UK ‘flying blind’ on soaring levels of fraud which has quadrupled since pandemic September 8, 2023 The government is “flying blind” on its exposure to fraud, which has quadrupled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, MPs have said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said that while most of the £21bn of taxpayers’ money lost to fraud during the pandemic is unlikely to be recovered, the government should be [...]
Fraud ‘increasing national security threat’ thanks to AI, Lord Mayor warns September 5, 2023 Fraud is increasingly a threat to “national security” as advances in artificial intelligence serve to boost the chances of scammers, the Lord Mayor has warned. Nicholas Lyons, Lord mayor of the City of London, told the International Symposium on Economic Crime in Cambridge that addressing economic crime “must be seen as a foundation for a [...]
MPs criticise government for ‘dragging feet’ over Economic Crime Bill September 5, 2023 MPs have criticised the government for “dragging its feet” over the Economic Crime Bill, after a string of measures aiming to toughen up dirty money protections were voted against or watered down. Peers had passed a series of amendments to the legislation aimed at fighting back against economic crime, fraud and illicit wealth prior to [...]
Number of fraud cases falls from pandemic highs but remains sky high at 3.5m July 20, 2023 Fraud levels have returned to pre-pandemic levels but remain sky high, according to estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The CSEW estimated that there were 3.5m cases of fraud in the year to March. This was roughly equivalent to pre-pandemic levels, with the CSEW arguing the pandemic fraud spike was not [...]
Banks breathe ‘sigh of relief’ as Supreme Court backs Barclays in APP fraud case July 12, 2023 Banks will not face extensive new duties to prevent authorised push payment (APP) fraud after the Supreme Court sided with Barclays in a closely watched case. The ruling means banks will not be held liable for fraudulent transactions requested by customers, avoiding a potential wave of fraud litigation. “There will definitely have been some deep [...]
Fraud ‘epidemic’ may be even worse than figures suggest, experts warn July 4, 2023 The scale of fraud in the UK may be significantly higher than figures show, suggesting the fraud epidemic is even worse than feared, according to industry experts. Fraud has skyrocketed in recent years as a result of the rise of online payments, the pandemic and lax enforcement. Figures from UK Finance put the total lost [...]
Meta urged to press paws on pet fraud as dog ads drive Facebook scam surge July 3, 2023 Fraudsters on Meta-owned platforms are increasingly taking advantage of British animal lovers, new data shows. According to research from Lloyds, pet scams were up 24 per cent compared to last year with the average victim losing £307. Dogs were the most common pet used to scam unsuspecting Brits out of their money with Yorkshire Terriers [...]
Amazon launches legal action against ‘fake review brokers’ June 29, 2023 Amazon has filed four lawsuits against online fake review companies in an attempt to hold them to account for illicit behaviour that deceives consumers. The global tech company has challenged Reddit Marketing Pro, Mangocity, Littlesmm and Nice Discount with legal action this week. Amazon claims these ‘fake review brokers’ are trying to “mislead Amazon customers [...]
Payments watchdog wants open banking to ‘inject more competition’ into card market June 27, 2023 The UK’s payments regulator today argued that the card market did not have “sufficient competition”, but suggested progress on open banking could open it up to a wave of innovation. Chris Hemsley, managing director of the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), said the watchdog was looking to find ways of “injecting more competition into this market [...]
Plan to tackle fraud makes UK ‘less attractive’ for investment, payments lobby group warns June 26, 2023 The UK’s payments industry is under threat from proposals designed to tackle fraud, the main payments body has warned. In a letter to Lord Dominic Johnson, minister of state for investment, the Payments Association – which represents over 300 payments firms – warned “some regulators regulate in a way that stifles the growth of our [...]