Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
DATA SHOWS INTERNET FRAUD RISE IS FAR FROM OVER – EXPERTS CALL FOR ACTION
Crime statistics being released by law enforcement agencies worldwide tell an unhappy story – that online fraud is growing fast. Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, estimates that 80% of reported fraud in the UK in the 2021/2022 reporting year was cyber-enabled (1).…
UK TO CLAMP DOWN ON SLAPP IN FOLLOW UP TO ECONOMIC CRIME BILL
The UK is clamping down on the abusive use of lawsuits by the wealthy, including Russian oligarchs, to muzzle journalists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) investigating corruption and other economic crimes. A cross-party amendment to the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (1) adopted in the House of Commons, Britain’s lower parliamentary chamber, requires the government to set up an “inquiry into the use of legal intimidation and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) to prevent such actions from being used to prevent economic crime from being uncovered”.…
“COLOSSAL COCK-UP” IN STATE SUPERVISION SEES GBP5 BILLION IN TAXPAYER MONEY LOST TO COVID-19 LOANS FRAUD
Up to GBP5 billion (USD6.56 billion) was lost to fraud through mismanagement of the UK government’s Covid-19 bounce back loan scheme, the House of Commons business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) select committee was told on March 15, after it had summoned bankers and government officials for questioning.…
EU ROUND UP - EPPO IDENTIFIES EUR5.4 BILLION N EU SCAMS WITHIN FIRST SEVEN MONTHS’ OPERATIONS
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has launched its first annual report, saying that by December 31, it had processed 2,832 crime reports, opened 576 investigations (515 still active that day), identified EUR5.4 billion in estimated damages to European Union (EU) budgets and seized EUR147.3 million from alleged criminals.…
UK LAW TO FORCE INTERNET GIANTS TO ACT AGAINST ONLINE SCAMMERS
Social media platforms and search engines are facing tough new sanctions after a new legal duty was added to the UK government’s Online Safety Bill to clamp down on fraudulent paid for adverts. The original draft provisions of the bill said search engines and platforms which host user-generated content, including text, video-sharing and live streams, were to have a duty of care to protect people from fraud, such as romance scams and fake stock market tips.…
CYBERSECURITY TECH AND GUIDANCE RAMPS UP AS INTERNET FRAUD KEEPS GROWING
As the world moves on from the Covid-19 pandemic, the shift to living and working more online is proving permanent, bringing a sustained greater risk of cybercrime, not least ransomware attacks. The risk has been recognised by the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 9 proposing mandatory cybersecurity disclosure for public companies, with standardised cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident reporting. …
LATVIAN COSMETICS AND PERSONAL CARE INDUSTRY RESPOND TO UKRAINE INVASION
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having an impact in other countries bordering Russia. Take Latvia – Alexei Nechayev, a Russian MP who has been hit by EU sanctions, owns cosmetics company Faberlic which has its subsidiary in Latvia, Faberlic Baltija.…
UKRAINIAN COSMETICS INDUSTRY COLLAPSES FOLLOWING RUSSIAN INVASION
The Ukrainian cosmetics industry has been hit hard by Russia’s invasion, forcing many producers to halt production and close their businesses. The country’s personal care products market had been projected to generate USD2. 9 billion in sales during 2022 by data service Statista (1) and has been steadily growing year on year.…
NEW ZEALAND’S BUTTER EXPORT SECTOR EMERGES FIGHTING FIT FROM COVID-19 PANDEMIC
NEW Zealand’s butter industry is thriving, despite the disruption of Covid-19 and now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with strong export demand particularly from China but also from other markets worldwide, especially in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) bloc. Major exporter Fonterra is also looking ahead to a world that increasingly cracks down on carbon emissions, introducing the first carbon-zero certified organic butter made in NZ, reflecting how consumers are seeking more sustainability in their food purchases.…
ANTI-FRAUD INVESTIGATOR SALARIES RISE AS FINANCIAL CRIME CONTINUES TO GROW
With fraud levels booming – a PwC report released last May (2021) said 47% of more than 5,000 interviewees’ companies suffered an average of six frauds in the previous two years – anti-fraud professional salaries are growing. (1)
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) will release its next anti-fraud sector salary survey in the summer, but Mason Wilder, an ACFE research specialist confirmed pay is “going up – as are most wages and salaries in professional fields”.…