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Paul McCarthy , Key Account Manager for Santander for Intermediaries , talks to Tracey Carr , Santander ’ s Head of Fraud Investigations about current issues relating to the fraud market .
Paul McCarthy
Key Account Manager Santander
Tracey manages a team that completes intricate and sensitive investigations at a very high level to protect the bank against fraud and all risk related issues . She leads Santander in terms of embedding appropriate and effective controls to minimise the risk to the bank from a regulatory , reputational and mitigation perspective .
First of all , we can ’ t ignore coronavirus , so what have you seen fraud wise since lockdown ?
No ! Typically we ’ re pretty much seeing what we saw before coronavirus :
1 False income documentation – document factories
1 Scheme abuse with Buy-to-Let mortgages being used for residential purposes
1 Facilitated salary credits
1 Cyber fraud – where there ’ s email interception by a fraudster and changing of the bank account details so that deposits go to another bank account
1 Data manipulation for example the non-disclosure of dependents .
What is currently trending in fraud ?
Well , The National Crime Agency ( NCA ) reported a huge rise of 68 % for coronavirus related SARS in the first week of June ( over the previous week ). In addition , we ’ re seeing :
1 PPE procurement fraud and fraudulent application / misuse of government stimulus packages such Bounce Back Loans ( BBLS ) continue
1 The Government ’ s furlough fraud hotline received more than 3,000 reports of wrongful claims up to 12th June . Employers were given 30 days to ‘ own up ’ before HMRC begins their investigations
1 Ransomware attacks increased by 120 % since February 2020 and are now widespread
1 A growing number of entrepreneurs and business owners have seen their business ’ be at risk , so they ’ re being targeted by ‘ Fraud Gangs ’ to provide a channel for money laundering in exchange for a share of the proceeds .