The estimated cost of fraud in the UK is something everyone should be concerned about
The British public is being targeted every day by fraudsters. The last few decades have seen a huge change in how these criminals steal cash. Spam mail that physically dropped through our letterboxes was replaced with fraudulent telephone calls, after which saw the rise of phishing and smishing and the lead to dark web monitoring and other similar tools becoming essential to brands.
Despite the government pledging to reduce fraud, both online and otherwise and charities working tirelessly to make the public aware of these cons. Online and phone call scams continue to create victims.
The cost of fraud in 2021
In 2021, it is estimated that fraudulent activity and scams will cost the UK £17,616,998,75. The full breakdown of which can be seen here: skurio.com/the-cost-of-fraud/. To put this into perspective, that’s over £4,826,500 every day in the UK alone to cyber criminals.
In some instances, these costs are reimbursed from insurance or credit card providers. But this cash is still taken away from legitimate sources and the economy. In just one day almost 13,000 smartwatches could be purchased with the money that was stolen and over a year, 34,381,340 cars could have been filled with a full tank of petrol.
How are fraudsters getting our cash?
One of the most successful forms of fraud is typosquatting. From its success, you will be forgiven for thinking this is an elaborate scheme. However, it is very simple but effective in duping unsuspecting victims into parting with cash, sensitive data or both.
Typosquatting involves criminals creating copycat domains of well-known brands to fool a user into thinking it is a trusted website. However, victims typically find themselves on these sites by accidentally typing the URL incorrectly, hence the term typosquatting.
These sites are often identical to the real thing and even the most tech-savvy user can find it difficult to tell the difference. Not only does this lead to the public losing out, but brands’ reputations can be impacted. Frequently targeted brands can fall victim to the public avoiding their products and services completely over fear that they may be scammed.
Another similar scam to this that most people have heard of is smishing. This is sending text messages to phone numbers claiming to be a trusted organisation. Typically a financial provider or postal delivery company. These messages contain a link that will take the user to these copycat websites.
What is being done to prevent fraud
Despite fraud being a crime, the police and government are not doing as much as expected of them when it comes to online fraud. The government did announce The Online Safety Bill back in May of this year, however, may believe that this is not adequate for the amount of activity happening in the cyberworld and fraud.
Instead of focusing on the ever-growing problem of smishing and typosquatting, this act focuses on in-app content and purchases and does little to help the public and businesses with these forms of crime.
That’s why businesses are having to take control themselves, to protect their brand and their customers. Monitoring the dark web can be incredibly difficult, especially if you don’t know where to start.
Using a dark web monitoring solution, whether automated or manual, is one of the best tools to discover what has been leaked from an individual and business perspective. A dark web monitoring service can alert businesses if anything sensitive has been leaked and protect themselves from any further damage occurring.
Alongside this, domain monitoring is becoming more popular. This is a service that allows domains to see if someone has registered a domain similar to their own, most likely a typo squatter. This then allows them to have this taken down before any falls for this deceptive site.
One of the most effective ways to stop typosquatting is for a business to register these domains themselves and prevent fraudsters from having this opportunity. However, this may not be cost-effective for every business.
Increasing numbers of businesses are now adopting their policy when it comes to reporting suspicious activity and websites. Many have dedicated teams who spend their working day taking reports from the public and investigating issues.
How to report online fraud
If you or your business have been a victim of fraud or are being impersonated by scammers, the police aren’t always the best avenue.
While many feel the need to call the police, underfunding of these departments leads to many cases never being investigated. However, a crime reference number is often required for insurance claims.
The most effective organisations to contact are the NCSC and Action Fraud. These organisations are dedicated to not only helping victims but also taking down these criminals.
