Statistics show that within the Cumbria Police remit in the past year, the following were three of the most reported categories of fraud by individuals: Online shopping and auctions; Advance fee frauds; Cheque, plastic card and online bank accounts. There were 1,575 fraud reports in total and this was worth £5.3m in reported losses.*

Lesley Snodden, Financial Crime Manager at The Cumberland, explains the on-going process of helping to protect our customers from fraud.

“We’re continuously reviewing what we have in place and how we can improve it. We have implemented new systems this year to better protect our customers and we’re always keeping up to date with latest trends and fraud across the industry so we can identify if our customers are being targeted with similar.”

To better understand our customer’s needs, we’ve been busy on our social media channels on the run up to Fraud Awareness Week, asking which areas of fraud they would like to receive more information about.

Two hot topics that were brought to our attention were ‘common online scams to avoid’ and ‘how to protect your personal information’.

We’ve put together some information on the latest trends in conjunction with our Financial Crime team, to help to answer some of your questions.

What To Do If You Believe That You’ve Been A Victim Of Fraud

As a Cumberland customer, if you suspect that you’ve been a victim of fraud then please call us on 01228 403141 (Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm and Saturday 8.30am to 4pm) or visit your local branch as soon as possible to discuss how we can help. If your call is out-of-hours then please leave a voicemail explaining the problem and leaving your name and contact number.

You can also report Fraud and Cyber Crime via the national Action Fraud website which has lots of information and you may find the following pages useful starting points:

Help and Advice

Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The service is run by the City of London Police working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) who are responsible for assessment of the reports and to ensure that your fraud reports reach the right place. The City of London Police is the national policing lead for economic crime.

Their information includes free cybercrime protection and fraud and cyber crime protection for individuals.

*Stats taken from NFIB Fraud and Cyber Crime Dashboard
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud-stats
(Police area: Cumbria, 9th Oct 2023 – 8th October 2024)
These figures are based on a rolling 12 months of data from Action Fraud. Only fraud and cyber crime offences amounting to a crime under the Home Office Crime Recording rules are included. Victim is indicated as an individual based on selection during the reporting process and this has not been verified.