MASSIVE COST OF CYBER CRIME IN RICHMOND BOROUGH
A total of 91 people in the Borough of Richmond were scammed by cybercrime last month with a total fraud value of £146.239, shock police figures reveal.
A police spokesperson stressed: “This is reported crime only and just in this Borough – £146.239 is lower than usual but still represents 91 people who will still have been affected emotionally and financially.”
The average works out at £1607.03 per person.
In a breakdown of the types of cybercrime, the police have created the categories below with the offences and the amount lost:
- Online Shopping and Auctions 16 £5,335.73
- Other Advance Fee Frauds 12 £33,443.24
- Other Consumer Non Investment Fraud 8 £18,605.66
- Hacking – Personal 7 £0.00
- Cheque, Plastic Card and Online Bank Accounts 4 £2,700
Fraud type and Amount Lost
Push Payment £41,240.00 3
Other Advance Fee Frauds £33,443.24 12
Door to Door Sales and Bogus Tradesmen £25,000.00 1
Other Consumer Non Investment Fraud £18,605.66 8
Other Financial Investment £12,600.00 3
The police added: “Online banking makes managing money easier for the general public, however criminals are taking advantage of this ease of banking and using it to defraud the public.
“Criminals can pretend to be from somewhere official, for example, your bank, or the tax office. They contact you via email, phone or social media, and then warn you of fake suspicious or criminal activity on your bank account. They state that they’ve set up a safe account for you to transfer your funds into. However, this is actually their account.
How to protect yourself
• Be suspicious of a call out of the blue from someone claiming to be from a position of authority.
• Take down the person’s details (name, authority, department, branch etc.) and verify using independent source contact details.
• A genuine official from the Police, your bank, HMRC or any other trusted authority will NEVER call you to ask you to verify your personal banking details, PIN or password, or threaten you with arrest.
• Never transfer money into another account unless you are 100% certain of the owner of the account.
• Your bank will never set up a “safe” account for you.
• If you are a victim, contact your bank as soon as possible, as they may be able to help stop the transfer.
• Watch the video on Impersonation Fraud at www.met.police.uk/littlemedia
REMEMBER – Your bank will never set up a “safe account”.
CAUTION – Unless you definitely know who the account belongs to, it might not be safe.
THINK – Who told me this account was safe? Have I checked their identity?
Learn more about how to protect yourself from cybercrime here; 47AB2502DF419A5FC23EB9742D6D2C97
Note of explanation:
Hacking is the colloquial tern for unauthorised access to computer systems – So whilst a breach may have been detected and reported, there may be no financial loss attached. An authorised push payment offence occurs when fraudsters trick someone into initiating a bank transfer to an account they control either through online or mobile banking, or other payment channels. The victim is deceived into sending the payment, often under the guise of a legitimate payment.