Counter-fraud

Crimestoppers Trust have launched a campaign in the Midlands to raise awareness of the crime and dangers of sextortion. The campaign is supported and part-funded by the Midlands Fraud Forum Limited, a non-profit organisation that supports counterfraud efforts in the Midlands.

Sextortion, also known as ‘financially motivated sexual extortion’, is a developing threat and a relatively new form of online blackmail. It is where criminals threaten to share explicit images or videos of a victim to the victim’s contacts and on social media if money isn’t paid, or if the victim fails to comply with a demand. The image may be a real photo taken by the victim or a fake image that the criminal has created to pursue blackmail.

Criminals target people through dating apps, social media, webcams or pornography sites. They may use fake ID to befriend a victim online and build trust, before requesting sexual images or videos.

The City of London Police is investigating a suspected widespread fraud case where a company named the 79th Group is believed to be offering loan notes to investors with a high interest return over a fixed period.

The 79th Group operate in real estate claiming to specialise in the acquisition, management and development of lucrative assets. They offer investment opportunities selling loan notes secured against properties.

Investors are contacted by various third-party introducers offering the opportunity to invest with fixed returns between 12% for a minimum £10,000 investment and 15% for a minimum £25,000 investment.

https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/news/city-of-london/news/2025/february/79th-group-investment-appeal-for-potential-victims-of-investment-fraud-to-come-forward/

The Financial Ombudsman Service expects to receive more than 37,000 fraud and scam complaints next year.

The dispute resolution service said fraud and scams will account for 35 per cent of its incoming banking and loan cases in the next financial year.

The fraud and scams complaints it expects to receive will include cases involving authorised push payment (APP) scams, cryptocurrency fraud and ‘safe account’ scams.

Currently the Fos forecasts it will receive 33,000 cases by the end of the financial year.

Abby Thomas, chief ombudsman, said: “It’s concerning to see high levels of fraud and scams cases continue to come to our service.

“People can feel embarrassed to have fallen victim to a fraud or scam, but these crimes can be complex and incredibly convincing, and nobody should be afraid to come forward.”

In a published consultation of its plans and budgets for 2025-26, the service projected receiving around 240,000 new complaints.

https://www.ftadviser.com/financial-ombudsman-service/2025/1/23/fos-expecting-37000-fraud-and-scam-cases-next-year/

Half of the UK (48%) believe it is reasonable to lie about their identity or give false information for financial gain, a fraud prevention service reveals.

Those are aspects of first-party fraud, which can range from providing incorrect details about your earnings to secure a mortgage to saying you didn’t receive a product to receive a refund when it has been successfully delivered.

Lying about not receiving goods from a retail company is the most common first-party fraud scenario cited among Cifas’ survey of UK adults. A fifth (19%) of the 2,000 respondents committed what is known as retail non-delivery fraud.

The second-most common first-party fraud activity was lying on a CV to get a job, which almost a fifth (18%) said they did.

Just under a sixth commit single-person discount fraud to bag a cheaper council tax bill by not declaring to local authorities when a partner had moved into their home permanently.

The age group most likely to be involved in any form of first-party scenario is those aged between 25 and 34 years old, which represented 19% of the crimes.

Those celebrating Christmas are being reminded to stay alert to fraudsters who take advantage at this time of year.

Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, has launched their Christmas campaign, revealing 12 types of fraud to look out for throughout the festive season both in person and online.

If you’ve had money stolen by fraudsters or provided your financial information to someone, tell your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040. If in Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.

Effective data sharing between organisations and across different digital sectors is an important factor in preventing data-enabled scams and fraud.

The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) do not prevent you from sharing personal information where it is appropriate to do so, or from taking steps to prevent harm.

This advice is aimed at private sector organisations across the digital economy such as financial services, telecommunications and digital platforms that want to share personal information with each other to support scam and fraud mitigation efforts.

Our role is to help and encourage organisations to carry out this data sharing in a confident, responsible and compliant way. That includes following the principles of the UK GDPR as well as ensuring that you respect people’s information rights.

The ICO continues to engage with private and public sector organisations to support efforts to prevent people being harmed from scams and fraud.

In the first half of 2024 over £570 million was stolen by criminals through fraud. UK Finance’s Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign is warning those who speak English as a second language (ESL) to stay alert to fraudulent requests for their money and personal information.

Research by the Take Five campaign reveals that three quarters (73 per cent) of people who speak English as a second language have faced criminals trying to trick them into sharing their financial or personal information in 2024.

Take Five’s core message is to “Stop, Challenge, and Protect” when asked for your money or information. The public are encouraged to pause before making decisions, challenge suspicious communications, and protect themselves and others by reporting any fraud to their bank.

Almost double the amount has been paid out to people who report suspected tax evasion. While the amounts given to whistleblowers are discretionary in the UK and not on par with the more lucrative system used in the USA, data shows that HMRC paid out nearly £1 million (£978,256) to people who provided actionable intelligence on tax fraud in 2023/24, up from £508,500 the previous year.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/hmrc-pay-tax-evasion-tip-125701958.html

Top financial firms, telcos, and technology leaders launch a collaborative programme in International Fraud Awareness Week to tackle financial crime across the UK.

As part of International Fraud Awareness week, 11 industry partners including BT, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Abrdn, TSB, Virgin Money, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Fujitsu, Equifax and Dudley Building Society are collaborating to launch an innovation programme focused on addressing financial crime.

FinTech Scotland, SuperTech West Midlands, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, brought together through the Innovate UK Innovation Accelerators programme, will lead the UK wide innovation call aiming from within the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab to tackle financial crime challenges.

Innovators worldwide are invited to apply to join the programme by 13 January 2025.

Around five million travellers are expected to fly out of the UK for the New Year, with Christmas Day proving to be one of the most pleasant days to fly, thanks to low traffic and quieter airports.

However, with holiday scams tripling in the first half of 2024, you need to be vigilant for familiar issues like fake booking listings and phishing emails aiming to get your personal details.