Police have always spoken to convicted scam artists in an attempt to reduce crime however this has increased significantly since 2012 and is thought to be unprecedented.
Commissioner Adrian Leppard stated that the information has assisted in disrupting cybercrime and in turn has reduced the number of victims nationwide.
The City of London’s Detectives have visited hundreds of convicted fraudsters whilst serving their sentences in order to hear their crime stories and understand how they operate.
Leppard did make it clear that “The prisoners were not rewarded with reduced sentences”. And that “He said some fraudsters spoke to detectives because it was ‘morally’ right”.
The information that the Detectives have been able to gain has proven to be priceless. They have been able to secure information relating to;
- Investment frauds
- Courier fraud
- Insurance crime.
He later went on to state:
“We’re grappling with this type of crime and we’ve got to find out how to protect people.
“We need to understand how criminals attack. How do people move money, launder money, how do criminal associations start, what are the enablers?”
In the 12 months ending in March 2015, 230,630 fraud offences were recorded in England and Wales, an increase of 9% on the previous year.
A further 389,718 fraud offences were reported by industry bodies, 17% up on the year before, with most of the offences involving plastic cards, cheques and online bank accounts.
The City of London commissioner said the details disclosed had helped police improve their response to fraud and cybercrime but he warned the threat was “growing exponentially”.
Police commissioner Adrian Leppard said fraudsters were not rewarded with reduced
One convict who spoke to the Police about the way in which they found their victims stated;
“We just went to Companies House and bought the lists of shareholders.”
A second criminal interviewed by police said he and his associates would send out blanket mail-shots to get people’s details.
“Free gifts, prize draws, competitions to wins iPads, offers, anything where people willingly give over information about themselves,” he says.
A different method is outlined by another fraudster in the intelligence report, who says he found the names of real companies and then created bogus websites to attract investors.
“The fundamental thing is that people want to believe it’s all genuine and they want to give you their details because everyone wants to make money,” he says.
City of London Police announced a new multi-million pound partnership on Wednesday with the New York District Attorney’s Office and the Center for Internet Security to address the cyber crime threat.
The aims of the Global Cyber Alliance, which will be based in New York and London, are to identify global threats, form action teams, and design approaches to confront and prevent malicious cyber activity.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk