Frauds

They created "multiple false identities" including fake bank accounts and continued to make claims even after being arrested.

A couple who fraudulently claimed more than £700,000 in benefits were caught at the Channel Tunnel as they tried to flee the country. Wojciech Kowalski and Wiktoria Packowska created "multiple false identities" including fake bank accounts, identity documents and utility bills.

They made more than 80 false claims across a three-year period. But their crimes came to light when they attempted to leave the UK on Sunday, June 14 2020.

The ongoing economic challenges in the UK have significantly impacted families nationwide, forcing individuals and businesses to cope with rising bills and soaring interest rates. Amid this financial uncertainty, there has been a noticeable increase in expense fraud, which poses serious implications for businesses across the country.

A survey conducted by Emburse, involving over 1,000 workers and facilitated by YouGov, highlights the prevalence of expense fraud. The findings reveal that nearly a quarter (24%) of employees admit to making personal purchases and passing them off as business expenses due to their financial circumstances.

Walking the floor at the recent Merchant Risk Council (MRC) annual Las Vegas conference, I was struck by how often one particular topic kept coming up in my conversations with merchants across different verticals and sizes: refund fraud. Industry leaders and practitioners are seeing rampant refund abuse, representing a significant source of financial loss for businesses globally.

https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/26347/tackling-the-surge-in-refund-fraud-a-growing-concern-for-e-commerce-merchants

Postal vote fraud convictions are very low in the UK.

Reform UK’s “contract”, released on June 17, included a section on reforming the absent voting system, saying “postal voting has allowed electoral fraud”.

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2024/06/19/fact-check-little-evidence-of-postal-vote-fraud-in-the-uk/

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says it received nearly 9,000 reports of romance fraud last year totalling £94.7m, an increase of 8.4 per cent on the previous year. The City of London Police run body said that the average loss per person amounts to £10.7k.

Romance fraud is when people are defrauded into sending money to criminals who go to great lengths to gain their trust and convince them that they are in a genuine relationship. Often victims are groomed for more than a year before the fraud takes place; it is targeted financially, emotionally, and psychologically, with nearly half of victims meeting the fraudster via a dating site

If you're booking your next holiday, watch out for fake deals, clone websites and bogus cancellations, as criminals are using a variety of sophisticated methods to trick holidaymakers out of their money.

Figures from the national fraud reporting centre Action Fraud show that over £12 million was lost to holiday booking scams last year, with July and August seeing the most scams reported.

New research from The Global Payroll Association (GPA), reveals that Payroll Fraud is costing companies an average of £40,000 every time it happens.

The Global Payroll Association has analysed Occupational Fraud data* to understand how frequently payroll fraud occurs, how long a case tends to go on for without detection, and how much each instance of fraud costs the victim organisation.

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/payroll-fraud-costing-companys-40000-which-takes-an-average-of-18-months-to-detect/#google_vignette

A Coventry man has been banned from entering all shops and businesses in the city centre, after being found guilty of massive credit card fraud.

Luke Campbell, 34, of no fixed address, was arrested on 29 May by West Midlands Police, before being sentenced to eight weeks in jail for fraud the following day.

https://theboar.org/2024/06/coventry-man-banned-from-every-shop-in-city-centre-after-massive-credit-card-fraud/

A Portadown mother-of-four, who swindled local businesses out of almost £10,000 of goods – paid for by credit card details obtained from the dark web – has been spared jail.

Kylie Corrigan, of Breagh Lodge, appeared in Craigavon Crown Court on Thursday, alongside her co-accused, 34-year-old Rob Abraham, from Main Street in Laurelvale, and 33-year-old Louise Burns, of Lisnisky Crescent in Portadown.

https://armaghi.com/news/portadown-news/portadown-woman-who-swindled-businesses-out-of-thousands-using-fake-credit-card-details-spared-jail/244800

Members of Parliament (MPs) have called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to tackle benefit fraud and error fairly, as numbers of claimants and incorrect payments hit a fever pitch over the last few months.

Warnings came from a Public Accounts Committee report released on Wednesday, advising the government against destabilising debt collection practices and potential discrimination, and bias in using artificial intelligence to tackle levels of benefit error and fraud.