It’s estimated that fraud cost the UK almost £190 billion in 2019, with an estimated 3.8 million incidents in the 12 months prior to March of that year, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
In the majority of those, there’d been no face-to-face contact between victim and offender, with scammers carrying out their crimes online, by email or over the phone. So how do they do it, and what can we do to protect ourselves?
‘WINNING’ TICKET
On 28 August 2009, Edward Putman handed in a Lottery ticket at a shop in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, just before the end of a six-month deadline to claim the money.
Incredibly, he was a winner, in line to receive £2.5 million in prize money.
But Putman’s win was no lucky coincidence. In fact, he’d conspired with friend, Giles Knibbs, a Camelot worker with access to the numbers of unclaimed winning tickets, to produce a counterfeit ticket.
Despite the slip appearing damaged and missing a barcode, Putman, from Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, was paid the jackpot.
The scam went undetected for six years, until Knibbs, having only received £330,000 of his promised £1 million share of the ill-gotten gains from Putman, confessed to friends before sadly taking his own life.
Jurors at St Albans Crown Court found Putman, 54, guilty of fraud by false representation in October 2019 and he was sentenced to nine years in prison.
To this day, the genuine winning ticket, which was bought in Worcester, has not been discovered.
MONEY-SPINNER
Maria Michaela scammed banks out of a whopping £13 million over an eight-month period between August 2007 and April 2008.
Esta historia es de la edición August 17, 2020 de WOMAN'S OWN.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August 17, 2020 de WOMAN'S OWN.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Is it ever OK to lie about your age?
Kaye Adams has done it, and even Mel B jokes that she doesn't believe friend Geri Horner is 51. We ask...
‘I DIDN'T THINK.I'D SEE MUM AGAIN'int ICAT AFAR
MelB on rebuilding her life rebuilding her life after her abusive’ marriage
8 WAYS TO BECOME A MORNING PERSON
Improve body and mind with just a few simple tweaks to your daily routine
WHY YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST LOVE
(laire Dore, 50, learnt a lot from her first serious relationship
WHAT'S THE NAKED ATTRACTION ?
After a host of celebrities admitted to stripping off behind closed doors, Natalie Brown, 43, decided to bare all to find out just what all the fuss was about
MY FURY AT BEING A GRAN AT 52
Shona Sibary was far from excited when her eldest daughter welcomed her first child
A YEAR IN THE MAKING
Many of us shy away from drastic change but for these three women, it was just what they needed
I LOST 6ST AND FOUND THE REAL ME!
Shay Al-Ajami May, 32, was fed up pretending to be happy, so she decided to make it a reality
WHAT DO YOUR FEET SAY ABOUT YOUR HEALTH?
From heart disease to arthritis, here’s what they might be trying to tell you…
HOW CAN WE HELP OUR CHILDREN?
With more young people facing mental-health crises, we investigate what needs to be done