Financial

Tensions between the consumer group Which? and the trade body The Payments Association remain high, with the pair at odds over their approach to tackling payment fraud as new figures show soaring scam cases.

Starting in October 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) will implement new rules for authorised push payment (APP) scams – where fraudsters trick people into sending money online to fake payees – setting a £415,000 maximum reimbursement level to cover the money lost.

A fifth (20%) of IFAs do not have protective measures against fraud and scams in place, leaving them at risk of an incident or attack, new research from global research and insights agency Opinium reveals.

In addition, just over one in three IFAs (35%) report being subjected to scam and fraud threats, with slightly fewer than a third (31%) having experienced an increase in attempts to compromise their businesses in the past year. Despite this, one in three respondents (35%) do not currently train their staff in how to spot potential threats and protect themselves and the business.

Firms have urged the UK payments regulator to delay fraud reimbursement rules following growing criticism of the measures and the recent departure of the watchdog’s head.

In a letter on Monday, the Payments Association called on the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to delay measures due to force banks and other payment firms to reimburse victims of authorised push payment (APP) fraud up to a limit of £415,000 per claim from October.

A fifth (20 per cent) of advisers do not have protective measures against fraud and scams in place, research from Opinium has revealed.

The research, which surveyed 200 financial advisers earlier this year, suggested this lack of measures could leave advisers at risk of an incident or an attack.

Five people who laundered over £1m proceeds of bogus computer service companies have been sentenced to nine and a half years imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court.

They laundered money which companies had conned from victims, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable.

Wen, 42, tried to buy properties in London, including a £23.5m seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion with a swimming pool and a £12.5m home with a cinema and gym.

A former Chinese takeaway worker found guilty of money laundering after police seized more than £3bn worth of Bitcoin has been jailed for more than six years.

https://news.sky.com/story/chinese-takeaway-worker-jian-wen-jailed-for-money-laundering-after-3bn-bitcoin-seizure-13132666

A Lancashire individual has been handed a six-year sentence for fraud over an unauthorised investment scheme, which caused "irrevocable damage" to its victims.

Guy Flintham had pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at Southwark Crown Court on February 19.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has long attracted much comment and criticism on its approach to investigating fraud and misconduct within the financial services industry. There is a long history of the UK having a soft touch on white collar crime of this type. The FCA is seeking to change this and launched a consultation on 27 February 2024, say Wedlake Bell's partner Frances Coulson and paralegal Laura Brookes.

https://investment-international.com/News/is-uk-financial-conduct-authoritys-approach-to-fraud-investigations-fit-for-purpose/

Jonathan Denton, formerly of US law firm Locke Lord, was convicted of two frauds alongside more than a dozen other individuals.

The multi-year investigation interviewed witnesses from across the UK, Europe, America and the Far East, and examined bank records linked to dozens of individuals and companies, North Yorkshire Police said.

An individual has been sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for providing a forged document to Financial Conduct Authority investigators.

On May 7, Taheer Sardar pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at Southwark Crown Court.

The defendant had been interviewed by the FCA as part of an investigation it was conducting into a boiler room fraud that had defrauded 120 investors of £1.3mn.

https://www.ftadviser.com/regulation/2024/05/13/individual-sentenced-over-forged-document-in-1-3mn-boiler-room-fraud/