UK Passport

Some 10,000 passports a year are probably thrown in bins, says the UK’s Identity and Passport Service (IPS).  Launching a campaign urging people to keep passports safe, it warns the same number are lost in bars and clubs.

The IPS said it had had reports of passports being stolen at gunpoint in Brazil, lost in jail, and left in the pocket of a coat donated to a tramp.

The IPS based its findings on analysis of applications for replacement passports, which cost £77.50.

Men replace more than 162,500 lost and stolen passports a year compared with about 112,000 by women, the IPS says. Of all the lost and stolen passports in the UK, people in their 20s were responsible for 42.8% of the total – more than twice as many as the next nearest age group. 

Lost and stolen by age

• Teenagers – 6.3%
• 20s – 42.8%
• 30s – 20.8%
• 40s – 12.8%
• 50s – 10.2%
• 60s – 5.3%
• 70s – 1.6%
• 80s – 0.2%

Those in their 30s lost 20.8% followed by people in their 40s, who lost 12.8%.

IPS chief executive Sarah Rapson warned that passports were becoming increasingly attractive to criminal gangs wanting to steal identities.

She said: “It’s really important that you keep it safe both when you are at home and when you’re abroad. “Remember to put your passport away after use. Don’t leave it in a trouser or shirt pocket in the laundry pile.”

Some of the colourful reasons given for why people were parted from their passports include:

• Taxi attacked by gunman on way to airport in Brazil
• Fell out of bag while snowboarding
• Drunk boyfriend (now ex) destroyed it
• Last seen in pocket of a coat donated to tramp
• Wallet stolen at children’s party with passport inside
• Passports stored in safe in Turkish villa, thieves stole safe
• Put in bin by infant daughter; and
• Put on a fire with clothes

The service advised people to keep their passport in a place they can remember and to only carry it when absolutely necessary.

It said people should use alternatives if they needed to prove their age and should keep a note of the number to help speed up the issuing of replacements.

It does come as no surprise, therefore, that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently censured and banned three directors from acting as senior managers for failing to meet their supervisory standards. The FSA investigation found that the directors had been relying too heavily on external consultants for advice on how to run their business.

It is equally unsurprising then that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have also announced that they take the same view to the FSA in relation to businesses meeting their obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations.

HMRC also state that they have no objections to businesses getting advice from external consultants regarding their obligations under the Regulations, as long as the responsibility for complying with the Regulations remains on the business rather than any consultant.

What does come as a surprise is that some consultants, who should frankly understand the Regulations better, have recently offered their services to act as the Nominated Officer for a business. HMRC has no formally announced that it does not consider that a consultant outside the business can be appointed Nominated Officer for any of the businesses HMRC supervise under the Regulations.

Norley Hall allotments in Wigan has been given £5,000, which was raised through the police’s payback scheme.
Under the scheme, money raised by criminals is given to the community.

The allotment was set up to encourage youngsters who had been involved in anti-social and criminal behaviour to give something back to their community.

The young people will use the area to grow flowers and plants which will be given to local victims of crime, police said.
Insp Phil James, of Greater Manchester Police, said the scheme, which is in its first year, had led to a reduction in anti-social behaviour and criminal damage in the area.

Fraud – including scams, online theft, insurance cheats and tax fraud – costs the UK £30bn a year, according to an official estimate.

The National Fraud Authority (NFA) has calculated the figure for the first time and said it equated to £621 per adult in the UK. Some 58% of fraud was in the public sector, at a cost of £17bn, it added.

It said the losses were paid for through taxes and rising prices of products and services.  The highest sector was losses from tax fraud – estimated at £15.2bn – although this was only 3% of tax liabilities, the NFA said.
  
According to the NFA, which is part of the UK Attorney General’s Office, some 31% of losses came in the private sector, with the financial services sector suffering the biggest hit.

It lost an estimated £3.8bn, including £1bn in mortgage fraud. This has prompted the City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, to take a tougher stance against the crime, with a number of brokers having been fined and banned from the industry.

Another £2bn was lost to insurance fraud, and the remainder came from fraudsters targeting online banking, cheques, and plastic cards.

The consumer goods industry lost an estimated £1.3bn a year. Manufacturing suffered losses of £1bn a year, and technology, media and telecommunications lost £948m.

Consumers have also been tricked out of an estimated £3.5bn a year in share, lottery and loan scams. Some 12% of all fraud was suffered by individual consumers.

“Although the figure appears on the face of it far greater than the previous estimate, we know this is because we have included many additional figures that other studies have not,” said NFA chief executive Bernard Herdan.

“With this vital information we can develop clearer priorities to prevent, detect and deter fraudsters. We will use the data to help identify those areas of fraud that cause the most harm to the UK economy”.

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Police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) from the NPT entered the unemployed man’s home yesterday afternoon using a warrant obtained under the Theft Act, as part of an investigation into handling stolen goods.

Inside the property officers found a large number of high-quality electrical goods including a plasma television, stereo system, laptops and computer equipment, and kitchen items, worth thousands of pounds. The man was also found to have £5,200 in cash in his coat pocket.

The man was able to produce receipts for the items, but these were all paid for in cash and he is believed to have been unemployed for a number of years.  He was arrested on suspicion of money laundering, and after being interviewed he was bailed pending further enquiries.

The cash has been seized by the Proceeds of Crime Team, who will now carry out an investigation into the man’s lifestyle to determine how he has acquired his assets without a declared income.

If it can be proved that these assets have been acquired through criminality, the Team can then apply to confiscate them under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Why Should They?
Detective Sergeant Tom Walsh of the City and Holbeck Proceeds of Crime Team said: “Anyone who has expensive possessions but no obvious income must raise eyebrows among people who earn honest livings in our communities, and I would appeal to these residents to contact the Why Should They? campaign if they have any suspicions about how these people have acquired their assets.”

The warrant was carried out following information from the community, and Inspector Damien Miller of the Holbeck NPT said: “We’re keen to show local residents that we’re listening and will act on the information they give us. Warrants like this are a great example and I would encourage people to continue contacting us about the issues they want us to tackle.”

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Steve Head, detective chief superintendent at the City of London Police, says the move represents a significant step forward in what has been a complex investigation.

He says: “The size of the police operation was evidence of the scale of this suspected fraud. It is not just the lenders that are being hit by the fraudsters. Individuals are losing millions and millions of pounds through a range of mortgage frauds, with much of this money being paid into the coffers of criminal networks.”

He adds: “We have a number of significant investigations ongoing and as lenders and borrowers continue to scrutinise their finances I anticipate many more cases being referred to us in the near future. I would ask anyone who has fallen victim to mortgage fraud to contact the City of London Police. The more we know the more difficult we can make it for those committing this highly damaging crime.”
 
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has backed the City of London Police’s crackdown on mortgage fraud.

A spokesperson says: “The SRA works closely with police and other law enforcement organisations to tackle mortgage fraud. Since the start of 2009 the SRA has stepped up its work in relation to mortgage fraud, both through advice and warnings to the profession, and by increasing its detection and investigation resources to prevent, deter and tackle fraud.”

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The plot centers on a complicated conspiracy through a version of ‘missing trader’ fraud which sees the creation of a contrived chain of companies, which claim to subcontract labour for the construction industry, with the sole intention of disappearing before paying the taxes due are payable under the ‘Construction Industry Scheme’ (CIS) to HMRC. These organised criminal gangs, in a bid to steal millions of pounds, pocket the money and hijack legitimate companies along the way.

This conspiracy exploits individuals working in the construction industry and it is believed thousands of construction site workers may have been robbed of the tax and national insurance contributions they have had deducted under the CIS scheme over the last six years.

Adrian Farley, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: “Today’s arrests are the result of strenuous efforts by our teams of dedicated officers to disrupt the sophisticated scams of organised crime gangs behind money laundering activities. This conspiracy by a number of contractors is believed to have resulted in the theft of over £6 million from the public purse, depriving vital public services of much needed investment. We are committed to bringing them to justice and to deprive them of the proceeds of their crime.”

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JJB Sports revealed that it had stated its concerns about possible cartel activity in its market to the OFT which in turn has been granted immunity from any financial penalty in the event that competition rules have been broken.

The investigation follows an approach made by JJB to the OFT on January 30, following the suspension of its then chief executive Chris Ronnie. JJB asked at that time;

“for immunity pursuant to the OFT’s leniency programme in relation to a suspected agreement or concerted practice to dampen competition in the sports retail market in the period from 8 June 2007 to 25 March 2009, being the period in which the former chief executive, Mr Christopher Ronnie, was employed by the company.”

JJB did not name any other individuals or companies in its statement today. However, there was frequent speculation during Ronnie’s tenure about the nature of his relationship with Sports Direct and its founder Mike Ashley for whom Ronnie formerly worked.

OFT officers visited JJB at its Wigan head office this morning. It may be “some years” before the OFT investigation is complete. The retailer said in a released statement

“that in the event that any subsequent immunity agreement, is withdrawn as a result of JJB’s non-compliance with the conditions or as a result of JJB’s evidence being materially undermined in particular circumstances, and an infringement decision is issued by the OFT, JJB “may be liable for a fine from the OFT of up to a maximum amount of 10% of the Group’s turnover”.

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Sanders withheld information from a prospective employer relating to an investigation into him by his former employer which resulted in his suspension. He also failed to disclose to the FSA that he was the subject of an ongoing disciplinary investigation into his conduct by his former employer when applying to the FSA to perform a controlled function.

For the first customer mortgage application, the income as stated in the mortgage application, was substantively higher that that declared by the customer to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In the second mortgage application the income stated in a mortgage application included some of the income of the customer’s parents which was falsely described as his own. And in the third case there were discrepancies in the application about the income sources of the two customers who were making a joint application.

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the FSA, said: “Sanders submitted mortgage applications which he knew to be false and this posed a serious risk to lenders and confidence in the financial system. Our work on mortgage fraud continues as a priority in our campaign against financial crime.”

She added: “We have banned more than 60 mortgage brokers over the last three years and we will continue to ban such people to reinforce the message that knowingly giving false and misleading information to prospective lenders is dishonest. Approved persons must also be open and honest with the FSA and prospective employers about their circumstances. Behaviour which shows lack of honesty and integrity will result in a ban.”

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Identity fraud surged by nearly three quarters in the first half of the year, driven by continued malicious online activity, and the economic slowdown, according to new figures from UK fraud prevention service Cifas.

The organisation was set up to facilitate the sharing of information on identified fraud between its members – which include banks, card companies and insurance firms – in an attempt to prevent further rises in all types of fraud, including online.

It said identity fraud, which includes victims of impersonation as well as the creation of fictitious identities by fraudsters, rose 74 per cent in the first six months of 2009 to over 100,000 cases.

Facility take over fraud – where the fraudster gains access to a user’s account and siphons off funds – rose 40 per cent during the period with over 11,000 cases registered.

There was some good for fraud departments however, with Cifas reporting an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in the financial losses avoided through the fraud data sharing of its members.

“The rise in the numbers of victims, and these very specific types of fraud demonstrate that fraudsters have no regard for economic, social and personal fragility,” argued Cifas chief exeutive Peter Hurst.

“While we all look for solutions to the hardships imposed by the current climate, however, these figures focus attention sharply on what responsible businesses and public sector organisations can achieve through sharing data on proven frauds to reduce losses and ease the burden of the recession upon us all. “

Although not broken out in the survey, it’s believed that much fraudulent activity committed today is card not present (CNP), including online, fraud.

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