‘Scary and crippling'- victims of facility takeover fraud speak out

Fraud victims are preyed upon by organised criminals, faceless fraudsters and sometimes even those close to them.

While identity fraud has until lately been favoured by fraudsters, the current recession has seen an alarming swing to facility (or account) takeover fraud, with damaging consequences for the victims.

Facility takeover occurs when the fraudster, rather than impersonating a victim, secretly hijacks and plunders a victim's account. In 2008, Members of CIFAS - the UK's Fraud Prevention Service - reported a 207% increase in this type of fraud when compared with 2007,

"The worst thing is not knowing who to trust" says Selina Hall - whose credit card account was compromised to fund multiple online purchases over just a few days. Selina was lucky that this sudden spend was out of character and her card provider called her to verify these transactions. Of course, she was able to confirm that she had not made the purchases, so that they could be stopped.

For Selina, however, the experience has been deeply unsettling. "I've always been worried about having my details stolen and being impersonated, but in this case they did not even have to go to those lengths. I've been left wondering who broke into my accounts and how? I feel trapped: as though I can no longer use my own accounts for fear of having it happen again. The uncertainty has been scary."

A similarly upsetting experience happened to Peter Ayres and his partner, whose joint account was practically emptied.

"We'd gone away for the weekend and my partner went to the cash machine one afternoon only to come back utterly white with shock. What should have been an account with several thousand pounds in it was down to just a few hundred" said Mr Ayres.

Having checked previous statements, Mr Ayres noticed that there were numerous small transactions taken out over the previous 6 weeks, before the account was nearly emptied in one swoop. The stress of the experience led to his partner needing to take time off work.

"It's been crippling and has taken so much effort to get sorted out. We're still not there yet. My partner went into panic attacks and I feel quite paranoid. I'm not sure whether to trust anyone I speak to, and even wonder whether the money was stolen by an acquaintance or colleague."

Richard Hurley, CIFAS Communications Manager, comments: "Anyone who thinks that fraud is a victimless crime should think again. The financial costs can be bad enough, but the emotional and psychological effects are unquantifiable. The financial damage to fraud victims like Ms Hall and Mr Ayres may eventually be undone, but the anxiety that they and their partners have suffered, and the effort required to get the problem rectified should not be underestimated.

"Cases such as these just go to demonstrate how parasitic fraudsters are: funding their own lifestyle with no thought for the scope of the damage that they inflict."