Crime and Security Research
Voice phishing (commonly referred to as vishing) is the criminal practice of using social engineering over the phone to gain access to victims’ personal and financial information in order to defraud them. Fraudsters often pose as bank staff or police officers, and can use clever techniques such as manipulating Caller ID and staying on the line after victims think they […]
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On June 3rd Janice Goldstraw-White spoke at the CIFAS Annual Fraud Conference held in London. Her presentation looked at the motivations of fraudsters and was based on the findings from her research interviews with over 40 convicted fraudsters in prison. Through examining the unique characteristics of fraud, she outlined how these influence the decisions made by individuals to commit fraud […]
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Identity fraud has been identified as a key challenge for organisations and consumers accounting for nearly half (47%) of all fraud recorded in the first quarter of 2015. The threat is increasing and anyone can be a victim. This week CIFAS, the UK’s fraud prevention agency has revealed nearly a third increase in identity fraud. The number of recorded victims […]
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This month Professor Martin Gill appeared on BBC local radio and South Korean radio with Henry Shinn discussing identity theft. South Korea is facing a major identity theft problem, and Martin spoke about our own research with victims and offenders and some of the key trends in patterns of behaviour and potential responses. You can listen to the interview on […]
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Commissioned by the Association of British Insurers, Perpetuity Research analysed previous research and interviewed people convicted of insurance fraud to gain insights into a range of insurance fraud. In this report fraudsters revealed the motivations for their offences, perceived risks, consequences and the types of opportunities they look to exploit. Key insights: Insurance fraud is often opportunistic and unplanned, undertaken without full awareness of the consequences. Fraudsters often […]
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Credit card fraud and identify theft are serious problems for both industries and individual consumers. Although safeguards have improved in the last decade, there is an ongoing battle between corporations and cyber criminals over our personal information and financial details. However, recent developments in technology as reported in Optica suggest that these authentication security issues may soon be a thing […]
Read moreOne of our associates, Dr Janice Goldstraw-White, will be giving two papers on June 2nd 2014 at the Portsmouth University Counter Fraud Conference. Paper 1: Accounting for crimes – an examination of the motivations, rationality and afterthoughts of convicted fraudsters. Paper 2: Female Fraudsters – a breed apart? The first of these will be a ‘meet the author’ session and will […]
Read moreA new report is recommending all consumers be given access to one free credit report per year in order to combat identity theft, one of the UK’s fastest growing crimes. The report, Identity Theft and Fraud: Learning from the USA was written by leading criminologist Professor Martin Gill and commissioned by Capital One. Professor Gill suggests that free annual credit […]
Read moreThe report is based on interviews with 16 convicted offenders. The main focus is on people who have stolen large sums from organisations with which they are connected (usually those that they are employed by). Listening to what they have to say facilitates insights from a different perspective, and it is hoped that highlighting offenders’ experiences and the reasons for […]
Read moreThis report is based on a brief review of the response to identity theft in the EU, the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK. In particular the report focuses on what the current status in law regarding identity theft is in each country, what individual governments are doing to highlight the issue with individuals/businesses and what estimates have been made/assessments […]
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