You can lock your doors against burglars, but making sure you don't fall victim to a scam – even in the safety of your own home – is much less straightforward.

More than 22,000 people were scammed in 2012, according to Citizens Advice, and fraudsters are constantly inventing ways to swindle you out of your cash. The month of May has been designated Scams Awareness Month by Citizens Advice and Trading Standards, and forewarned is forearmed so here are 27 to look out for.

Full Story >> The Guardian

I was phoned last summer by the Lawson-Knight group in Geneva, which said it was a leading firm of stockbrokers. It said it could help with the low interest rates I was getting.

I invested £70,000 in two stocks. Now Lawson-Knight has disappeared. The website has gone. All I am left with is two certificates. I realise I have been scammed. I have contacted Action Fraud but heard nothing. Is there any hope or have I, at nearly 80, lost virtually all of my life's savings?

Full Story >> The Guardian

Advertising Week Europe: Frank Abagnale, portrayed in Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can, and now an FBI security expert, warns of danger to children.

He gave the example of a creeper virus that allows the tracking of a Facebook user even if their phone is not transmitting.
Another readily available programme, which Abagnale said is owned by Google, uses facial recognition that can match an individual with their personal information on the social networking website "in just seven seconds".

Full Story >> The Guardian

UK consumers lost more money to online fraud than those of any other country in the world in 2012 - overtaking the US to move into first place - according to cyber security experts RSA. Figures from its Anti-Fraud Command Centre (AFCC) give UK losses of £405.8m in 2012, obtained from almost 250,000 phishing attacks.

This marked a 25% increase on 2011, while US losses declined by 19%. Canadians lost the third highest amount, while India was in fourth place, up from 8th. South Africa completes the top five - it is worth noting that all of these countries have a significant English speaking population.

Full Story >> The Guardian

Fraudsters are targeting vulnerable, low-income groups, including students, people on benefits and new entrants to the UK, with job adverts that recruit people to money launder thousands of pounds for criminal gangs abroad.

The fake job offers, which appear online or are sent in unsolicited emails, are for roles such as "money transfer agent" or "payment processing agent", and turn applicants into "money mules", according to Financial Fraud Action UK (FFAUK).

Full Story >> The Guardian

Identity fraud more than doubled in value to £26.3m in 2012 and counterfeit goods' fraud is at a five-year high.

Companies blamed insider fraud perpetrated by either management or employees for 80% of fraud-related financial losses last year.

Full Story >> BBC News

Keir Starmer, the director of Public Prosecutions, will today promise to "ramp up" the number of cases it pursues by five-fold over the next two years.

Smaller-scale tax cheats - including middle-class homeowners who don't declare their rental incomes and white-collar professionals who invest in evasion schemes - will be targeted as the CPS is determined to maximise the deterrent effect of prosecutions.

Full Story >> The Independent

Vulnerable customers of Wonga are being targeted by criminals using spam emails claiming to be from the payday lender.

The bogus emails, which claim to be sent by "Wonga.com Support" using the email address supporta@wonga.com, ask the recipient to "log-in to receive your security message".

Full Story >> The Guardian

From 2003 to 2008 the pair used forged documents, sham legal letters and bogus guarantees to mislead the banks, which eventually lost £60million when the scam collapsed.

Full Story >> The Mailonline

'Cover up' and 'write off' among most used phrases
Ernst & Young worked with FBI on the research. They say companies can save millions by analysing emails written by suspect employees.

Full Story >> The Mailonline

To highlight the problem a nationwide campaign has been launched urging the public to "check before they invest" in a money-making scheme. The campaign is being led by Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud and internet crime reporting centre, which is run by the National Fraud Authority, an executive agency of the Home Office.

Full Story >> The Guardian

Although we might pride ourselves on our ability to smell a rat a mile off, swindlers aren't stupid; they make their operations look as plausible as possible so we need to be on our guard.

Full Story >> Moneywise

New Audit Commission chair Jeremy Newman has warned that reforms to local government finance could increase the risk of fraud to town halls.

Last year, councils detected more than 124,000 cases of fraud, worth a total of £179m, according to the commission's annual report, Protecting the public purse, published today.
But Newman warned that new threats were emerging. These include the areas of business rates, which are set to be part-localised to councils from next April, right to buy housing sale discounts, and procurement, he told Public Finance.

Full Story >> Public Finance

As the former stockbroker is jailed for a £32 million fraud, Alistair Osborne finds that, when it comes to falling for con artists, there are few bigger suckers than the rich and famous

It was the moment in Sunday's Downton Abbey that will have had financially savvy viewers yelling at the screen. Lord Grantham had already brought the estate to the brink of bankruptcy with his hare-brained investment in a single railway company. Now, facing more financial trouble, he popped up with something even more unhinged: "Well, there's a chap in America, what's his name... Charles Ponzi... who offers a huge return in 90 days."

Full Story >>The Telegraph

The low-lifes and toerags who target the elderly will stoop to anything. Always put the phone down.

Every week we receive tales of fraud, scams and rip-offs. The most distressing involve the callous exploitation of elderly savers, often through the telephone equivalent of "door stepping" where the scamsters won't hang up until they have fleeced their victim. But a tale we were sent this week is one of the most sickening I've heard.

Full Story >> The Guardian

Almost a third of all fraudulent banking transactions now originate from the customer's own computer, as cyber criminals use increasingly sophisticated malware to hijack accounts, online security specialists warned yesterday.

Full Story >> The Independant

The research, which found a quarter of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) surveyed had suffered at least one type of fraud or internet crime in the past year, will help develop targeted fraud prevention strategies to help businesses protect themselves and their profits and to trade online confidently.  This research builds on work led by the NFA to introduce stronger anti-fraud controls to business and disrupt and punish fraudsters.

Conducted as part of the national cyber security programme, the research recognises the importance of SMEs to the UK economy, and shows business that knowing how to use new technology and the internet securely can help protect their revenues and drive growth.

Full Story and Research results >> Home Office

A survey by credit reference agency Equifax has found that while more than a quarter of people do online banking on their phone, a third don't log out of social media or banking websites, 42% fail to clear their browser history and 45% do not protect their smartphones with passwords.

Full Story >> The Guardian