A new scam, in which fraudsters pose as legitimate internet service providers to offer bogus tech support, either via the phone or on the net, is on the rise, the BBC has found. It is a twist on an old trick which involved cold-calling a victim – often claiming to represent Microsoft – and charging […]
Category: Consumer News
Unsuspecting’ holidaymakers conned
More than £100,000 has been lost by Derbyshire holidaymakers in the past year because of scams, according to the police. Derbyshire police said a recent report by the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, revealed how fraudsters stole £11.5 million from unsuspecting holidaymakers and other travellers in 2015 – including 42 cases that […]
How to spot fake travel websites and holiday scams
More and more of us are falling for a range of holiday and travel scams. A new report compiled by the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau showed scammers stole £11.5 million from unsuspecting travellers in 2015 – up a staggering 425% compared to 2014. Cases spike in the summer months and December, […]
Travel agents targeted in Hajj fraud operation
A string of travel agents in the Birmingham area have been visited this morning (7 April 2016) after being identified as potentially selling unlicensed package tours to Mecca. Officers from the City of London Police, Civil Aviation Authority and Birmingham City Council’s Trading Standards team worked in partnership across the city as part of a […]
Scamwatch: dodgy holiday websites
Stay one step ahead of the fraudsters with our series of articles giving you the lowdown on the scams they use to trick people out of their hard-earned cash – and how to avoid being taken in by them. This week, the online travel scams that cost British tourists close to £12 million last year. […]
Latest phishing email contains personal data
Action Fraud says it has received thousands of calls about a new email scam that’s sweeping the country. It’s of particular concern, they say, as the emails include detailed personal information such as full name, address and postcode. They are also – unusually – grammatical and correctly spelled. The emails purport to be chasing up […]
Card fraud soars – this is how you can stay safe
Criminals are getting better at sealing out money, with card fraud soaring by more than a quarter in the past year. Financial fraud losses surged by 26% year-on-year in 2015 amid a growing threat from deception scams and cyber attacks, a report has found. Some £755 million-worth of losses were recorded in 2015 across payment […]
UK phishing scams rise by 20 percent in 12 months
New figures released by Action Fraud suggest that phishing scams in the UK have grown by 21 percent over the past 12 months. Action Fraud, which works closely with City of London Police and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, said that the number of reported phishing scams between November 2014 and October 2015 totalled 95,556. […]
Rise in reports of bogus travel websites
A high number of bogus travel websites have emerged since before Christmas, the industry’s anti-fraud body warns. They are either direct facsimiles of genuine websites or sites that use confusingly similar names and domain names as genuine companies. Prevention of Fraud in Travel (PROFiT) is urging all companies to be vigilant and regularly check their […]
Hyatt names hotels hit by malware
The Hyatt hotel chain has posted a global list of hotels hit by malware that was found on its customer payments system last year. The list includes Hyatt premises in Canada, the US, the UK, Jordan, Chile and Indonesia and involves almost half of its properties. The firm is offering one year’s free protection to […]
Airline Scams That People Actually Fall For
Sometimes the most expensive part of planning a vacation is booking your airline ticket. And I can imagine nothing worse then preparing for your trip, only to realize that your ticket isn’t real. Here are three common airline scams, and how to avoid them. Link to article
Scams that can turn your holiday into a nightmare
Booking a holiday can sometimes be as exciting as the trip itself. Sadly, fraudsters take advantage of judgement being clouded by the thrill of buying tickets for that dream destination with fake websites and tickets and even fraudulent resort presentations. Here, MailOnline takes a look at some of the warnings signs to watch out for, […]
Fraudulent travel company websites
ABTA warns public about dangers of fraudulent travel company websites. ABTA, the Travel Association, is reminding consumers about the risks of booking their flights and holidays on fake websites, after seeing an increase in the number of customer enquiries reporting fraudulent travel company websites. The Association is particularly concerned that in the run up to […]
Fraud warning – complaints against travel firms rise
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sim swap gives fraudsters access to your mobile phone
There’s a new, little-known scam designed to empty your bank account, as one Vodafone customer found to her cost. When Emma Franks’ mobile phone stopped working she assumed there was a technical problem and called her provider, Vodafone. To her surprise she was told that her sim card had been changed. She was promised the […]
UK the most attacked nation when it comes to fraud
The UK was the most attacked nation in the world in Q2 when it came to online fraud, with businesses there hit 50% more frequently than their US counterparts, according to the latest stats from ThreatMetrix. The fraud prevention firm’s Digital Identity Network analyzed over three billion transactions globally during the period on behalf of […]
British Airways isn’t giving away free flights
Scams and Facebook go together like love and marriage, eggs and bacon, and Tango and Cash. There are plenty of scammers out there on the world’s most popular social network, trying to dupe you into clicking on a suspicious link or share a page with your friends. Here is one of the latest, posing as […]