The Top most Common Types of Fraud!

When you become the victim of fraud, not only do you have to deal with the aftermath of someone scamming you, such as financial loss, but you also have to deal with the emotional side of it.

There are a range of different types of fraud, either way all of them can cause feelings of anger, devastation, fear and frustration. 

Do you think you have been the victim of fraud? At the TCG Forensic Division, we offer a range of digital forensic services, including fraud investigations. Please feel free to contact us on 021 110 0422 or email contact@tcgforensics.co.za to have a confidential discussion around your particular requirements.

Here are the 11 most common types of fraud to look out for…

1. Insurance Claim Fraud. People who make false claims, such as stage accidents, to receive insurance money from their insurance company. This can be a difficult type of fraud to investigate because some injuries can be difficult to medically identify and debate.  

2. Corporate Fraud. This includes fraud issues such as theft of information, such as private client information. This kind of fraud can lead to a damaged business reputation.

3. Financial Fraud. Evading tax, public corruption, healthcare fraud issues, telemarketing fraud and terrorist financing are all part of financial fraud.

4. Identity Theft. Those who are the victim of identity theft will have to look out for suspicious loan or credit card applications, strange withdrawals from bank accounts as well as using a different name to receive benefits.

5. Internet Fraud. Of course, this type of fraud always occurs online where a cybercriminal will try and take advantage with ransomware or phishing scams. Usually this includes stealing private information such as banking and login details.

6. Corporate Slip & Fall. Fraud like this is planned out by individuals in order to file a claim. People will go as far as to pretend to fall or throwing liquid on the floor in order to ensure a slip.

7. Transit Fraud. Companies who offer transportation, whether it is a bus, train or taxi, will often see fraud such as this where passengers will not seat or secure themselves properly, leading to them falling and injuring themselves on purpose.

8. Ticket Fraud. In some countries, the level of ticket fraud is significant. People will buy tickets online from a fake website; these tickets are not legitimate and have often already been used or do not exist.

9. Mechanical Fraud. This type of fraud is not common, however there are many people who fall victim to mechanics who scam their customers. Often they will be overpriced or they will request things to be fixed that are not broken.

10. Expense Claim Fraud. This often happens in large companies where employees will pocket run over business expenses for themselves. An example could be asking for money to stay in an expensive hotel when in fact they are staying in a cheap accommodation and pocketing the remainder.

11. Inventory Theft. Large companies face the issue of inventory theft when unsupervised employees steal products or order more than the store needs and take the rest for themselves. This may include “expired” food products when they are in fact not expired at all.

4 Scams in South Africa that are on the Rise

It is vital that you do not fall into an online scammers trap, especially recently as online scams have been on the rise in South Africa.

Here are the most common signs of these four popular online scams that you need to be aware of in order to not become the next victim.

Online Goods. Scammers love to target those who are selling valuables online. They may tell you that they want to meet and pick up the goods and pay via EFT. Either they will reverse the transfer once they have received the goods or they will send you fake proof of payment.

Always meet in a safe, public environment and rather accept payments in cash only.

Account Information. If you receive an email or SMS from your bank claiming that your account number or information has been changed, be very wary! A lot of people fall for this and end up paying a scammer for absolutely nothing, believing that it is a legitimate message from their bank.

If you receive messages like this, rather contact your bank to double-check that it is real.

Phone Blocking. Similar to other scams where you unknowingly give out your private information, a scammer will block your phone so you cannot see that they are withdrawing your money. This means you can’t take the correct steps to stop the scam because you do not realise it is happening.

Fake Loans. If you apply for a loan online be aware of fake companies. They are easy to spot because they will approve your loan, regardless of the amount you request, however, there will be an initiation fee to get the loan.

Do not ever pay a fee in order to receive a loan!

Have you been the victim of a scam? Please contact our OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) department on 021 110 0422 or email contact@osint.co.za

Using OSINT to Detect and Prevent Online Fraud!

These days most of our purchases these days are being made online. You can buy everything online from clothing, a new car, groceries and so much more.

Unfortunately, because of this, there is a rise in the amount of online fraud occurring. Find out about our OSINT services and how you can be safe and secure online.

All across the internet fraud and illegal activities are continuously growing and those who are involved in manufacturing, insurance industries and finances are experiencing an even higher increase of fraud, leading to significant financial loss.

Did you know that it is estimated that 2% of the world’s total current output comes from illegal activity online?

It’s time to fight fraud with open-source intelligence!

Every business or organization knows that it is vital to prevent fraud in order to keep your company healthy and successful.

However, most only think it is necessary to monitor the internal data, but this is only a small fraction of the amount of information available online. In order for you and your business to fight against online fraud, it is important to consider OSINT services.

The primary factor of using our OSINT services is to discover important data that a regular person cannot find on an ordinary search on Google. Why? Because most illegal online activities happen on the deep or dark web.

Are you ready to fight online fraud? Please contact our OSINT division on 021 110 0422 or email contact@osint.co.za if you’d like to find out more or schedule a meeting! Alternatively you can contact our digital forensics department on contact@tcgforensics.co.za

What can be done about Identity Theft?

With millions of people affected by identity theft every year, this online crime is nothing new. But as the years go by we will see fraudsters going to extreme lengths in order to steal your private information.

One method that will be widespread is using captured online videos. But how will this work? Online criminals will post fake job vacancies and request a short video and/or a meeting over Skype. 

Regardless of how they will obtain the video, they will have a recording of you talking about yourself, this will aide them when they open an online bank account!

Why is this happening? As banks try to compete to get the attention of the younger generation they will focus more on how easy the banking application is to use instead of focusing on the long term benefits of signing up.

What can we do?

Prevention is vital. Always be vigilant and keep in mind that your digital information is just as valuable as your physical documents and paperwork…

Have you been the victim of identity theft? We will do what we can to assist you! Contact The TCG Digital Forensics Division today on 021 110 0422 or email contact@tcgforensics.co.za

11 Common Types of Fraud

When you become the victim of fraud, not only do you have to deal with the aftermath of someone scamming you, such as financial loss, but you also have to deal with the emotional side of it.

There are a range of different types of fraud, either way all of them can cause feelings of anger, devastation, fear and frustration. 

Do you think you have been the victim of fraud? At the TCG Forensic Division, we offer a range of digital forensic services, including fraud investigations. Please feel free to contact us on 087 001 0523 or email contact@tcgforensics.co.za to have a confidential discussion around your particular requirements.

Here are the 11 most common types of fraud to look out for…

1. Insurance Claim Fraud. People who make false claims, such as stage accidents, to receive insurance money from their insurance company. This can be a difficult type of fraud to investigate because some injuries can be difficult to medically identify and debate.  

2. Corporate Fraud. This includes fraud issues such as theft of information, such as private client information. This kind of fraud can lead to a damaged business reputation.

3. Financial Fraud. Evading tax, public corruption, healthcare fraud issues, telemarketing fraud and terrorist financing are all part of financial fraud.

4. Identity Theft. Those who are the victim of identity theft will have to look out for suspicious loan or credit card applications, strange withdrawals from bank accounts as well as using a different name to receive benefits.

5. Internet Fraud. Of course, this type of fraud always occurs online where a cybercriminal will try and take advantage with ransomware or phishing scams. Usually this includes stealing private information such as banking and login details.

6. Corporate Slip & Fall. Fraud like this is planned out by individuals in order to file a claim. People will go as far as to pretend to fall or throwing liquid on the floor in order to ensure a slip.

7. Transit Fraud. Companies who offer transportation, whether it is a bus, train or taxi, will often see fraud such as this where passengers will not seat or secure themselves properly, leading to them falling and injuring themselves on purpose.

8. Ticket Fraud. In some countries, the level of ticket fraud is significant. People will buy tickets online from a fake website; these tickets are not legitimate and have often already been used or do not exist.

9. Mechanical Fraud. This type of fraud is not common, however there are many people who fall victim to mechanics who scam their customers. Often they will be overpriced or they will request things to be fixed that are not broken.

10. Expense Claim Fraud. This often happens in large companies where employees will pocket run over business expenses for themselves. An example could be asking for money to stay in an expensive hotel when in fact they are staying in a cheap accommodation and pocketing the remainder.

11. Inventory Theft. Large companies face the issue of inventory theft when unsupervised employees steal products or order more than the store needs and take the rest for themselves. This may include “expired” food products when they are in fact not expired at all.