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International Fraud Awareness Week 2023 (12-18 Nov)
Oct 03, 2023
SAFE are proud to be in their seventh year as official supporters of International Fraud Awareness Week (IFAW) 2023. This years event takes place from 12-18 November but you don't need to wait until #fraudweek to be a fraud fighter.
We've got lots of great tips and advice here and we'll add more as we approach #fraudweek so make sure you keep checking back here.
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accounts to stay up-to-date with the very latest fraud prevention advice.
Fraud and cyber crime account for over 40% of all estimated crime in England and Wales, affecting more people, more often, than any other crime. The social and economic cost to individuals is estimated to be in excess of £4.7 billion a year.
The more aware we all are about fraud, the less likely we are to fall victim to it.
Here are some fraud fighting tips to help you:
- Get scam alerts - Sign up for WHICH? scam alerts to get alerted to the latest scams and receive practical advice to keep you one step ahead of fraudsters. They also have details of support services for victims of fraud.
- Improve your cyber security with 6 simple actions.
- Has your email address or one or more of your passwords been exposed due to a data breach? - Check for free here.
- How scam-savvy are you? Put your ability to spot a scam to the test with this quick quiz from Take Five to Stop Fraud.
- Need to brush up on your skills? Visit the Scam Academy.
- Report all genuine suspicions of fraud, bribery or corruption against the NHS to your Local Counter Fraud Specialist or to Crimestoppers on free-phone 0800 028 40 60 or online at www.cfa.nhs.uk/reportfraud.
- Report fraud and cyber crime against an individual or business to Action Fraud online or by calling 0300 123 2040.
If you're a business owner, charity, school or public sector organisation and you would like more information about how SAFE can help your organisation identify, prevent, and investigate fraud please get in touch for an informal, no obligation chat.
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In a world of 24/7 social media, and apps for everything from flights to coffee’s, oversharing personal information online affects more of us than we might think. Whether you’ve shared a seemingly innocent photo of your dog, a video of you supporting your favourite team, or you’ve unwittingly given away details of your banking or passport details, you could be revealing information that is invaluable to a fraudster or identity thief. There is increasing evidence that employee’s over-sharing personal information on social media platforms can enable or facilitate fraud against their employer; businesses like yours!
53% of all fraud reports made directly to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHS CFA) in 2022-23 related to NHS staff fraud . The NHS CFA estimate that £22.5m of public money is vulnerable to fraud as a result. One particular type of NHS staff fraud that continues to persist is known as ‘working whilst sick’ fraud. This is where an employee is absent from their NHS position due to illness but starts working, or continues to work, for another employer. This type of fraud is not confined to the NHS, businesses across many different sectors will fall victim and suffer financial losses and associated costs as a result.
The DRAFT Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill sets out the requirements that, under Martyn’s Law, venues and other organisations will have to meet to ensure public safety. ‘Martyn’s Law’ is a tribute to Martyn Hett who was killed alongside 21 others in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017.
