Revenue and Customs officials have been urged, by MPs, to have new technology in place to tackle those people who are selling rebated fuel at inflated prices. More details here.
The Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee has said that it is concerned that not enough is being done to sort out the problem of over £70m in tax revenue having been lost through gangs and paramilitaries in the province selling reduced agricultural diesel to ordinary drivers. The committee has called on Revenue and Customs to implement new rebated fuel marker technology as soon as possible.
With people throughout the UK panicking about a possible fuel shortage due to an impending tanker drivers strike, it may not be the last we hear about groups trying to make a fast buck out of fuel.
A court heard how a Leeds solicitor, who was jailed for two years and two months after stealing more than £50,000 from an 82-year-old client who was suffering from dementia, had known the woman well. She had been a close friend of Michael Rigg’s mother and had thought of the solicitor as a son.
He looked after her affairs when she had to go into a care home and, over a three-year period, stole £50,000 from her post office and bank accounts. He had used the money to pay for his own mother’s care fees and it also paid for a holiday to Switzerland.
Rigg, who admitted three offences of fraud by abuse of position of trust, was arrested after staff at a building society became suspicious and monitored the cash withdrawals. As the judge, at Leeds Crown Court said, he was in a position of great trust and responsibility and the client, as well as being a friend of the family, was extremely vulnerable and in need of protection.
It’s one thing to defraud client’s you barely know; that is bad enough, but to take from someone who had been so close to you and your family appears much worse, even if, as his barrister claimed, he did not use the money to make extravagant purchases.
A Channel 4 investigation has found that a new contactless payment card from Barclays is especially vulnerable to fraud.
The new cards work in a similar way to Oyster cards on London Transport, in that they can be swiped at a terminal although only low level transactions can be made in this way. Barclays is not the only organisation to have introduced these cards which are appealing as they can potentially speed up transactions in-store. However the fraud risk will be a concern.
The investigation found that simply holding a smartphone with the right software near to the card would be enough to get private account details from it; it could take all the information listed on the front of Visa cards though would not be able to take details such as the PIN or CVV code not embedded in the card’s chip.
Barclays said that it was now talking to retailers to see that they were carrying out “adequate and robust” checks. Though I can see the benefit of these cards in that they would definitely speed up transactions and could signal the end of queuing at the checkout, the risks appear obvious and the investigation has done everyone a favour by clearly identifying them. What do you think?
Posted by admin | Posted in finance, legal, work | Posted on 19-03-2012
Not for one particular policeman anyway as he faces a suspended prison sentence after defrauding a number of high street banks.
PC Jamie Hillman applied for loans or credit cards from the banks, including Northern Rock and Barclays, to fund an extra-marital affair with a female colleague from Avon and Somerset police force. In doing so he falsely claimed that he was a sergeant rather than a PC and also that he was a soldier who had been serving in Afghanistan.
At Bristol Crown Court, Hillman claimed that he was suffering from amnesia whilst committing the fraud which amounted to over 73,000. The judge in the case sympathized with Hillman to some extent, saying that he was emotionally fragile and had been brave for admitting the offences. He was given a 12-month custodial sentence which was suspended for two years.
Hillman was also ordered to do 300 hours unpaid work and there will be a confiscation hearing to determine repayments of the debt. However, he can perhaps count himself lucky that he didn t receive an immediate prison sentence for the offence. Would you have expected an immediate custodial sentence for those offences? Let me know.
Posted by admin | Posted in finance, legal | Posted on 13-03-2012
In what is perhaps unsurprising news, a new study has shown that consumers are more wary of the possibility of fraud when they are shopping online rather than when they conduct transactions in person.
The poll, commissioned by Accertify, the American Express fraud prevention and risk management provider, showed that two-thirds of those questioned believed that more fraud took place in online transactions than those conducted in person. It also found that almost half of those who used smartphones or web-enabled computers had encountered a fraud protection system which had delayed or stopped their transaction.
This can clearly affect shopping behaviour and many of those affected in this way said they were prepared to punish the firm responsible by moving their business over to a competitor. Mike Long, vice president at Accertify, said that there was a need for an automated fraud prevention system that could cope with emerging fraud threats and changes to businesses.
Interestingly, of those who shopped online, most placed trust in their own computer rather than their smartphone or tablet.
Posted by admin | Posted in finance, legal | Posted on 07-03-2012
An article on how the New Year will see a change in the way we pay for our goods reports on new developments such as buying through mobile phones and online shopping, which have increased apace during the last couple of years. Another development is quick response (QR) codes, which allow a consumer to scan a barcode with their camera, which then directs them to a voucher or special offer.
In amongst all the new developments aimed at consumers and their shopping experience, card-not-present fraud is identified as a live, current issue and new developments can help in this area too.
One such modification will make it possible for someone to process a transaction by checking a credit card through a webcam or a mobile camera, so it would, in effect be a card-present transaction, and works by using secure video streaming to identify and then approve the information on the credit card.
The customer would hold their card up to the camera, wait for it to initialise and then enter their card s security number to complete the purchase. It is in its early stages of development now, but will certainly take off in the coming months and should provide some reassurance to those who are concerned about providing their card details online.
An employment tribunal has ruled that 24,000 former employees of Woolworths should receive a share of £67.8m in compensation.
The tribunal ruled that the administrator, who was called in by the former store giant in 2009, failed to consult with the shopworkers’ union Usdaw before making staff redundant, therefore the staff are eligible to receive compensation, which works out at an average payout of £2,800 per worker. The money will be paid out by the government’s Redundancy Payments Office.
However, Usdaw is angry that about 3,000 former workers will miss out on a payout, on a legal technicality, because they worked in stores with less than 20 employees. John Hannett, Usdaw’s general secretary, said it was a clear injustice and the union is considering an appeal.
