We Fight Fraud Online Conference 28th April: Police and Ex-Criminals Team Up to Protect Businesses Against COVID-19 Related Crime

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LONDON, April 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- We Fight Fraud (WFF), the unique fraud prevention team, has warned businesses that the lockdown imposed as a result of the Coronavirus has resulted in a surge in attacks, which WFF believe to represent a rise of at least 25% and could be as high as 80%^[1]. To help businesses and other organisations, WFF has announced a free online conference on 28^th April that brings together leading law enforcers, subject experts and ex-criminals - including, a fraudster, a senior mafia figure and a hacker to give businesses the insider knowledge they need to prevent and fight financial crime. It is believed to be the first time a group like this has appeared in public to help protect the public and business.

Keynote speakers in the team include:

• Tony Sales – Tony, who was dubbed Britain's greatest fraudster. Tony now provides advice to some of the world's leading brands on their fraud and loss prevention strategies. Tony is a TV regular on BBC's Watchdog, Channel 5's Nailing the Fraudsters among other shows.
• Andy McDonald - Andy was formerly Head of Specialist Investigations at SO15 Counter Terrorism Command, and UK National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU). He was previously also head of the Metropolitan Police Fraud Squad at New Scotland Yard.
• Solomon Gilbert –Solomon was arrested and expelled from school aged 17 when the police discovered 2 million stolen credit card numbers on his home PC. Since then he has worked with the National Crime Agency, Home Office, regional police forces, and private enterprise.

John Marsden, head of fraud prevention for EMEA at global information and insights company, TransUnion, will also be speaking at the conference. "As social distancing changes shopping patterns, fraudsters are looking to take advantage. In fact, our recent survey of more than a thousand adults in the UK found 23% of them said they had been a target of digital fraud related to COVID-19. As more consumer information is compromised with these schemes, it is critical that businesses protect themselves." 

Steve Taklalsingh, Managing Director of Amaiz, the banking app agreed, "We have done everything we can to make our services as secure as it is possible to be, including using state of the art biometrics. However, attacks often exploit human vulnerabilities. To guard against those, businesses need to be educated on how the mind of a criminal works. This is a great opportunity to find out."

To book a seat at the conference go to www.wefightfraud.org/live. Keynote presentations are free but some of the sessions cost £20 to attend (profits to NHS).

The conference is also supported by Cifas (the UK's fraud prevention service) Responsive Digital Solutions (IT Specialists), Askaris (business-critical business technology support), Police Digital Security Centre, B-Secured (events security company) Aryaka (a digital network company) and JCBcs (data compliance company).

[1] These figures are based on WFF's own review of current cyber-attacks.

SOURCE We Fight Fraud