Frauds Fund Terrorism
Being a victim of fraud is worse than you think
To be a victim of a successful fraud attack is not a nice thing to be, not only does this have a negative impact on your bank account, your credit rating and event your livelihood, it will also have global ramifications as more and more successful attacks originate from within organised crime syndicates, extremist and terrorist organisations.
In recent years the rise in cybercrime, fraud and easy marks has led to the funding of jihadist recruitment drives and transport for terrorism across the globe.
In 2015 five men were arrested on charges of conspiracy to defraud. The report was that these five men were members of Islamic State using vishing to con people out of their pensions to fund travel for new recruits from the UK to global training camps.
These men were apparently pretending to be police officers, they would call the victims and tell the victims that they had been defrauded. Once convinced of the authenticity of the story the victims handed over their bank account information for the officer’s investigations, with the information gathered the fraudsters could now empty the victims bank accounts and savings accounts.
What are these common frauds?
Vishing
Vishing is the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The scammer usually pretends to be a legitimate business, and fools the victim into thinking he or she will profit.
Purchase frauds
Purchase fraud occurs when a criminal approaches a merchant and proposes a business transaction, and then uses fraudulent means such as a stolen or fake credit card to pay for it. Thus, the merchant does not get paid for the sale. Merchants who accept credit cards may receive a chargeback for the transaction and in the process, lose money.
Online automotive fraud
A fraudster posts a non-existent vehicle for sale to a website, typically a luxury or sports car, advertised for well below its market value. The details of the vehicle, including photos and description, are typically lifted from other sites.
PayPal Fraud
The fraudster uses a fake address with a post office box when making their bids, as PayPal will allow such an unconfirmed address. Such transactions are not covered by PayPal’s seller protection policy. The fraudster buys the item, pays for it via PayPal, and then collects the item from the victim. The fraudster then challenges the sale, claiming a refund from PayPal and stating that they did not receive the item.
Another type of PayPal fraud is where a fraudster will email you about an item you have for sale, they will be enthusiastic and want to pay you straight away. Once you agree to sell the item they will say they have paid you through PayPal. Next they will use spoofing to send an email seeming to be from PayPal letting you know that something is wrong with the transaction, this email will contain a link to log in to your account and rectify the situation. This is all a scam to get your PayPal credentials and empty your accounts.
