Fraud

Bank Fraud

BANK FRAUD

Bank Fraud is a serious crime and a lot of people and banks are victims. In the United Kingdom last year statistics has it that one in every fifty people has been a victim of bank fraud. There are various types of bank fraud. Here below are a few of them:

• Cheque fraud: In this type of fraud the victim is approached and asked if he/she has a bank account. Normally they are approached in a bar or social gathering. If the victim says yes then the fraudster will ask the victim if they can put a large some of money into the victims account and then share the money fifty-fifty when it clears.

If the victim agrees the fraudster will collect the victim's bank card and pin number. He will then tell the victim what day the money will be available in his account and to have some form of id on that day such as a passport. In the mean time the fraudster will deposit a stolen cheque into the victims account. Sometimes the cheque will have no money on it sometimes it will. It depends if the owner of the cheque has money in his/her account or not. The bank proceedure is that they must honour the cheque if it has the correct signature on it. this makes this type of bank fraud easy. The bank pays out the money in anticipation of recieving money from the bank, where the cheque came from. On the day the money clears the victim goes into the bank with identification and collects the money. the money is split and the fraudster disappears. The victim gets a letter in a few weeks from the bank demanding the money back or involving the police.

• Atm fraud: This type of bank fraud is getting very rampant these days. Clever crocks insert cash card readers into cash machines so that when the victim inserts his/her card into the hole in the wall all the card details are stolen. Some fraudsters even set up fake cash machine units in remote areas that look like the real thing and when the victim inserts his/her card it is swallowed and even the pin number is photograhed using a hidden camera. These are very sofisticated ways of bank fraud.
• Identity fraud: This type of bank fraud happens inside the bank. There are some very dubious staff who have access to customers personal data and can use their mobile phones to photograph account numbers and pin codes. Then they sell this information on to bank fraud gangs who then use these details to commit identity fraud

Article Published: Monday 2nd April 2007