at five of them was still not […]
Online fraud costs UK £10.9bn a year
Annual fraud and cybercrime losses in the UK have grown to the equivalent of £210 per adult, according to research. A total of £10.9bn was lost to the UK economy in the 12 months to April, prevention group Get Safe Online said. Fraudulent emails and messages directing people to websites that gather victims’ personal information […]
Warning over fake BA and Flybe offers
Travellers are being warned not to fall for scams currently in operation promoting fake Flybe and British Airways offers. Flybe is warning its customers not to be fooled by a false competition being shared on Facebook. The competition, which even spells the airline’s name incorrectly, offers: ‘Get 2 Free Flybee Airline Tickets on its 20th […]
Homeworker found guilty of defrauding Advantage
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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”. […]
Identity fraud up by 57%
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 […]
£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 […]