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Fraud Trends


City of London Police produce a Monthly Threat Update showing an overview of fraud trends. A summary of those reported in August and September is shown below:


AUGUST

While fraud reporting decreased from 54,845

to 50,187 during June, City of London Police’s

July monthly Fraud Threat Assessment

identified types of fraud that were increasing

or commonly featuring during the month:

• Passport application fraud

• Lottery scams – victims are contacted by phone or social media messages, notifying them they are on a ‘winners list’ or have won a lottery cash prize or other prizes. Fees are required to obtain winnings, or the victims are asked to purchase vouchers.

• Rental fraud – increase is potentially due to restrictions easing and the association to holiday rental fraud and individuals and groups renting properties, e.g., students.

• Door to door sales – more people at home, fewer restrictions for suspects.

• Application fraud – criminals using false information or counterfeit documents to apply for a financial product.

• Driving license renewals - websites purporting to offer driving licence renewals requesting victims input their personal and financial information.

• Crypto mining scams - victims were persuaded to invest and promised daily returns, but no returns were received, and the website has since been closed.

• Covid tests - ordered from a website purporting to be on the government approved list of suppliers, but victims reported never receiving the test or the results despite payment being taken.

• Vaccine passport scam emails

• Fake emails - purporting to be from Amazon claiming to offer an exclusive reward if the recipient completes an online survey, but it is a phishing email designed to steal login, personal and financial information.


Looking ahead: The most vulnerable could be offered a booster Covid-19 vaccine from

September 2021 to protect as many as possible from becoming seriously ill due to Covid-19 over the winter period. There is the potential for cybercriminals to target vulnerable or older adults who are eligible for the vaccine.


SEPTEMBER

Reports that are increasing (in August)

• Lottery scams – victims are being contacted to say they have won a prize and need to pay a fee to obtain the winnings

• Rental fraud – potentially due to increased holiday and student rentals

• Online shopping & auction fraud - predicted to increase in the run up to Christmas

• Door to door sales – reports are now at the highest levels since reporting began, with more people at home and fewer restrictions for suspects

• Ticket fraud - increases associated with the increased number of events going ahead

• Application fraud - continues to increase

  • Travel - Scammers are advertising rip off travel ads using similar web addresses as the official websites and using Google ads to appear above them in the results.

  • Scammers overcharge consumers for a range of documents including visas, health cards, international drivers’ licences and the Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) which may be available for free through official channels.

  • Google introduced stricter requirements to combat this from 6th September 2021.

• TikTok and WhatsApp both are adding new features that limit the availability of messages. Fraudsters may be attracted to these platforms as they offer increased encryption and security and this is more difficult for law enforcement investigations.

• Charity scams - Charity Scams are likely to be set up in response to the recent wildfires

in Greece, Hurricane Ida in the United States and support for the Afghanistan people.


Emerging issues to be aware of

• Christmas online shopping - Customers are being encouraged to make purchases earlier

as many businesses will be facing increased prices and delays due to Covid and Brexit impacts. If genuine companies are increasing costs, consumers may search elsewhere for

cheaper alternatives and may end up using fraudulent websites or be vulnerable to scams through online market places.





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