Six years on from the UK government introducing Unexplained Wealth Orders as a new law enforcement tool to combat ‘dirty money’, Commercial Litigation and Fraud partner Pia Mithani spoke to City AM’s Ben Lucas about their relative lack of use by the UK’s authorities to date.

https://www.stewartslaw.com/news/why-are-uwos-so-unpopular/

The amount of fraud cases has been rising and with digital banking becoming the new norm there are many ways someone can get access to your account. It is important to stay aware of scams so you can protect your accounts.

The Guardian reported that fraud cases in the UK more than doubled in 2023 to £2.3bn.

https://www.finance-monthly.com/2024/04/how-to-prevent-and-spot-bank-fraud/

Britain's biggest benefit fraud gang has been convicted for a £50 million Universal Credit plot.

Five Bulgarians - Galina Nikolova, 38, Stoyan Stoyanov, 27, Tsvetka Todorova, 52, Gyunesh Ali, 33, and Patritsia Paneva, 26 - admitted to fraud and money laundering related offences at Wood Green Crown Court for their involvement in a multimillion-pound scam on the benefit system.

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-04-10/britains-biggest-benefit-fraud-gang-guilty-of-50m-universal-credit-plot

Fraud within the retail, leisure, and food and beverage industries can undermine customer and consumer confidence and, in more serious cases, negatively impact consumers’ health and wellbeing. Without appropriate mitigation measures, the impact of fraud incidents can result in both great financial cost and operational disruption to businesses.

https://www.marsh.com/uk/services/risk-consulting/insights/understanding-fraud-risks-in-retail-leisure-food-industries.html

More than £612 million was lost to investment fraud in the UK last year, according to City of London Police.

And people aged 55 or over were the most likely to be targeted by investment fraud, the new figures show.

The data from Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, revealed the soaring rate of investment fraud in the last year, with a reported £612,208,663 in losses.

The UK retail sector lost £11.3bn to fraudulent activity in 2023, according to global financial technology platform Adyen.

The research, in partnership with the Centre for Economics, Business and Research, found that 35% of UK businesses became a target of fraudulent activity, cyberattacks or data leaks over the past year – up 37% compared with 2022.

https://www.retail-week.com/tech/cyberattacks-and-fraud-cost-uk-retail-sector-11bn-in-2023/7045950.article

The UK must use new laws to ensure online platforms have a legal responsibility to protect users from an “avalanche” of scams, a coalition of groups has warned the Government.

The 17 consumer and business groups and authorities have urged the Government to include scams in its proposed Online Safety Bill – which could be announced in next week’s Queen’s Speech – to protect consumers from their “devastating financial and emotional harm”.

https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/government-urged-online-safety-bill-230100733.html/

A thousand fraud victims could be stuck in limbo because of an ongoing row between Revolut and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Telegraph understands that victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud have been left out of pocket for months as Revolut is pushing back on the adjudicator’s recommendations to refund them in some cases.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/revolut-fraud-payout-row-leaves-1-000-victims-in-limbo/ar-BB1l5ggP

More than £2.6bn has been stolen through investment fraud in the UK since the start of 2020.

Following a Freedom of Information request to the City of London Police National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, the Pensions Management Institute found there were 98,525 victims of investment fraud between January 2020 and December 2023.

https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2024/04/02/more-than-2-6bn-stolen-through-investment-fraud-since-2020/

The two-fold implications of emerging technology means that businesses have improved their detection capabilities, while fraudsters have improved their methods.

Businesses have gotten better at detecting fraud, but fraud is becoming accessible to more people, a new report has revealed, with emerging technologies ramping up the arms race between threat actors and defences.

https://www.digit.fyi/the-barrier-of-entry-for-fraud-has-never-been-lower/