OVER £1.2 BILLION STOLEN THROUGH FRAUD IN 2022
see original article from ukfinance.org.uk here
UK Finance released the latest Fraud Report on the 11th May with some sobering statistics.
£2,300 a minute made its way into the hands of criminals last year amounting to around 3 million cases and a total of £1.2 billion stolen mostly from ordinary folk like you and me.
An astonishing 78% of these crimes start online.
Now, more than ever before, our financial safety is quite literally in our hands. It is up to us to educate ourselves about online safety, how to spot a fraud, and how to become more resilient online. It is also up to us to share our knowledge with our kids, our parents, vulnerable friends and family, and our co-workers. The more we know, the more we share, the safer we all become.
Despite the horrible stats, there is some positive news. Since the inception of education and awareness programmes like Trading Standards Friends Against Scams and UK Finance's Take 5 to Stop Fraud, the Police forcewide scams awareness programmes. Neighbourhood Watch projects and similar programmes run by just about every bank, Cyber Crime fell by 4% over the previous year.
If you haven't yet taken the Scam-Savvy quiz at Take 5, you can find it here https://quiz.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/
Friends against Scams have a similar course and quiz where you can become a certified Friend against Scams or even an ambassador https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/training/friends-elearning
The bulk of financial frauds are made up of Unauthorised frauds, where card details are stolen or cloned, or cheque fraud or remote banking interceptions - in other words, fraud without your consent or knowledge, and Authorised fraud, where you complete the transaction thinking that it is a legitimate transaction.
From the original report, which can be found here, details follow;
Unauthorised fraud
Within the total figure, unauthorised fraud losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques reached £726.9 million in 2022, a decrease of less than one per cent compared to 2021.
Remote purchase fraud, where a criminal uses stolen card details to buy something online, over the phone or through mail order, remains the biggest category of losses at £395.7 million – although this figure was again down on the previous year. Fraud on lost and stolen cards increased by 30 per cent to £100.2 million and card ID theft, where a criminal opens or takes over a card account in someone else’s name, almost doubled to £51.7 million. Victims of unauthorised fraud cases such as these are legally protected against losses.
Authorised fraud
Authorised push payment (APP) fraud losses reached £485.2 million, down 17 per cent compared to 2021. Within this, 57 per cent of all reported cases related to purchase fraud, with case volumes breaking 100,000 for the first time. Investment fraud continued to be one of the largest proportion of APP losses (24 per cent), although there was a 34 per cent reduction compared with 2021. Overall, the amount of APP fraud losses reimbursed increased by five per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year.
The best way to avoid falling victim to scam fraud is knowledge. There is a wealth of information on our useful links page which can be found here https://www.sandbnhw.org/useful-links
If you have fallen victim, in the first instance, contact your bank and then immediately report the crime to ActionFraud. Actionfraud is the cyber-crime division of the Police.
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