A data matching exercise detected £21.5 million worth of fraud and payment errors across the Scottish public sector.

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) helps detect and prevent fraud and error by matching data sets across public bodies. Savings are identified, for example, by checking eligibility for council tax discounts against the electoral register. The initiative runs every two years.

https://audit.scot/news/rise-in-fraud-and-error-detection-across-public-sector

Earlier this year, it was revealed that the amount of fraud committed in the UK more than doubled to £2.3bn in 2023, marking the second-biggest year for scams in the last two decades

The number of reported cases rose by 18 per cent to a three-year high, while the number of high-value cases over £50m increased by 60 per cent year-on-year in 2023.

https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/uncovering-the-dark-world-of-fraud-and-money-mules/180942/

Adult social care was the biggest cause of potential fraud investigated at Redcar and Cleveland Council in the last 12 months, a report has revealed.

The organisation Veritau, which delivers a counter-fraud service on behalf of the local authority, said 54 reports of potential fraud were referred to it in in the 2023/24 financial year. As a result its team completed 16 investigations into alleged frauds with adult social care representing almost 39% of all cases, the majority.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/adult-social-care-biggest-cause-145022751.html

The Treasury has reportedly raised questions with the UK payments regulator over the timetable for its new fraud refund rules that have stirred alarm among banks and fintechs.

The measures, due to force payment firms to refund victims of authorised push payment (APP) fraud up to a limit of £415,000, have prompted concern from both the former Conservative and current Labour governments over fears they could encourage more scams and be unaffordable for smaller businesses.

https://www.cityam.com/treasury-questions-payments-regulator-on-deadline-for-controversial-fraud-refund-rules/

An international operation coordinated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) has resulted in the arrest and extradition of a man believed to be one of the world’s most prolific Russian-speaking cybercrime actors.

The NCA has been investigating the online moniker ‘J.P. Morgan’ and his criminal network since 2015, with parallel investigations also being run by the United States Secret Service (USSS) and FBI.

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/suspected-head-of-prolific-cybercrime-groups-arrested-and-extradited

Department predicts further pressure on service standards as tax base grows due to frozen thresholds.

HM Revenue and Customs has warned that it may struggle to deliver the 2024-25 savings target it was set at the last spending review because of rising costs.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/hmrc-warns-of-challenge-to-deliver-efficiency-target

The launch date for the repeatedly delayed replacement service for Action Fraud, the much-criticized reporting center for fraud and financially motivated cybercrime in Britain, has again been pushed back, a senior police officer has confirmed to Recorded Future News.

The likely date will be sometime in the spring of 2025, according to Nik Adams, the temporary assistant commissioner at the City of London Police.

https://therecord.media/uk-action-fraud-replacement-delayed-2025

The wife of a jailed banker has forfeited her London Knightsbridge home and a golf club in Ascot after spending more than £16 million on shopping trips to Harrods.

Zamira Hajiyeva, 61 whose husband Jahangir Hajiyev, 62, is serving a 16-year jail sentence in Baku for fraud and embezzlement, had been pursued by the National Crime Agency (NCA) over the source of her considerable fortune.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/wife-of-banker-jailed-for-fraud-must-hand-over-luxury-house-and-golf-club/ar-AA1ohlEr

Billions of pounds of taxpayer's money have been lost to error and fraud in tax schemes designed to encourage research and development in business.

Critics say some companies are claiming the tax breaks even if they are not doing any research or development, the BBC reported today.

HMRC's latest accounts reveal £4.1bn has been squandered since the schemes were introduced in 2020. It said the levels of error and fraud were "unacceptable".

The figures come as the new government rows with the old one about a hole in the public finances.

Football fans are being warned by a major bank to watch out for ticket scams, after it recorded a jump in cases.

With the new Premier League season starting soon, Lloyds Bank said customer analysis indicates the number of people reporting being scammed when buying football tickets rose by about a third (32%) during the 2023/24 season, compared with the previous season.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/premier-league-football-fans-urged-by-major-bank-to-watch-out-for-ticket-scams/ar-AA1o9jch?ocid=BingNewsSerp