Expert Interview: Introducing fraud types

Do you think in the UK there are more common types of fraud than in other countries? I think undoubtedly the reports that are going to action fraud and then analysed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, certainly you see the top 10, so there is definitely, from individual victims, reporting particular styles of fraud which are more frequently seen so, the big enabler being online. So, the internet enables a lot of these frauds. I think historically when you look back and see what restricted the activities of the fraudster, it was always an ability to communicate to their victims.

So, if you go back many years, they were limited by having to put articles into newspapers, they were limited by the lack of technology and now because most people are enabled through digital devices, the fraudsters also use those. So it is really no surprise that majority of frauds are enabled through the internet and so you will see things likely online shopping, buying things on auction sites, anywhere we are connecting to the internet is a particularly high risk area for individual victims and I see the incidence of reporting a lot higher, where individuals are buying goods and services online, whether that be holidays, tickets for concerts and the like.

So, as an attack route for the fraud criminal, the internet is a particularly useful way of gathering potential victims. Going back to that same approach, you even look at quite recently there has been a big peak in victims being approached or contacted in regards to a text from the HMRC, so they will receive again, so they are looking to get, and it is called and an advance fee fraud, so they are looking to get something from one because of a fee or some kind of payment. So, they will go back to traditional methods of sending a letter.

So, there is nothing complicated around the approach and the disguise of it looks like it is a letter from the tax office to say you owe tax. So that approach again is quite simple, but it can be very effective, because then they will contact them by post, by telephone and the pressure will be put on them, so looking back to the method in, whatever the end result is, they are looking to try and get money from that individual by lying by who they are, so they are changing the face of who they are but from a trusted source.