Fraud News

Police officers have teamed up with a pair of suspicious-looking characters to raise awareness about fraud.

Jim and Bert are the faces of a new campaign to educate people about the tricks fraudsters use to steal money from unsuspecting victims. The ‘Wise Up!’ campaign is using a mix of street theatre and comedy to bring the message of fraud to life.

Moneymadeclear is warning that there are a number of bogus communications in circulation, claiming to be from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) or the Financial Ombudsman Service (Ombudsman), asking people for personal information or money.

The bogus emails and letters sometimes use the name of a current or former employee.

Moneymadeclear says that these letters and emails are likely to be linked to organised fraud and are strongly advising people not to respond to them in any way.

As the summer holiday season draws to a close, many people will start to think about where to go next. For some, they think they’ve found a great deal and an answer to those holiday dilemmas. But is everything really as good as it sounds? Action Fraud is making sure people know what to look out for, to make sure fraud doesn’t ruin their holiday.

UK passports have been redesigned to help fight identity theft and fraud.

The Home Office says enhanced security features include hiding the security chip from view, and a personal details section that features holograms.

The personal details move from the back to the second page, and a photograph of the owner now appears twice. The passports will be issued from October.

Police and Dyno-Rod have issued a warning following suspected bogus caller incidents in the last few weeks.

The scam came to light after a number of householders contacted Dyno-Rod to say that they had received a visit from someone claiming to be a Dyno-Rod engineer, who quoted very high costs for simple jobs.

How to recognise genuine Dyno-Rod engineers

Members of the public are being emailed by fraudsters pretending to be from Garden Court Chambers, asking for personal or bank details.

The latest versions of these fraudulent emails include rubber ink stamps and seals which look official. The fraudsters may even use email addresses using names of Garden Court barristers.

Don’t respond to bogus emails

The top twenty hotspots for ‘Crash for cash’, where fraudsters try to make other vehicles crash into their car deliberately so they can make insurance claims, has been published.

‘Crash for cash’ is when fraudsters drive to busy road junctions and then perform unexpected, unnecessary and dangerous emergency stops designed to cause innocent members of the public to crash into them. Claims are made to the innocent motorist’s insurer, often including several accounts of fictitious injuries from members of the criminal gang.

Fraudsters are using the name of an Isle of Man bank to commit advance fee fraud or to commit identity theft, according to the Financial Supervision Commission.

The fraudsters are pretending to be from Fairbairn Private Bank in the bogus emails. The emails use an email address that is different from the layout of emails the legitimate bank uses, and includes a link to a bogus Fairbairn Private Bank website.

Don’t fall victim to a Fairbairn Private Bank scam