Anti-fraud body set to come to channel's aid
Members can pay £500 a year to receive advice and education from industry experts
Channel players could receive a boost in their fight against fraud with the launch of a new organisation set up to help businesses to tackle fraud in all of its guises.
The Fraud Prevention Network (FPN), due to launch on 21 March, has been devised by P&A Receivables Services, a credit management and debt collection company.
Laurie Beagle, architect of the FPN and divisional director at P&A, told CRN: “Fraud is the fastest-growing industry in the UK. Losses [caused by fraud] have overtaken traditional bad-debt write-offs. I run the investigations division at P&A. We decided the best way to protect companies [against fraud] was to establish a network and train people on fraud-prevention measures.”
For an annual fee of £500, FPN members will receive: an evaluation of their company’s existing fraud-prevention processes; a staff assessment; quarterly meetings where members can meet people from all fields and receive training on fraud prevention; a dedicated helpline; and a web site giving advice on fraud prevention.
“A lot of my staff are ex-policemen and fraud specialists, so FPN members will receive advice from experts. We cover all types of fraud, from money laundering and card-not-present [CNP] fraud, to online and VAT carousel fraud.”
Figures released last week by the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS), and revealed by CRN online, showed that UK card fraud losses fell by £65m to £439.4m in 2005. There was a reduction in all card fraud types except CNP, which rose by 21 per cent to £183.2m.
Mark Bowerman, a representative at APACS, said: “Anything that helps companies to tackle fraud is a good idea. But VARs will have to decide whether the benefits outweigh the cost of FPN membership.”
Robin Barker, a director at VAR Blueloop, said: “We haven’t had a single case of fraud for our business-to-business sector. However, we do run a consumer web site where we sell specialist sporting software, and we have experienced several cases of fraud through that.”
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