10 percent of Brits affected by scams

It has been revealed by the Office of Fair Trading that around 10 percent of Brits have been affected by scams in the past. This equates to around four million adults who have said that they have responded to what turned out to be a scam. Worryingly whilst 50 percent of those that had fallen for a scam had lost more than £50 to the fraudsters around 5 percent had lost more than £5000. Read more

Tags: Ethics, Social engineering, Advance-fee fraud, Spamming, office of fair trading, Reloading scam, Financial Services Authority, Deception, fraud, Confidence tricks

Thirty billion a year attributed to fraud

Fraud is a type of crime that has hit the UK, as well as other major economies, hard over the years, and over the past few years, with the credit crisis and the recession taking their toll, the levels of fraud have become even more disturbing. Read more

Tags: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Madoff investment scandal, Deception, Crimes, fraud, insurance fraud

Financial fraud on the rise

Financial fraud in the UK is growing with new statistics showing that the problem is far from going away.

CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, has found that almost all types of financial fraud have increased in the country between 2006 and 2007.

Research by the organisation focuses on results from the first quarter of 2006 and the same period this year and it does not make for good reading.

According to CIFAS, application fraud, which sees people lying in order to obtain credit cards, loans, bank accounts or insurance, has increased by 21 per cent in the last 12 months.

Identity fraud is also on the rise, with cases increasing by 12 per cent and current address and previous address fraud are also growing.

“These quarterly figures show a worrying escalation in many types of financial fraud,” commented Peter Hurst, chief executive of CIFAS.

“The scale of fraudulent activity is alarming. It emphasises the need for businesses constantly to be alert when dealing with applications.”

Despite large growth in many areas, CIFAS says that it has been experiencing positive results in its bid to prevent fraud.

According to figures released by the organisation, fraud prevention activity saved organisations £94,000 per hour, compared to £74,000 per hour for the same period in 2006.

Tags: Deception, reading, previous address fraud, need, current address, fraud prevention, application fraud, identity

Internet card fraud is down

Internet card fraud fell during the Christmas period, despite a huge increase in the number of online transactions.

Figures from internet fraud-prevention specialists Early Warning show that although shopping on the net increased by 40 per cent, fraud fell.

The data has caused widespread surprise in the industry as many figures expected to see online credit card fraud increase with the number of internet shoppers.

“This is really an unexpected and encouraging first in internet fraud statistics,” said Andrew Goodwill, managing director at Early Warning.

“As e-commerce goes on rising, we are used to corresponding increases in fraudsters’ activities to capitalise on it.”

Mr Goodwill went on to say that he believes increased awareness among consumers about the dangers and safety measures associated with the internet had been a big contributing factor.

“I am encouraged by these figures and hope this is not just a blip but the start of a downward trend for internet card fraud,” he added.

Tags: Deception, trend, law, internet card, Technology Internet, cent, Early Warning."As