Displaying items by tag: scams

Fraudsters stole over £4 million a day from people in the first half of the year, a rise of 31% from the same period in 2020, as criminals increased authorised push-payment (APP) fraud. Through scam calls, texts and emails, as well as fake websites, APP fraud sees criminals con victims into handing over personal data which is then used to trick them into authorising payments to an account belonging to the thieves. The report detected criminals tried taking a further £736 million but improved banking security systems prevented those funds from being moved out of victims’ accounts into the fraudster’s account. UK Finance warned, ‘Fraud is now a national security threat and banking and finance industries are calling for government-coordinated action across all sectors.’

Smuggling networks have been trying to take advantage of the rush to buy medical supplies - including face masks - to tackle the coronavirus epidemic. By the end of April, French police had dismantled a number of such networks, stopped scams and attempted scams to the value of over €30 million, and seized 438,000 masks. In addition, 5.7 million masks ostensibly ordered on the internet have been the subject of a scam or attempted scam. While the crisis has shown the best of ourselves and enabled exceptional acts of solidarity, it has also been an opportunity for some to try to take advantage of the situation, to exploit fear of the disease.

Conmen are preying on virus fears, with bogus online stores selling face masks and hand sanitiser and fake emails mimicking official health bodies to trick recipients into downloading computer viruses or giving away passwords. There are fake sites offering refunds on cancelled holidays. Fraudsters are gaining access to homes by offering to take residents' temperatures or selling anti-virus tests, face masks and hand sanitiser. They are posing as charity workers volunteering to do vulnerable people's shopping. Savers must avoid making rash pension decisions as criminals exploit fears over market turmoil, especially with offers in emails. Criminals are targeting cash-strapped businesses applying for emergency funds by sending out fake emails claiming to be from HMRC. They are also posing as police and issuing fines via email to businesses they claim are 'trading unlawfully' during lockdown. Everyone is advised to be on their guard, and always ask for identification.

We are all at risk from false information. For instance, a photo was circulated of a busy mosque supposedly in lockdown, but it was taken before lockdown. Another image showed trucks said to be carrying bodies of Covid-19 victims - but this was untrue, and the picture had been taken in Italy. We can pray that the waves of fear generated by similar scams are prevented by astute reporting and investigating. More serious than false news is fraudulent information and theft when members of the public are texted and told to share their bank card details in order to receive a supposed Covid-19 relief payment from the government. Similarly-worded emails have been sent from a website named ‘uk-covid-relieve.com.’ The true government’s website has a ‘gov.uk’ URL, not a ‘.com’. The authors of the email are thieves.