Mandate, application, computer software service and romance fraud

Mandate fraud

Mandate fraud is when criminals get you to change a direct debit, standing order or bank transfer mandate. They do this by claiming to be an organisation you make regular payments to, often posing as a business supplier. ​This type of fraud is also known as payment diversion fraud.​

Credit application fraud

Credit application fraud refers to fraud committed by submitting a new credit application with fraudulent details to a credit provider. ​

This usually follows two steps. First, criminals collect the personal and financial data of innocent users from the identity documents, payslips, bank statements, etc.​ Then the information collected from all these documents will be either stolen, forged or altered for the purpose of submitting a new credit application​.

Computer software service fraud

The criminal employed in a call centre calls the victims’ numbers or sends them an email​. In the call or email, the criminal informs the victims that their computer security has been compromised​ and convinces them that the problem can be fixed by:​

• Paying a small fee to the criminal to fix the problem. The criminal then charges the victim a large amount without their consent.

or

• Redirecting to the criminal’s website from which they can control the victim’s computer and steal data by the use of malware without the victim’s knowledge.​

Romance fraud

A romance scam is a confidence trick where the criminal fakes romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining their affection and then using that goodwill to commit fraud.​ Their fraudulent acts may involve access to the victim’s money, bank accounts, credit cards, passports, email accounts or national identification number, or may force the victim to commit financial fraud on their behalf. In many instances, a sham marriage will also bait the victim into committing crimes to establish citizenship for the criminal.

The following video from Hampshire Constabulary shows how Jenny was affected by a romance fraud scam.

If you are unable to view the video, please read the following article instead.

‘She Was Beautiful, Funny – And She Scammed Me’

References

_{Peachey, K. (2020) ‘She Was Beautiful, Funny – And She Scammed Me’ BBC News [online]. available from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51459517 [2 September 2020]}