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

Confidence tricksters duping lonely hearts online

These days the power of the Internet means that a rising number of people have been using the Internet in order to look at dating sites and more importantly to meet someone, and it can be incredibly easy to chat with ease to people through these sites and feel as thought you have got to know them. Read more

Tags: Romance scam, Online dating service, Social engineering, Spamming, office of fair trading, Ethics, Online daters, crime

Economic downturn results in rise in shoplifting

The economic downturn has apparently led to an increase in shoplifting activity in the UK according to a recent report. Figures have shown that retailers have seen a sharp rise in shoplifting activities over the course of the recession. The figures formed part of the latest crime survey by the British Retail Consortium, which revealed that between 2008 and 2009 shoplifting activities had increased by around one third. Read more

Tags: Criminal law, theft, Crimes, Shoplifting, Ethics

Tips For Keeping Your Identity Safe

With the increases in identity theft, you have to be more careful than ever when doing your day-to-day financial transactions that you once took for granted as being safe. The simple tasks of withdrawing money from your bank account, doing the weekly grocery shopping or taking out an insurance policy has made many people victims of identity theft. Read more

Tags: phishing, unsolicited phone calls, online Internet sites, lloyds, operating systems

ID fraud insurance policies increasing

The number of ID fraud insurance policies has been growing in recent years as ID theft has become more prevalent, but many people still have not considered taking out this kind of insurance, Equifax has said.

According to the company, many people do not think they will be affected by ID fraud and therefore do not take out an insurance policy against it.

The UK’s fraud prevention service CIFAS said that 77,500 cases of ID fraud were reported last year.

In February 2008, research from the insurance company CPP found that London is the worst place for credit and debit card fraud and theft, with 20 per cent of Londoners reporting that they have had credit cards stolen and 28 per cent saying they have been a victim of credit card fraud in the past.

Neil Munroe, external affairs director of Equifax, said: “There are more policies out there and they are quite varied in what they cover, from basic support to more involved support, but they do vary in terms of what they will offer you.”

Tags: Ethics, Credit card, external affairs, Neil Munroe, UK's fraud prevention, Insurance, service cifas, ID fraud

Low levels of fraud with life insurance

“There are very low levels of fraud in the life insurance arena,” according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Jonathan French, spokesperson for ABI, said: “Life insurance companies have a number of checks and balances in place to minimise fraud and there are very low levels of fraud in the life insurance arena.”

He added that the ABI have yet to make any official comments on the circumstances surrounding the Anne and John Darwin case, but it is “safe to say it is very unusual”.

In large scale incidents or natural disasters some insurance companies will pay out for life insurance policies even when there was neither a body nor formal death certificate.

This would occur when there was sufficient and substantial evidence for the presence of the individual in an area that was very badly affected, said Mr French.

According to research from the ABI, 40 per cent of households have life insurance. In 2006, the UK insurance industry paid out £17 million per day in death benefits.

Tags: finance, Life insurance companies, life insurance arena, Insurance, Ethics, area, Financial economics

New card rewards ethical spending

The Co-operative Bank has announced the launch of ‘think’ today, which is a credit card aimed at rewarding consumers for making ethical purchases.

A world first, the card offers users a lower rate of interest of just seven per cent on all ethical spending with its partner organisations such as Lush, Adili.com and Ikea for six months after the payment is made.

Meanwhile, for each first use of the card, the bank has pledged to arrange the purchase and protection of half an acre of Brazilian rainforest.

David Anderson, chief executive of the Co-operative Bank, said: “According to our own Ethical Consumerism Report, conscious spending has been increasing at an average of 15 per cent a year since the start of the decade and all the signs are that this growth is set to continue.

“We want to reward those customers who make ethical choices and encourage everyone to really think about how their choices impact the wider world, which is why we have developed the new ‘think’ card.”

Furthermore, users of the ‘think’ card will be given discounts on selected partners including £35 with Ecotricity as well as reductions with Eco First and Nigel’s Eco Store.

Becoming more green is a hot issue for today’s consumers, who are increasingly calling for companies to show themselves ethically accountable.

Tags: Ethics, Anti-corporate activism, card, Sustainability, launch

Finance with a conscience gaining esteem

So-called green financial products are more popular now than ever, according to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

It states that there is heightened awareness of environmental ethics and it is now a part of the public consciousness.

As a result an increasing number of companies offer ethically sound products, so it is then up to the consumer to research the available options to separate genuinely green offers from the simple marketing ploys.

A spokesperson for the ETA said: “At the moment it is up to the consumer to check this out but in the future it will be up to the companies to prove that they are truly green as consumers become more knowledgeable.”

He added that, over the past decade being ethically-minded and green has become “fashionable”, so much so that it has climbed up the “political agenda”.

Major corporations are starting to appreciate the value of addressing these types of issues with banking giant Citigroup putting $50 billion (£24.4 billion) towards green projects earlier this year.

Tags: political agenda".Major corporations, decade, ETA SA, spain, political agenda, available options, green, Ethics

Ethical investment sales have increased, F&C says

Investment specialists the F&C Asset Management Group (F&C) have lauded the ethical investment sector as a “fast growing” part of the industry.

While admitting that “it’s still quite a niche part of the overall investment universe”, director of group communications at F&C Jason Hollands said that “there’s no doubt that public interest in ethical investment has grown significantly in recent years”.

Ethical investment is a concept traditionally sold to those especially affected by current affairs issues such as GM crops, the rise of the gaming industry and the destruction of rain forests.

Such investors use their money to actively support causes such as buying organic foods or supporting recycling schemes.

Any financial concerns about the investments that consumers may have were also refuted by Mr Hollands.

He said: “historically there is an impression that if you’re going to invest ethically, surely it would mean that you were going to get a lower return than if you weren’t investing ethically.

“But actually if you look at the performance of these funds, they are actually beating most of their non-ethical competitors.”

Tags: investment sector, rain forests.Such investors, niche, non-ethical competitors, investment universe

Ex-smokers see financial benefit

For many people the New Year brought with it a resolution to give up smoking.

The health benefits of kicking the habit are well known and well publicised, but Sainsbury’s Bank says few people consider the financial advantages.

Aside from saving money by not buying cigarettes, ex-smokers could find that they save as much as 48 per cent when they take out a life insurance policy.

Sainsbury’s says that in order to benefit from the reduction when taking out a policy with the bank, a customer must have remained smoke-free for a minimum 12 months.

“If you gave up smoking last New Year and haven’t yet taken out life insurance, now is the time to shop around for a good deal on a policy. If you haven’t smoked for 12 months then you will qualify as a non-smoker,” said Claire Moyles, life insurance manager at Sainsbury’s Bank.

“Our research shows that when the ban on smoking in public places is introduced into England and Wales later this year, 1.44 million people plan to give up smoking.”

Sainsbury’s has calculated that around 740,000 Britons have managed to stick to their 2006 New Year’s resolution to quit smoking.

Tags: habit, customer, Ethics, smoking, gave up, financial benefit, kicking, smokers