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International Fraud Awareness Week (14-20 Nov)
Oct 11, 2021
SAFE are proud to be official supporters of International Fraud Awareness Week (IFAW) 2021.
This years event takes place 14-20 November and its aim is to minimise the impact of fraud by promoting fraud awareness and education.
Fraud is estimated to cost the NHS £1.29bn a year and we all have a part to play in preventing it.
In the wider UK economy, £754m was stolen through fraud in the first six months of 2021, that's an increase of 30% on the same period in 2020 and amounts to £4m a day on average. 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:
- Share fraud prevention advice using these resources; 'Spot NHS fraud', 'CEO Impersonation Fraud', and sign up for free scam alerts from WHICH? to get alerted to the latest scams and receive practical advice to keep you one step ahead of fraudsters.
- Improve your cyber security with 6 simple actions and bag free anti-virus protection for your home tech!
- 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 are a business owner, charity, school or public sector organisation and you would like more information about how SAFE can help your organisation identify and prevent 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!
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. Be sure to like and follow our LinkedIn and X 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.
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.
