Tickets for the London Games go on sale next year but police are already monitoring e-tickets and internet domain names they suspect have been registered to sell fake tickets.  The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is also putting together a dedicated team to deal with crime surrounding the Olympics.

An increasing number of domain names are being purchased from UK ISP addresses that bear reference to the Olympics. It’s not difficult to obtain one; it’s a case of registering with a hosting company, checking the availability of your desired site name, and registering the domain! Which? Computing proved just how easy it is, by registering their own Olympic referenced site.

Although the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), are trying their best to highlight this problem, Which? Computing say that more needs to be done in order to wipe the web clear of fraudsters, once and for all.

The editor of Which? Computing, Sarah Kidner mentioned that several sites on the web already promise tickets for events that simply don’t exist.  Rules and regulations have to be enforced, to make sure that scammers get wiped out.

The summary results are:

• Fraud on debit and credit cards fell by more than a quarter in 2009 to about $658 million.
• Counterfeit card fraud (skimming and cloning) fell by over a half.
• Online banking fraud losses rose by 14% to $89 million.
• Check fraud fell 29% from $62.6 million to $44.5 million.

The UK Cards Association says that the debit and credit card fraud fell as a result of improved card security technology, more sophisticated fraud detection by banks and retailers, and the work of DCPU-the banking-sponsored special police unit.

And the increase in online banking fraud losses is being blamed largely on criminals attacking online banking customers’ computer systems with more sophisticated techniques and malware, rather than targeting banks’ networks.

More information is available on:

http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/media_centre/press_releases_new/-/page/922/

Over a period of a year Betty* received phone calls and correspondence suggesting that she should subscribe large amounts of money to Spanish bank accounts in order to receive the alleged lottery win. Eventually when Betty told them she thought that she was being defrauded and planned to report the matter to the police, their tactics changed. Betty was then informed that they would send her money. They duly sent four cheques for £2,500 each, which she paid into her bank account.

Shortly afterwards, to her astonishment, Betty’s bank account was frozen (despite the fact she had some £18k credit) and she received a bailiff’s letter stating her bank book and credit cards must be returned to the well known high street bank.

Betty tried to speak to her bank manager, with whom she had been a customer for over 50 years, and was told he would not answer any questions as the matter was being dealt with by the fraud department. The bank stopped paying her direct debits and, when she tried to open an account with another bank, it was refused. Betty had to resort to borrowing money from friends to live on and became distressed and ill.

Following our assistance, the bank was informed of the lottery fraud and the matter was reported to the police. It emerged the cheques paid to her by the alleged lottery were either forged or stolen from British Telecom. Finally, Betty’s account was re-opened and she received £250 as compensation and a bunch of flowers. It is a shame they had not taken the trouble to spend five minutes talking to her from the outset – ‘helpful banking’ indeed.

The police are still investigating the fraud.

For information on common lottery scams see the link below.

http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/yoursecurity/commonscams.ftl

*Name changed to protect identity of client