Posts

,

Another Warning Over Booking Pilgrimage

Action Fraud is warning people to be cautious when booking their pilgrimages.

Action Fraud, the reporting service, is warning anyone looking to book an upcoming pilgrimage to the Middle East, to exercise extreme caution as fraudsters are specifically targeting Hajj trips.

Up to 25,000 British Muslims will be booking trips to Mecca over the coming months to perform Hajj in the autumn.

The total reported loss to victims was £185,967 betw,,een July and December 2018. The public are urged to check that their travel company is a member of a recognised association such as ABTA

Last year, in the period … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Woman Scammed out of £300,000 in romance fraud

A woman from Northern Ireland was focused by a fraudster through Facebook, who conned her into a three year relationship.

 The victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, was lured into the relationship which started three years ago, but just three months in he started to ask for money from her.

It started with the romance fraudster asking her for money so he could send his children to England for a better education, but developed into him asking for money to invest in Ghana and Dubai. In total, she sent the man more than £300,000 which was deposited into different accounts … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Don’t let a scam ruin your holiday

Fraudsters stole more than £7 million from holidaymakers in 2018.

Action Fraud’s figures show more than 5,000 tourists were conned into paying for fake flights, non-existent villas and other scams. Figures released by Action Fraud show the average amount lost due to holiday fraud in 2018 was £1,380.

Travel trade organisation Abta’s chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “The cost to victims is not just financial. This crime causes very real emotional distress. Fraudsters are using increasingly Elegant methods to target destinations and times of year when demand is high and availability limited, as they know people will be looking … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Businessman Jailed For Conning Footballer  

A businessman from Doncaster has been jailed for eight and a half years for deceiving footballer Gary Cahill.

The Sun reported that Chelsea and England star Cahill, was conned out of £1 million by Stewart Groves who had offered the defender his services, but instead deposited the cash into his own bank accounts.

Stewart Groves has been disqualified for ten years after misappropriating £800,000 of one of his clients investments. At a crown court hearing, Groves was found guilty of fraud by misrepresentation and sentenced to 8 and a half years. Earlier this year, Lincoln County Court issued Groves … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Holiday Fraud warning after Lockdown ends.

Following the government’s announcement that Lockdown limitations will be eased, Action Fraud is warning that scams will be more common than ever and to remain vigilant when looking to book your next break away.

Action Fraud and ABTA, The Travel Association, are warning members of the public to be vigilant when thinking about booking our post COVID-19 vacations this year. For those of us that may be lucky enough to be able to book a holiday this year, officials are warning not to be too eager and remain vigilant as the holiday scams are still out there and as ever, … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Warning Over Counterfeit Currency In Circulation

Action Fraud have issued a warning over Fake currency and the organised crime syndicates, making big money from it.

In 2018 alone, more than £10 million worth of counterfeit bank notes were taken out of circulation. This only represents a small portion of the 3.7 billion genuine bank notes in circulation, but police say it is essential they are reported.

Action Fraud reports that criminals are using social media platforms such as Instagram to sell counterfeit money, and sellers are offering notes at a lower price, sometimes as little as a tenth of their face value. Police in West Yorkshire … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

First Time Buyer Has Deposit Stolen

Home buyers are being warned that fraudsters are out to steal their money and to be on guard when purchasing a new property.

Action Fraud has issued the warning after a charity worker who was about to purchase his first home, had £67,000 stolen after hackers Blocked emails between him and his solicitor.

It is known as Conveyancing fraud and is committed when criminals hack into the email chains between sellers and buyers and their solicitors and estate agents.  The fraudster will wait for the right time, usually the day of the sale, and send a spoofed email informing the … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Instagram and Snapchat users targeted in extortion scam

Victims are being tricked into revealing Two Factor Authentication (2FA) codes and extorted for money with the threat of having their personal photos shared publicly if they don’t pay up.

Action Fraud has received multiple reports about Snapchat and Instagram accounts being endangered as a result of users being tricked into handing over 2FA codes to fraudsters. The victims are then extorted for money with the threat of having their personal photos shared publicly.

Action Fraud are telling users to not respond to messages that ask for your login details or two-factor authentication (2FA) codes. These can be used to … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Fraudsters sending fake TV Licensing emails

Action Fraud are warning that a new round of Fake TV licensing emails are being circulated and, in December alone, 200 crime reports were made to Action Fraud.

Back in October, Action Fraud released a warning about TV Licensing phishing emails, after a large number of reports were received. New TV Licensing Spoofing emails are part of larger fraud, in which criminals are calling victims and claiming to be bank employees, convincing them to hand over their money.

According to Action Fraud, Fraudsters are sending out fake TV Licence emails regarding refunds and payment issues to people across the … Read more

/0 Comments/by
,

Action fraud Warn About Pension Scammers

Action Fraud have released a statement saying that organised criminal groups led by married couples and families are scamming pension holders to the tune of millions of pounds.

Action Fraud say criminal investigations involving regulators, government agencies and police forces are currently ongoing into a number of these gangs. In some cases, the fraudsters have hired fraudulent financial experts with pension experience to run large-scale scams. The fraudsters would not be able to run these scams without the insider knowledge of fraudulent experts.

Victims report receiving cold-calls, offers of free pension reviews and promises of high returns. However a ban … Read more

/0 Comments/by