A new report from Financial Fraud Action UK has found that fraud in the UK payments industry has soared by 53% on last year and totalled £755 million in 2015.
More than 1 million incidents of financial fraud occurred in the first six months of 2016,this means an incident happened in the UK every 15 seconds between January and June 2016.
Ian Dyson, Commissioner, City of London Police, says: “Fraud and cyber crime account for nearly half of all crime according to the British Crime Survey and this campaign is aimed at giving people the confidence to think before they act. Pausing for that short moment and asking ourselves, is this the safe thing to do, will go a long way to thwarting the fraudsters that prey on peoples trusting nature. This campaign is one element of the Joint Fraud Taskforce bringing together law enforcement, Government and business to tackle the increase in crime that blights every community across the country.”
That’s why the Take Five campaign is asking consumers to help protect themselves from financial fraud by remembering some simple advice:
1) Never disclose security details, such as your PIN or full password – it’s never right to reveal these details
2) Don’t assume an email request or caller is genuine – people aren’t always who they say they are
3) Don’t be rushed – a bank or genuine organisation won’t mind waiting to give you time to stop and think
4) Listen to your instincts – if something feels wrong then it is usually right to pause and question it
5) Stay in control – have the confidence to refuse unusual requests for information
3 Responses
I wonder how much of the £755m is through Paypal transactions?
Then we have the unreported low value crime eBay sellers suffer and have given up reporting it.
The Authorities are so far behind with this it is criminal. Mail fraud abuse of distance selling regulations, paypal fraud, they have not got a CLUE.
The regulations are designed so the big boys can thrive and small sellers are held back the same as usual nothing new buyer fraud is actively encouraged on some venues and a blind eye is turned the bigger the seller the more fraud they can absorb.