fraud prevention

Today’s episode of Marketplace Tech is all about financial scams: how they work, what kinds of technology scammers use, and how to spot a scam before you fall victim to one. We’re passing the microphone to victims of scams to tell their stories and then breaking down how the scammers pulled it off with Marketplace’s Lily Jamali and Selena Larson, staff threat researcher at Proofpoint.

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With just a few seconds of your voice, a scammer can create a fake AI version of “you”, call your parents and potentially scam them out of thousands of pounds. The ruse is on the rise in the UK and uses cheap and readily available artificial intelligence. So how does it work and how can you protect yourself when just three seconds of audio is enough to create a fake you?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: Katie Tarrant, news reporter, The Sunday Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips: Sky / Esfand, fakeyou.com, 12News, NBC, ElevenLabs, ITV.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Martin Lewis podcast is here and it’s an emotional one. As it is announced that the UK is to ban all cold calls selling financial products as part of a national crackdown on scams, Martin reveals that a relative of his was the victim of a scam call earlier this week – while he was in discussions with the government about the policy. Did you know 41% of crime in the UK is now fraud? Martin talks about how to keep yourself, and those you care about, safe.

Plus how you can get cashback on purchases, as well as paying no fees abroad… and why you REALLY need to figure out if you, or someone you know might be eligible for pension credits. It’s a complex system but there’s an eligibility checker to see if you’re entitled to more – but you’ve only got till May 19th – so get your skates on.

And this week’s Tell Us is all about the last time you used cash, and Nihal takes on Martin’s Money Mastermind one more time.

PRODUCER: Susanne Courtney

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Record numbers of people are falling victim to online fraud attempts, but there are no guarantees that your bank will refund the lost money. Thirty-one-year-old Jenny was distraught when fraudsters impersonating her bank made off with her life savings of £17,000. Money Clinic helped her to take her case to the UK’s Financial Ombudsman, and in this episode host Claer Barrett explains how listeners could use the free ombudsman service to obtain compensation themselves. Plus Pat Hurley, the lead ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman service, and Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at the banking trade body UK Finance, pass on valuable fraud prevention tips. 

Want more?

Claer’s column on record online fraud in the UK: https://www.ft.com/content/a6c5ab95-7be4-432c-83a5-79b7471afc1a

How to make a claim using the Financial Ombudsman service: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

To stay on top of the latest scams being reported: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ 

If you would like to appear as a future guest on Money Clinic podcast, email the team via money@ft.com or send Claer a message on Instagram, Twitter or TikTok - she’s @Claerb

Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Persis Love and Philippa Goodrich. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Money has relentlessly campaigned to fight online fraud – and in a major victory, Britain's biggest banks are now trialling a new system to trace stolen money. Is the end nigh for scammers?

Editor Simon Lambert and host Georgie Frost talk about bank fraud and our long-running campaign to help protect our readers from the growing crime.

We also talk through new rules to come in early next year that will spell out exactly what banks have to do to help prevent customers falling victim of bank transfer scams and why we launched our Beat the Scammers section in 2016.

Elsewhere, if you are in the market for a credit card, one of the more eye catching is Virgin Money's offering which could get you a trip to New York with its new bumper sign-up offer – but what's the catch?

We also run the rule over Vanadium, the metal which has seen its price soar substantially in recent year.

We also talk about the property market and how estate agents – especially across London and the South East - have come under pressure since the Brexit vote, which has triggered a considerable slowdown. This has seen Foxtons announcing branch closures this week.

And rather than the gloom and doom predictions of a potential house price crash, Simon asks: are house prices preparing to go on something of a run?

If you want to understand how the human body works, you can't just look at healthy humans. You need to examine the ill, so you can see how the body breaks down and where its weak spots are. And so if you want to understand how business works, it makes sense to look at financial fraud. After all, financial fraudsters work by getting to know a business really well, in order to take advantage of how it operates. That's the gist of our discussion this week with Dan Davies, the author of "Lying for Money: How Legendary Frauds Reveal the Workings of Our World." In our conversation, Davies shares with us his favorite fraud of all time, what all frauds have in common, and what people can do to avoid them. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you pop into the bookies and bung a quid on Elvis Presley still being alive – he died in 1977 - and he shows up as the support act to his heir apparent Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium next year, you’ll win £2,000.

Put that pound into a top paying savings account over the same period and you’ll earn just over 1p.

This is why stupid savings gimmicks are becoming a thing.

It works like this.

The provider, bank, building society or app, pays a derisory interest rate but offers a 300% boost to your returns if an improbable event takes place.

Not quite as unlikely as a resurrection but not that far off.

First there were the Brexit bonds, where your 1% return will be tripled if you bet correctly on the pound / euro exchange rate once Britain leaves the EU and, depending on how you see this bet panning out, all of our successful businesses leave Britain.

Now football fans are being targeted.

If Manchester United win the FA Cup next year AND the English Premier League, unabashed Newcastle-based Virgin Money will bung you a bung in the form of 2% bonus on the savings rate. Other football clubs are available. As are better savings accounts.

Also on the show, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost explain robo investing – the cheap and easy new way of saving money without having to interact with expensive human advisers.

And the latest wave of frauds filling an inbox near you are a terrifying as ever.

Enjoy.

…everything to do with finance is beset with problems.

From insurance companies that spew policy small print at terminally patients to avoid paying out, through mobile phone companies with the customer services skills of a three-minute-old turtle scuttling away from the first sign of a phone call, to the tax that few understand, even fewer pay but everyone seems to hate - inheritance tax.

This week we’re looking at the problem of inheritance tax.

We’re looking at some others as well but because of Prime Minister David Cameron’s relationship with his generous parents – IHT is in the news.

His dad ran an offshore fund. His mum gave him a couple of hundred grand towards a new suit. He may not pay tax on this gift.

Is that a problem? Is inheritance tax a problem?

Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce and Georgie Frost investigate.

It’s a proper fascinating slippers on, kettle on, headphones on episode that’s worth an hour of anyone’s time.

Also on the show – other problems include:

Bank fraud – as the crooks get better at it, the banks care even less

Brexit could be an almighty problem. It could destroy the world economy – but then plenty of other things could do that too

House prices are even more ridiculous than they were last week – causing a wave of migrating out of London and beyond

Are degrees all they’re cracked up to be?

And finally…

The range of free goodies it’s worth getting old for.