Fraudscape Half-yearly update
Every year the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (“CIFAS”) publish their half year figures. For 2022 the report has just been released using figures from the CIFAS National Fraud Database and the Enhanced Internal fraud Database along with intelligence provided by CIFAS members. The report analyses how levels of fraudulent conduct have changed over the first half of 2022 compared to 2021.
To provide a bit of background CIFAS are a not-for-profit fraud prevention membership organisation and they are effectively a fraud prevention community. They are the UK’s leading fraud prevention service. The main purpose of the report is to provide insight to allow further prevention and detection of fraud by better understanding of the key fraud threats and enablers.
The report really is worth a read as it is enlightening as to the current pressures which are eliciting raised levels of fraud and which frauds are becoming more prevalent. Here are some of the highlights:
- As living costs increase there is concern that volumes of fraud will increase.
- Identity fraud remains a key threat and the number of cases recorded has grown by 22% (to 226,000 cases) in 2021, accounting for 63% of all cases recorded to the National Fraud Database.
- Fraudulent attempts to access loan products saw a 39% increase, with unsecured personal loans heavily targeted. Although two thirds of attempts were not granted, loans will continue to be a target in light of rising living costs.
- Over 61s have been disproportionately targeted for plastic cards and bank accounts.
- Misuse of facility, relates to misusing bank accounts. 72% of misuse on bank accounts has intelligence that indicates mule activity. A large proportion of subjects for this activity are under 30, with a 19% rise in subjects being under the age of 21. The driver for this trend is thought to be the continued threat from Authorised Push Payments because mule accounts are often needed to transfer funds gained from illegal activities such as scams.
- There is a real concern that due to the rise in living costs, criminals will look to target loan products and deferred credit services.
- Facility takeover has had great impact in the tele-comms sector and online retail – often with unauthorised security or account breaches, or fraudsters falsely upgrading so they can obtain equipment.
- There is a continued risk of insider fraud, including:
- Theft of cash and equipment from employers.
- Concealing adverse credit or employment history.
- Unlawfully obtaining company data.
Interestingly, the report seems to suggest that majority of offenders appeared to have been in employment for over 10 years.
A copy of the report can be downloaded here: Fraudscape 2022
Should you suspect that you are a victim of fraud or other wrongdoing, please do not hesitate to get in touch at hello@tenetlaw.co.uk
