Tag: Fake

Romance Fraud

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RomanceFraud

Woman conned out of £40,000

A woman from south Wales was conned out of £40,000 by a conman she had already warned her own mother about.

Romance fraud is increasing as more people turn to dating apps and websites to find love.

The woman first became suspicious after her mother started an online relationship with a man claiming to be from France called Jean Marc. But when he told her he needed help after being robbed, the daughter became suspicious and warned her mother not to send any money.

However, after speaking to the man, the daughter changed her mind “His voice was so lovely and soft” she said “my heart just melted” she told BBC Wales

Eventually she agreed to send him €800 after he sent a photo of him in a hospital bed, despite the fact she thought it looked edited.

She then went on to send 21 more payments, totaling £40,000 before confessing to her husband what she had done.

Increasing reports

The police have said that they are seeing an increase in the number of romance frauds taking place, but believe that many more don’t get reported because of people’s embarrassment at being conned.

It’s easy to steal money in this way, fraudsters will often steal the identity of someone else a genuine person, then use their photos and details to create dating accounts. Fraudsters can often have several fake identities on the go at the same time, and be in contact with multiple victims.

Helpful tips

  • Never send money to someone you don’t know. It sounds obvious, but fraudsters are well practiced at pulling on your heart strings and sweet talking you into falling for their lies.
  • Always triple check. Look for the users profile on different services, check on the internet, search for the photos they send to see if anyone else has used them.
  • Get a friend involved. Ask someone you know personally and who you can trust, to check out the online profile.
  • If you willingly send money to a fraudster, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to recover that money unless the police can catch them.
  • Fraudsters will often research you before making contact. They’ll look into your friends, your social media profiles, any news about you on the internet, they will build a profile of your life so they can slot into it seamlessly.
  • It’s very easy for a fraudster to hide their location, using technology to hide their IP address.

Fake Banking Text Messages

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tinsleyNET Fraud Prevention

Social Media Scam

Which? show how easy it is to send fake text messages ‘from your bank’

A recent Which? shoes how easy it is to fake text messages as being from your bank or credit card company. In the report the journalist along with ‘ethical hacker’ Scott Mcgready are able to create and send convincing fake emails that show up alongside genuine text messages from a bank. Read more

Fraud Aware

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Fraudsters see major incidents as an opportunity to take advantage of you

Fraudsters Don’t See Tragedy, They See Opportunity

After any major incident, many people turn to the internet to find out more information and to see if there is any way in which they can help. The majority of us will be shocked by tragic events as we see them unfold, more so when the incident is closer to home.

Unfortunately, the fraudsters know this, and don’t look at these events with sympathy, but look at them as an opportunity to scam people. Make it second nature to verify the sources of information you share, think before you click.

Scams

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Scams that crop up after an incident can vary and take on many forms. They can be from people just out to harvest ‘likes’ by creating and sharing memes or making up stories about fictitious people ‘who were there’ when it happened, or they can be criminals out to pinch your bank details.

Often, the fraudsters will use social media to share a photo with a sentimental message or outraged caption, and will use any tactics then can to pull on your heart strings to get you to forward or re-share the post.

Expect them to exploit photos of affected people and paint sad stories to get you to hand over your money.

Who To Trust

Use some common sense when deciding if a link you’re about to click is genuine.

  • If the link came via email or instant messenger, check with the email sender that they intended to send it, they many not be aware if their account has been compromised.
    • This is doubly important if the email or message says something along the lines of “I’ve changed my bank details” – double check in person or over the phone. This is a common and well known scam.
  • Fake News is a massive problem at the moment and unlikely to go away, websites like Metafact, Full Fact and Redaction Watch are just a few that can help you identify fake news. (Read more about these sites here)
  • Check the validity of any links before you click them, it may say www.TrustWorthyWebsite.com in the text, but hover your mouse over it to find out where it’s really linked to first.
  • If a URL shortener has been used, (the link looks like sh.ort/Wg5SDS or something similar) check the full-length URL on the shortner website used, or use a trusted third-party website like www.checkshorturl.com
  • Check with someone in authority. If a Just Giving page has been setup by Bob claiming that he’s raising money for the recent incident, how can you be sure your donation is going where he says? Just because he mentions various valid aid organisations in the link does not mean they endorse him or have any connection to him.
  • Seen a photo of a young child with a caption “This person is missing, please share this link to help find her” – think…
    How is sharing this link going to help find someone?
    Is it at all likely that the missing person or someone they know is reading Social Media?
    Can you be sure that person is really missing? is there a police reference number?
    Check the facts first!
  • Look at the date when the first share was made, was it recently or several months ago?
  • Is the source of the information genuine and trustworthy? Just because someone says that ‘The Police have asked…’ doesn’t mean it’s true. If it is true then there should be a link back to an official page with verifiable details. Don’t take someone else’s word as fact without checking it first.
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We can help you sort the truth from the lies, and show you how to identify fraudulent emails and links. We can even configure and install hardware designed to filter out the fake news.