Counter-fraud

Currently, companies which benefit from fraudulent acts by employees or contractors are rarely prosecuted, but that will almost certainly change when new laws come into force which make it far easier to prosecute and to hold companies criminally liable for failing to prevent frauds from which they benefit.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/corporate-fraud-is-the-new-priority-focus-in-the-fight-against-the-fraud-pandemic-tom-stocker-4251116

We’ve almost all received a “hi mum” message trying to defraud us, but for the victims who fall for the scammers, we must have a safety net, writes Chris Hayward.

Sixty years ago today, a travelling post office train carrying millions of pounds in bank notes left Glasgow Central for London Euston. It was supposed to be a routine journey, except the train never arrived.

Nearing the end of its eight-hour trip, at just after 3am the following day, the train ground to a halt and 15 men executed their intricate plan to rob its valuable cargo.

https://www.cityam.com/from-train-robberies-to-hi-mum-texts-we-are-fighting-an-ever-changing-face-of-fraud/

Ricky – also known as Ravinder – Gill, 40, of Saville Road, Chadwell Heath, London, was sentenced to a total of eight months imprisonment suspended for 18 months for fraud by false representation, when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, July 27, Sussex Police said.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/man-scammed-worthing-romance-fraud-151223267.html/

I have been asked to share the top five things I have learnt in my career so far about chasing fraudsters and trying to recover stolen assets.

When I first started doing this type of work, I remember being somewhat impressed by the complicated webs that fraudsters often had set up well in advance of committing the particular fraud in question, which frequently included a web of international bank accounts through which flowed digital transactions that could be difficult to trace.

Bank and building society staff who are trained in spotting scam warning signs stopped £55.5m of fraud last year, according to industry figures.

There were also 197 arrests of criminals and staff made 11,643 phone calls to the police regarding potential fraud incidents.

https://www.yourmoney.com/saving-banking/bank-staff-prevented-55m-worth-of-fraud-last-year/

In her recent letter to the Home Secretary, Emily Thornberry’s criticism of the government’s recently launched Fraud Strategy was unequivocal – though welcome, the long-delayed strategy in her view “does not come anywhere close to what we need”.

https://labourlist.org/2023/07/there-are-practical-ways-for-labour-to-tackle-the-fraud-epidemic/

First new enhancement, the Detect fraud and error identification tool for all payment types, now live

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / July 18, 2023 / AccessPay, the leading bank integration provider, is pleased to announce the release of its new fraud and error identification tool, Detect. The launch of Detect marks the first in a series of anti-fraud and error prevention tools that AccessPay will be releasing over the coming months to support the UK's corporates in proactively managing fraud and building operational resilience, as required by the new "UK SOx" corporate governance reforms1.

The government’s national fraud strategy, published on May 3, is the latest in a lengthy series of official documents bemoaning, analysing and attempting to address fraud – an epidemic now accounting for 40 per cent of all crime.

https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2023/07/17/govt-s-fraud-strategy-welcomed-but-resources-boost-is-crucial-to-success/

Reforms to the UK’s laws on corporate criminal liability have been talked about for decades.

Failure to prevent offences – where corporates can be held criminally liable if they fail to prevent certain behaviour – have been discussed in earnest since 2010 with the introduction of the corporate "failure to prevent" bribery offence.

The growth of artificial intelligence has caused concern for regulators across the globe as it is taken advantage of by bad actors.

The head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that artificial intelligence could disrupt the financial services sector in “ways and at a scale not seen before”, warning that the regulator would be forced to take action against AI-based fraud.