Fraud News

Fraudsters posing as US soldiers on dating websites have been targeting British women to con them out of money.

The fraudsters often take the name and rank of a US soldier who is serving with the Army and use photos of soldiers taken from the internet, including from genuine profiles on social networking websites.

How does the US soldier romance scam work?

Plastic card holders are being urged to be vigilant before withdrawing cash following a number of fraud incidents at cash points.

Some card users have reported that their card has been retained at cash machines. Fraudsters have then retrieved the cards and used them to withdraw money from the victims’ accounts.

Students are being warned that they are at increased risk of being targeted by scammers at the start of term.

They are being urged to be vigilant and not to disclose any personal or bank details in response to emails that look like they are from Student Finance England or the Student Loans Company.

Police are warning internet users not to reply to a fake email purporting to be from the British Transport Police.

The email asks for money relating to importing vehicles into the UK. This is a scam. The British Transport Police has no involvement with vehicle importation and would never demand money in this way.

Anyone who has lost money to a scam like this is being asked to report it to Action Fraud.

Too many of us have an unhealthy approach to fraud - we simply believe it won’t happen to us.  The truth is that thousands of us are targeted by fraudsters every week. Every year, the UK loses £30.5billion to fraud and £3.5billion of that is lost by individuals.

People are being phoned by cold callers claiming to be from Sky Television (BSkyB), offering insurance for Sky set-top boxes.

Motorists are being warned to stay alert after a number of fake penalty notices have been placed on vehicles.

The counterfeit notices say they are for highways obstructions, such as parking on pavements. However, the notices state they are issued by a private company, rather than the police or local council, and print the phone number of a call centre.

Internet users are being warned to watch out for a scam that charges money for what appears to be an upgrade of Skype.

Fraudsters are advertising a paid-for Skype service and taking the money from victims. Users are being warned that there is no upgrade that they have to pay for – this is a scam. Skype is free to download and the internet-based voice-calling system allows people to make phone calls to other Skype users for free.

Be safe online