#IFONLY - MFF Media Campaign

“There were an estimated 3.6 million cases of fraud and two million computer misuse offences in the past year according to The Crime Survey for England and Wales, making fraud now the most commonly experienced offence.  Sir Tom Winsor, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales, recently commented that “The amount of fraud that is taking place now is probably in epidemic proportions." 

In the fight against fraud, the Midlands Fraud Forum (MFF) joined with the Insolvency Service to launch a series of 13 fraud prevention videos.  The films are unique and no organisation has ever made a series of films of this nature and brought them together in one place.  These videos are written and produced by the MFF and no public funding was used.

The films portray the stories of actual victims of crime, told by actors.  They range from advice from a retail manager on how to avoid crime, cyber enabled fraud and romance fraud through to elderly victims who have been preyed on.

Victims lost £92 million to romance fraud in 2022/23 City of London Police

Marking World Romance Scam Prevention Day on 3 October 2023 the City of London Police reported 8,036 romance frauds were recorded by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), averaging 22 reports a day. This amount equates to £11,500 per victim. Those who fall victim to these frauds are almost twice as likely to be women (63% compared with 37% of men) so if only one romance fraud can be avoided, the costs of making the videos will be worth it.

More than £28.7 million lost to courier fraudsters in the year 2023/24, with people in their 80s the most likely to be targeted City of London Police

At the start of May 2024, City of London Police’s Lead Force Operations Room (LFOR) led the coordination of a two-week intensification period on courier fraud. Across the two weeks, there were over 100 referrals from 26 forces across England and Wales. LFOR then acted as a temporary “command centre” to help support forces with the dissemination of referrals whilst also providing tactical support.

Each of the films give an “if only” message that the victim has learnt the hard way.  It may be “if only I had checked” or “if only I hadn’t been so greedy”.

Victims portrayed in the films range from an 88 year old ripped off by her carer through to three students who describe how they were scammed via the internet and social media.

There are no restrictions on the use and distribution of the videos and the MFF hope to spread their anti-fraud messages as wide as possible.  Although the films are copyrighted, the MFF believe they are ideal for training purposes, education and generally warning everyone to just “TAKE FIVE” before getting involved in something being offered.  If something seems too good to be true, it probably is! 

Please share the messages with your contacts, friends and family to help stop fraud. For social media please use our hashtag

#IFONLY

If you believe you have been a victim of fraud or cyber crime, or someone has tried to defraud you, report it to Action Fraud.

If you need advice, contact the 

Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 04 05 06

If you are in immediate risk or in an emergency ring 999

A synopsis of all the films and their “if only" messages is shown below. Click on the blue links in the Subject column to watch the YouTube video:

No	#IFONLY Video Subject	Victim/type	Synopsis	“If only” message
1	RETAIL FRAUD	Commercial	Gives advice on customer not present, customer account fraud and dishonest colleagues	Retail fraud can be avoided #ifonly people check
2	COURIER FRAUD	Elderly victims	Fake Police officer rings elderly couple and collects credit/debit cards from them	Your bank and the police will never collect your bank card Your bank and the police will never  ask for your PIN #ifonly they had rung 101 and spoken to the real police rather than trust the phone number given them
3	ROMANCE FRAUD	Individual	Victim of dating website loses £20k	#ifonly I had skyped her, checked her identity or just been more careful
4	HOTMAIL HACKING	60 year old	Elderly couple engage builder then hotmail account hacked	#ifonly I had realised an account could be hacked.  #ifonly I had spoken to the builder before making any payment over the  internet.  I will think twice before doing business with a Hotmail account again.
5	CARER FRAUD	Elderly – 88 years	Elderly lady trusts her carer who then empties her bank account	#ifonly I hadn’t let her use my card for shopping on Amazon. #ifonly I didn’t give her my pin number
6	GHOST BROKER	Student	Student buys fake insurance off Gumtree, prosecuted by Police	Don’t buy your insurance from social media, in a pub, or from classified ads #ifonly I had thought that the deal I was getting was too good to be true.
7	ONLINE FRAUD	Student	Student who receives e mail that he has had tax refund of £250, adds bank details and loses everything.	#ifonly I had checked what was real and hadn’t claimed the refund
8	IDENTITY THEFT	Student	Housemates steal students identity, steal her student loan, money launder through her account	#ifonly I had monitored my bank account more closely
9	BANKRUPT OFFENDER	Offender’s story	Bankrupt who acts in the management of a company and is imprisoned	#ifonly I had sought some legal advice or some help and understood what it meant to be a bankrupt
10	HEALTH-CARE FRAUD	Told by son of 90 year old	Sold raspberry keytones and aloe vera for £12k and persuaded 90 yr old to stop taking wharfarin	#ifonly she had checked where the caller was ringing from, spoke to family or not given out bank details
11	INVESTOR BOILER ROOM FRAUD	Over 50	Ponzi/boiler room fraud of investor who loses money	#ifonly I had thought about it. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is
12	BUSINESS CHEQUE FRAUD	Victim over 50	Owner of business over relies on employee who takes £300k from business by writing cheques for cash.	#ifonly I had not left her the cheques and trusted her so much
13	SPOOFING APP FRAUD	Over 50s	Accounts administrator subject to spoofing app – false phone call from bank with number disguised.	#ifonly I had phoned the bank back on the customer service number and verified the called was genuine