The Yahoo Boys: The men behind online romance scams Life&Style In an extract from his new book The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos, journalist CARLOS BARRAGÁN travels to Lagos to uncover the truth behind romance scams When journalist Carlos Barragán’s mother fell in love with a man she had never met, it seemed too good to be true. She would [...]
HSBC coughs up $25m over Australian scam failures Banking HSBC has agreed to cough up just shy of $25m after admitting to failures in protecting customers in Australia from scammers. The Australian arm of Europe’s biggest lender was investigated by the watchdog over alleged “widespread and systematic failures” to shield its customers targeted by fraudsters. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it [...]
City calls on tech firms to tackle Britain’s fraud epidemic Tech Canada Corporation is calling on tech firms to help build a new digital identity verification network, designed to crack down on fraud and reduce the growing costs of financial scams. Under the plans, shared with Morning Wire, consumers would verify their identity once with a trusted provider before reusing those credentials across [...]
Banks push for tech giants to share scam ad costs March 5, 2026 Social media companies are facing renewed calls to help pay for tackling online fraud, as the UK prepares to unveil its updated national fraud strategy. The Payments Association said platforms like Meta Platforms and X should take greater responsibility for scam adverts that appear on their sites, arguing they profit from the ads, while banks [...]
F1 fans left furious after Viagogo ticket failure December 15, 2025 Dozens of Formula 1 fans who spent enormous sums, including one couple who spent £16,173, have been left furious after Viagogo tickets failed to deliver promised entry to the Abu Dhabi post-race concerts, Morning Wire understands. The concerts – headlined by Benson Boone, Metallica, Post Malone and Katy Perry – were explicitly advertised on the [...]
How AI hoaxes could move markets December 11, 2025 If a fake image of a collapsed bridge can stop trains imagine what else AI generated scams could do? Asks John Oxley Last week, a few dozen trains around Carlisle were delayed. It appears to be an unremarkable story, especially for anyone familiar with the state of British railways. The cause, however, was novel: a [...]
Crinkled paper to fake logos: Businesses face surge in expense scams November 18, 2025 Businesses are experiencing a sharp rise in fraudulent attempts at expenses, as AI has made it easier to replicate receipts. Over the last three months, Google searches for ‘AI receipts’ have soared by 340 per cent, as employees look to take advantage of AI-generated capabilities to submit fake expenses. A recent study by SAP Concur [...]
UK telecom giants sign new pact to block scam calls as AI drives fraud November 5, 2025 Britain’s biggest mobile networks have agreed to overhaul their systems to stop scammers using fake numbers to impersonate banks and government departments. As ministers seek to stem the growing tide of AI-driven fraud, BT, EE, Vodafone, Three, Virgin Media O2, Sky, TalkTalk and Tesco Mobile have signed a new telecoms charter with the Home Office. [...]
Barclays battles to take down scam impersonation website July 16, 2025 Barclays has battled to take down a scam impersonation website that could have stolen millions from its customers. The website, which called itself “Barclays Finance”, featured the Barclays logo and included “Barclays” in its domain name, was identified by Morning Wire on Monday and claimed to be able to process money transfer payments on behalf [...]
Scammer City boss on the hook for £64m after fraud scheme June 21, 2025 A City boss compared to the The Wolf Of Wall Street has been ordered to pay back £64m over his role in a multi-million pound Ponzi-style investment scam, prosecutors said. Anthony Constantinou remains on the run after he fled the UK during his fraud trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court in June 2023. Hundreds of [...]