• Action Fraud is issuing a warning as reports show that fraudsters are registering domain names to look like they belong to UK university email addresses. 
   
• UK and European supply companies are being defrauded out of vast sums of money as a result of this. 
   
• Fraudsters imitating one university’s address lead to a total victim loss of over £350,000.

How the fraud works

This type of fraud, known as European distribution fraud, happens when a company from overseas (usually from Europe) delivers products to the UK, but isn’t paid for the goods or the cost of shipping.
 
Fraudsters are registering domains that are similar to genuine university domains such as xxxxacu-uk.org, xxxxuk-ac.org and xxxacu.co.uk. These domains are used to contact suppliers and order high value goods such as IT equipment and pharmaceutical chemicals in the university’s name. 
 
Suppliers will receive an email claiming to be from a university, requesting a quotation for goods on extended payment terms....

This police blog continues, Read More...

It was the grandest of adventures – my life in blue. 

I remember the moment I first knew that I wanted to be a Copper. The PC walking down the other side of Hammersmith Broadway won’t have seen the tentative schoolboy standing at the bus stop. But I saw him. And, from that moment on, I never seriously considered doing anything else.

I remember being driven through the gates at Hendon for the first time, all nerves and expectation. Sergeant Parkes was at the wheel of the minibus, with half a dozen of us sitting in the back, wide-eyed and wondering.

I remember the marching and polishing and running and revising.

I remember my first day on patrol and my first vehicle stop. I remember being terrified. I remember catching my reflection in tall shop windows and that unmistakeable sense of pride at who I was becoming.

I remember my first armed incident.

I remember my first nickname: Tarquin or, more often, Tarkers. Apparently, I talked a bit posh.

I remember my first arrest, my first dead body, my first car crash, my first pub fight, my...

This police blog continues, Read More...

Cyber criminals are sending victims their own passwords in an attempt to trick them into believing they have been filmed on their computer watching porn and demanding payment. 

There have been over 110 of reports made to Action Fraud from concerned victims who have received these scary emails. 

In a new twist not seen before by Action Fraud, the emails contain the victim’s own password in the subject line. Action Fraud has contacted several victims to verify this information, who have confirmed that these passwords are genuine and recent. 
 

The emails demand payment in Bitcoin and claim that the victim has been filmed on their computer watching porn. 

An example email reads;

I'm aware, XXXXXX is your password. You don't know me and you're probably thinking why you are getting this mail, right? 

Well, I actually placed a malware on the adult video clips (porno) web site and guess what, you visited this website to experience fun (you know what I mean). While you were...

This police blog continues, Read More...