Online companionship can be wonderful, but it also has risks. Romance scams target those seeking genuine connections, with fraudsters posing as potential partners to exploit emotions and gain money, gifts, or personal information. Here's what you need to know:
How They Work
Fake Profiles: Scammers create convincing profiles using stolen photos and fabricated details to appear more appealing.
Building Trust: They invest weeks or months building emotional connections, weaving elaborate stories to gain trust.
Financial Requests: Eventually, they'll request money for "emergencies" like medical bills or travel. Once money is sent, they vanish.
How to Protect Yourself
Verify Their Identity: Use reverse image searches to check profile pictures and confirm authenticity.
Be Wary of Financial Requests: Genuine partners won’t pressure you to send money, especially if you’ve never met in person.
Take Your Time: Be cautious of anyone rushing the relationship or declaring love too quickly.
Remember: Never share passwords or personal information over DMs. Trust your instincts—if something feels off, step back and verify. Let's keep online spaces safe for genuine connections!

Are you a large charity?

The Charity Commission for England and Wales, with a strong focus on regulatory matters, has issued an alert to large #charities warning them of upcoming legislation targeting fraud.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 aims to enhance transparency and prevent economic crime.

The ‘failure to prevent fraud offence’ will be implemented on 1 September 2025. after which organisations could be criminally liable if an ‘employee, agent, subsidiary, or other associated person, commits a fraud intending to benefit the organisation and the organisation didn't have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place’. This is applicable regardless of intent or whether senior members of staff knew it was taking place. Organisations must now ensure they have adequate fraud prevention measures in place or face fines if convicted.

As part of its alert, the Charity Commission also advised that charities read its guidance about internal financial controls.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/internal-financial-controls-for-charities-cc8/internal-financial-controls-for-charities

Individuals aged between 18 and 39 account for almost 75% of reported rental fraud cases, resulting in losses nearing £9m across approximately 5,000 incidents last year, the latest data from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) reveals.

In light of these statistics, Propertymark is urging letting agents to be vigilant and proactive in combating rental fraud to protect consumers and themselves.

“By implementing rigorous verification processes, educating clients, and staying informed about the latest scam tactics, agents can significantly reduce the risk of fraud and maintain the integrity of the rental market,” the membership organisation said.

“Rental fraud happens when prospective tenants are tricked into paying an upfront fee to rent a property. However, the property does not exist, has already been rented out, or has been rented to multiple victims,” it added. “Victims will lose the upfront fee they have paid and cannot rent the property they thought they had secured.”

According to Propertymark, fraudsters will often contact their victims online. The adverts will seem genuine and are n accompanied by photos and contact information. In some cases, the victim will view the property in person, but in most cases, the payment is made without a prior viewing.

Action Fraud states that reports peak in September each year as fraudsters target students organising their accommodation for the academic year. Summer holiday lets are also a key target, accounting for 27% of reports in July and August.

https://propertyindustryeye.com/preventative-measures-agents-can-take-to-tackle-rental-fraud/

The City of London Police is investigating a suspected widespread fraud case where a company named the 79th Group is believed to be offering loan notes to investors with a high interest return over a fixed period.

The 79th Group operate in real estate claiming to specialise in the acquisition, management and development of lucrative assets. They offer investment opportunities selling loan notes secured against properties.

Figures released by Action Fraud as part of a new campaign against holiday scams show that typically more than a dozen people each day are being scammed.

For those who fall victim to the increasingly sophisticated stings, the cost can be high - averaging £1,844.

For some, the losses go beyond financial - as they end up arriving at the accommodation they thought they’d booked - only to discover it’s a con.

Overall, holiday scams reported to Action Fraud took more than £11 million from victims last year.

For years, digital technology has helped customers book holidays - but it’s also a big help to the criminals.

One holiday industry insider told me it used to be quite easy to spot fake holiday booking sites - but now it’s hard. Police forces report that around half of the scams involve social media.

We’ve gathered some of the important tips here:

• Beware of cloned websites purporting to be genuine firms - these can be incredibly convincing. If in doubt contact the company on a number you know to be genuine.

• Also, don't get fooled by social media posts offering low rates due to unexpected cancellations.

• Asking for direct bank transfers is a red flag - and so are requests for high deposits on so-called bargain breaks.

https://www.itv.com/news/2025-02-24/holiday-scammers-stole-more-than-11-million-from-brits-last-year

The number of criminal investigations completed by HMRC has increased 11% to 386 from 347, says multinational law firm Pinsent Masons, in the year to September 2024.

The total length of prison sentences handed down for tax evasion and tax fraud have also increased – to 525 years in the past year, up from 503 years.

Steven Porter, Partner and Head of Tax disputes and Investigations at Pinsent Masons says that targeted criminal prosecutions of tax evaders is partly used by HMRC to act as a deterrent and to persuade tax evaders to use HMRC’s Contractual Disclosure Facility. This offers individuals immunity from criminal prosecution in return for a full disclosure of the tax evasion they have been involved with.

The maximum penalty for income tax evasion is a fourteen-year prison sentence and/or an unlimited fine. This had doubled from seven years in the Finance Act 2024.

Several businesses with income and assets worth billions of pounds are registered at a terraced house on Chorley Old Road in Bolton.

The businesses all purport to be major corporations with multiple filings of audited accounts. 1 Stallion Limited claims to be in the oil and gas exploration sector with £4bn of assets, a £12.5bn turnover and offices on four continents. Similarly Avantulo SA Ltd has filed accounts claiming £26bn of turnover and £12.5bn share capital.

Also registered at that same address is e-bank Ltd, which claims to make £952m of turnover, mainly in the United Arab Emirates, and which identifies itself as a bank in its formal description (SIC code 64191). However, to be an actual bank requires a licence from the Financial Conduct Authority, yet no trace of the business exists.

Also previously registered at the address, but now dissolved, is Kinpro Holding GmbH Limited which claims that an entity with a similar name to an actual advisory firm from Abu Dhabi has invested £8.5bn into it.

Next door is XYZ Investment Holdings Ltd (formerly Stallion Holdings Ltd) which claims to have £7bn of assets, £2.5bn of sales and no plausible commentary that describes what the business actually does.

These companies all falsely claim to be audited by the same firm as 1 Stallion Limited.

The existence of these companies and their filing history has come to light after researcher Dan Neidle from Tax Policy Associates analysed data from Companies House to highlight the widespread abuse of the system.

Neidle has also established that although the filings indicate accounts which appear to have been filed by a named auditor, they are fake.

https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/northwest/news/2146508-fraud-or-fantasy-the-45billion-empire%C2%A0run-from-a-terraced-house-in-bolton

SPOTTING ROMANCE FRAUD

People who have fallen victim to romance scams tend to report the same pattern. If you or someone you know is using online dating or friendship sites and sees any of these signs, it may indicate you or they are being scammed:-

• Generally, the scam starts with an initial contact by the scammer. The scammer may be a member of the same online dating site as you or any online forum you have joined. The scammer may also contact you on social media such as Facebook.
• Their profile picture is very attractive. It’s common for scammers to use stolen photographs of beautiful people. You can check whether someone’s profile picture is associated with anyone else by accessing the website in Google Chrome, right-clicking on the picture and then clicking ‘Search Google for image’. Google will then display any other websites that the image is on. If the person seems to have a different name on other websites, chances are they are tricking you.
• The scammer asks you a lot of questions about yourself. This is because the more information they know about you, the easier you will be to manipulate. The scammer will spin a tale about him or herself as well. Eventually, you begin speaking over the phone. This stage can last for weeks, even months.
• The discussion is friendly at first but turns romantic very quickly. They shower you with compliments and claim to be falling in love with you. Victims usually report that this shift occurs very early on in the relationship – so if it all seems to be happening too fast, it might very well be a scam.
• Their story, or parts of it, change over time. If someone is making up their life story, it can be easy to forget what they’ve said before. If some part of their story doesn’t sound quite right or match what they said last month, that could indicate they are lying.
• Their grammar and spelling are poor. Many scams originate overseas. If the scammer tells you they’re from the UK but writes as if English is not their first language, this should be a red flag.
• They refuse to Skype or video call you, or meet in person. They always find an excuse as to why they can’t do this.
• Eventually, the scammer asks you to lend them money. They use any number of reasons: they need help to pay for the flight or other transport to meet you. They are in some sort of trouble. They need money to pay for medical care, either for themselves or someone close to them. Or they have a great business or investment opportunity that could benefit both of your futures.

https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/crime-prevention/crime-types/scams/protecting-against-scams/romance-fraud

Claims surged 10%, with 90 cases detected daily across multiple insurance lines.

With scams and other illegal activity continuing to rise, Allianz UK says that it has identified 33,027 instances of insurance fraud in 2024, amounting to £157.24 million in total value.

The insurer reported an average of 90 fraud cases per day, equating to £430,000 daily. The company says that this represents a 10% increase from the £142.38 million recorded in 2023.

Fraudulent activity spanned Allianz’s personal, commercial, and specialty lines, with claims fraud – where policyholders either inflate or fabricate claims – accounting for over £141 million. Application fraud, which involves providing false information when purchasing a policy, exceeded £15 million in detected cases.

The rise in fraud cases is not isolated to one insurer, either. Recently, not-for-profit insurer Ecclesiastical said that its claims specialists prevented over £4 million in fraudulent claims during 2024, an increase of nearly £1 million compared to 2023.

Government proposals to curb multibillion-pound benefit fraud involve “tools of an Orwellian surveillance state” and could put people through “absolute hell”, MPs have warned.

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill seeks to allow the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to recover money directly from fraudsters’ bank accounts and have the power to obtain bank statements from people they believe have enough cash to pay back welfare debts, but are refusing to do so.

Courts could also suspend fraudsters’ driving licences following an application by the DWP, if they owe welfare debts of more than £1,000 and have ignored repeated requests to pay it back.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/national/24907279.mps-raise-concerns-orwellian-powers-crack-benefit-fraud/?ref=twtrec