Frauds

Two men are to stand trial for alleged involvement in a £150,000 car purchasing scam across Northern Ireland, a judge has ordered.

Thomas Roberts (30) and Shane McDonagh (25) are accused of defrauding seven victims through bogus online vehicle sales.

The defendants, both of Coppermill Road, Staines in England, were arrested in May last year following a lengthy police investigation.

In a notable victory against organised fraud, car insurance broker 1st Central and insurance law firm Keoghs have won five tort of deceit claims against a fraud ring, resulting in over £140,000 in damages awarded.

The policy hijack scam involved alleged at-fault accidents occurring far from the policyholder’s address, claimants (the supposed driver and passengers of the third-party vehicle) also residing long distances from the collision site, and a single individual reporting multiple incidents.

Victims lost an average of £20,032 to the scams, where fraudsters pose as police officers or bank officials and trick householders into handing over money, valuables or bank cards to a courier.

City of London Police said on Tuesday that people in their 80s were the most likely to be targeted and accounted for 43% of all victims, according to data from Action Fraud.

https://www.perspectivemedia.com/more-than-28-7m-lost-to-courier-scams-which-target-the-elderly/

When mum-of-three Natalie Foster confronted the scammer after losing her life savings in a fraudulent crypto trade, the person claiming to be "James" told her to "go and die quickly"

A single mum-of-three has lost her life savings after being swindled by an evil crypto scammer.

Natalie Foster, 42, from Windsford, Cheshire, matched with a man who called himself "James" on Tinder three weeks ago. The pair hit it off immediately before he started talking incessantly about crypto.

• £1.17 billion was stolen last year – amounting to £3.2 million every day
• There was a 50% increase in the number of people hit by “authorised” payment scams between 2020 and 2023
• £36.5 million was stolen in romance scams – up 17% on a year earlier
• 64p for every £1 stolen was reimbursed to victims, up from 59p in the £1 a year earlier

Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, comments on the UK Finance Annual Fraud report 2024:

https://ifamagazine.com/brits-lose-3-2-million-a-day-to-fraudsters-as-authorised-scams-rise/

Purchase scams and romance frauds pushed up the number of cases where people were tricked into losing money to fraudsters last year, according to a trade association.

A record amount was lost to purchase scams last year, where people were tricked into paying for goods that never materialised, UK Finance said.

It also warned that people looking to attend events such as the Olympics and Taylor Swift concerts could be targeted by scammers this year.

The amount victims lost to fraud soared past £1bn in 2023 – a fraction less than during the previous year, a report finds.

This figure (£1.17bn) could have doubled had it not been for banks intervening, which prevented an extra £1.25bn going into the pockets of criminals.

A record purchase scam level is behind the rise in APP fraud cases in 2023, UK Finance has warned. A record amount was lost to purchase scams last year, where people were tricked into paying for goods that never materialised, UK Finance said.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/lloyds-bank-warns-customers-1-165009403.html

Hi, just read an interesting article on Inside Housing about tenancy fraud see below:

English regulator is ‘turning a wilful blind eye’ to tenancy fraud, experts warn

A non-executive director at the Tenancy Fraud Forum (TFF) has accused the English regulator of “turning a wilful blind eye” to tenancy fraud and said it has “lost sight of the real victims”.

A recent trial by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed that tens of thousands of benefit claimants may be breaking the rules. The DWP asked two high street banks to monitor the bank accounts of individuals receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or ESA (Employment and Support Allowance).

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dwp-trial-bank-account-monitoring-115918668.html