ATM crime is on the rise in Britain, with criminals using advanced technology to obtain cardholders’ bank details.

Millions of pounds are stolen from customers every single month, and police in London expect to see a sharp rise during the Olympic Games this summer.

“The criminals constantly try and evolve their technology to beat the technology the banks put in place. It’s a constant battle to try and work out where the criminal is going next,” said DCI Paul Barnard, head of The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit.

Improved security by banks has meant there has been a significant reduction in cash machine fraud during the past year. Cash machine fraud fell by 12% to £29.3 million last year from £33.2 million in 2010.

But it is still an ongoing problem, and officers are warning that there could be as many as 1,000 cash-point gangs still operating in the UK.

The majority of cash machine fraud is committed by one nationality, which has something of a monopoly on the trade.

“The fact is 92% of all ATM fraud we see in this country is committed by Romanian nationals. Very, very tight communities, very tight gangs,” added DCI Barnard.

The gangs use a number of different techniques to obtain the bank details of cardholders, from hidden cameras recording a PIN to even constructing entire ATM fascias.

“Although cash card fraud has decreased in the past year, it is still an issue that cardholders need to be aware of,” said a spokesman for Financial Fraud Action UK.

“If they think a card machine has been tampered with, they should immediately end the transaction and use an alternative ATM.”

The most common type of cash machine fraud is skimming, whereby a device is fitted to the machine which reads a customer’s bank details. The details are put on another card, and the thieves use the recording of the PIN to withdraw money.

“If you spot any transactions you didn’t make, contact your card issuer immediately,” added the Financial Fraud Action UK spokesman.

“If you are the innocent victim of card fraud you have legal protection and should not suffer any financial loss.”

A good way to protect yourself from fraud is by using a prepaid card. These are not tied to a bank account and have a specified amount on them, so you won’t see your account drained should it be stolen.

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The financial executive was jailed for 3 years during Belfast Crown Court

A financial executive who stole some-more than £1m from his employers after uncovering a “weakness” in their accountancy complement has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Gary Moore, 47, from Roddens Park in Belfast, was told by a decider that his seven-year rascal represented a “serious crack of trust”.

The competent accountant assimilated Howdens UK Ltd in 1987.

He stole £1,048,368.91 between May 2004 and Mar 2011.

Belfast Crown Court listened how Moore worked his approach adult by a ranks of a financial dialect during a vast scale production firm.

He eventually became financial executive in assign of 3 comparison and 9 youth staff members.

Prosecuting counsel Ian Tannahill, told a justice that essentially, Moore unclosed a debility in a accountancy complement that authorised him to write cheques, that should have been voided and sent behind to a bank, to himself “for his possess benefit”.

The “sophisticated, good designed and executed embezzlement” was unclosed when there was a query over one such coupon and when Moore got breeze of that, he sent his bosses an e-mail revelation to all he had finished and to what he had stolen.

He after pleaded guilty to a burglary of a income and carrying vacant HSBC cheques for use in a fraud.

Defence counsel Arthur Harvey, pronounced when a rascal was uncovered, Moore co-operated entirely with a investigation, identifying a accounting debility to a organisation and assisting to retard that hole.

His bank accounts were also solidified and it was found that around £700,000 of a stolen monies had not been spent.

Mr Harvey pronounced Moore, who was on a income in a segment of £70,000 per year with a probability of bonuses to be combined on, used a money to financial costly holidays.

He added, however, that a former executive had already paid a complicated chastisement as he had mislaid his job, his good repute and his grant that had been built-up given he assimilated a organisation some-more than 20 years ago.

Ordering that Moore spend 15 months in control and 27 months on looseness when released, Judge Patrick Lynch told him that notwithstanding his guilty plea, transparent record and “genuine remorse…a jail judgment is inevitable” given a volume stolen and a crack of trust.

Tom Ferguson: Financial Fraud Commission could be used to slow down investigations taking place at the State level

Watch more @ www.youtube.com twitter.com twitter.com US congress today approved an extension of the payroll tax cut for two months…putting off a tax increase for millions of workers. So, after much partisan politicking, they did it — saving face for the moment, but could it hurt their stock price headed into the 2012 elections? You heard me right. We’ll talk about the political derivatives market a Chicago exchange is betting on. Would it be a continuation of a climate on wall street that encourages special treatment that our guest, fiancial journalist and inventor of the virtual specialist technology, Max Keiser, calls “the special olympics for financial fraud.” And speaking of derivatives, those bets added fuel to the fire that engulfed the financial markets in 2008…most famously seen in the explosion and bailout of AGI (backdoor bailout of the big banks like goldman sachs, jp morgan, bank of america, etc.). More recently, MF Global customer money used to trade on these exchanges went missing. So where do futures exchanges come from and where have they gone wrong? From Ancient Greece to MF Global we’ll break it down. And, heading into 2012 — will it be a happy new year for the US economy? Maybe not. Economists predict sluggish 2 percent growth, an economy held down by housing troubles, government budget cuts, and a lousy job market. That didn’t stop hoards of people from lining up at malls and waiting all night for a chance to buy the 175 dollar “IT” Air Jordans …
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Understand far more at Best Credit Cards

The first step that you need to have to take is to obtain a cost-free credit report on the internet. You also have an alternative of calling a credit agency. It is worthwhile pointing out that every single person is given a permission of one cost-free credit report on an yearly basis.

Apart from taking this step, it is really important that you file a police report as well. To accomplish this, you simply need to have to call the polices officials of one’s locality. Obtaining a challenging copy with the police report just isn’t that tough offered your complaint is registered.

One more crucial factor that you need to have to accomplish is to explain your entire predicament for your financial institution and freeze all of your accounts. In some instances, it is also a superb alternative to modify your account number so that nobody can access it freely. You should call the phone number that’s pointed out on the credit card back portion. With this, you’ll get to understand about each of the costs that are associated with your credit card.

To report credit card fraud, you also have an alternative with the Federal Trade Commission. The very best element about Federal Trade Commission is the fact that they are going to be capable of offer you additional inputs with regard for your credit record.

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Make sure that you contact your credit organization right away and explained to them that your card has been misused or stolen. Whenever you contact them, you’ll uncover that they are going to place a fraud alert on it. At the time of finding a cost-free credit report, it is often a very best alternative to take initiative from the start off as opposed to wasting time as it can ruin the predicament even more. You’d be surprised to hear that often new details will take some time to obtain incorporated inside your credit report.

To avoid credit card frauds, it is recommended that you opt for a safe on the internet banking account with the aid of one’s financial institution. This will likely offer you an opportunity to monitor costs that are being linked up with your card.

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