NFIB cracks ticketing fraud code
The NFIB has made its first big strike against financial crime after helping the City of London Police break up an international ticketing fraud exploiting major sporting and musical events.
Detectives acted on Bureau intelligence to arrest three men and one woman, aged 28, 42, 48 and 60, at addresses across London and Waltham Abbey on suspicion of fraud by false representation.
The police activity followed an investigation into a criminal gang that set up worldwidetickets.com, and later gigsport.com, to sell tickets for the Reading Festival and concerts including the Black Eyed Peas and Michael Buble.
The NFIB is studying complaints from 265 victims, passed on by Trading Standards and Action Fraud, who are estimated to have lost a total of £40,000 on non-existent tickets.
One woman reported how she had flown from South Africa to the UK having paid £1,800 for three Wimbledon Centre Court tickets.
The investigation, codenamed Operation Cyborg, is one of several cases in the month ahead where police will be drawing on NFIB intelligence to lead them to the doorsteps of suspected criminals.
The City of London Police runs the NFIB and its Head of Economic Crime, Det Chief Supt Steve Head, said:
“Today we saw how the NFIB is going to change the rules of engagement in favour of all those who are working to fight fraud.
“Without the Bureau many more people could have fell victim to a criminal gang who we believe to have already conned hundreds of people into paying large sums of money for non-existent tickets.
“I now look forward to police forces across the country using NFIB intelligence to track down the fraudsters who are destroying lives, damaging businesses and costing the UK economy billions of pounds.”
More public and private sector bodies are now being asked to sign-up to the project, share their fraud data and help the NFIB to cut crime.
Det Ch Supt Head added:
“The NFIB provides the opportunity for the country to work together to turn the tables on fraudsters and make them and not us the targets.
“That we have reached this point is a tribute to the support of the Home Office and our data providers. It is now up to all us to ensure the NFIB goes from strength to strength and becomes an integral part of the efforts to build a society more resistant to fraud.”
Bernard Herdan, CEO of the National Fraud Authority, said:
“A case like this shows the importance of the public reporting fraud and how this contributes to an effective enforcement response. We urge anyone who has lost money to any type of fraud to contact Action Fraud so the police can bring more criminals to justice.”
