Speaker Meeting, 6.15 for 6.30pm

President Terry was delighted to welcome Friend of Rotary Neil McCallum to this meeting.

Neil's area of expertise is the prevention and deterrence of fraud, in particular through the effective management of information systems. After a range of public sector roles in security and information management he has, over the past 3 decades led a number of international development projects and study programmes, working with investigators, public servants, politicians and civil society on how to use information to reduce fraud and corruption opportunities.  

Neil described some of the many fraud risks that members, their families and friends might be exposed to in today’s world. These include:

• Non-delivery Frauds, where fraudsters pretend to be a service or goods supplier, take payment and then, as the name implies, fail to deliver the items ordered. 
• Telecom Frauds, in which someone claiming to be a friend or relative contacts the victim by email, telephone or social media asking for a loan or pretends to be a person in a position of authority such as a police officer, NHS worker or a tax collector requiring payment of a debt. 
• Boiler Room Frauds, where people are contacted with seemingly amazing investment opportunities.
• Romance Scams, in which over email or more usually social media, someone befriends and develops a relationship which leads to requests for money.
• Sextortion, where victims are tricked by an attractive stranger into participating in naked video chats which are secretly recorded and subsequently used for blackmail.
• Payment Card abuses, where fraudsters obtain card details and pin numbers through a range of tricks.

Neil also mentioned the risks of money laundering criminal acts some people have been inadvertently exposed to, and described a case study in which fraudsters used the pandemic to try to cheat health authorities which were trying to source masks. 

In general, Neil recommended that if one felt there was a risk of an attempted fraud, it is best to keep all communications, to take notes of all conversations and if possible record them and keep all such evidence safe. 

He summed up his advice as follows:

• If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
• Successful fraudsters target the person, not the money.
• Fraud has now become industrial in scale, global in reach and with clear links to human trafficking.
• It has always been opportunist in nature, exploiting natural disasters and people’s trust and desire to help others.

Neil concluded by saying in his opinion the person too clever to be defrauded hasn't been born yet. We are all potentially vulnerable and the key ways of staying safe are to be less trusting of people you don’t know, suspicious of any unsolicited approaches and to never share personal and financial information unless you are absolutely sure you know who you are dealing with. 

Neil and a colleague of his have started a new initiative whereby they offer free advice and guidance to groups about fraud risks and how to reduce them. He invited members to suggest groups which may find a talk welcome and to share information widely about this offer.