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  • Sam: Hello I’m Sam and welcome to 6

  • Minute English. This is the programme

  • where in just six minutes

  • we discuss an interesting topic and teach

  • some related English vocabulary. Joining

  • me to do this is Rob.

  • Rob: Hello. And today were talking about

  • fraud.

  • Sam: Fraud is the criminal activity of

  • getting money by deceiving peopleor

  • tricking people by doing something

  • dishonest.

  • Rob: There are many ways to do this

  • and much

  • of it is happening online these days.

  • Sam: Well talk more about this in a

  • moment.

  • But first, a very honest quiz question for

  • you to answer, Rob. According to UK Finance

  • an organisation that represents the

  • British banking industryhow much

  • money did criminals steal through fraud

  • and scams last year? Was it….

  • a) £1.2m, b) £120m, or c) £1.2bn

  • Rob: Well, I imagine it’s quite a lotso

  • I’ll say £120m.

  • Sam: We'll find out if you're right later in

  • the programme. Now, I just mentioned the

  • word 'scam', which is an illegal way of

  • making money by tricking someone. We

  • may think that well never be scammed,

  • but already millions of

  • people have fallen for fake emails, phone

  • calls or letters that look genuine and ask

  • us to give or update our financial details.

  • Rob: To fall for means to believe

  • something that is a trick or a lie, to be

  • true. This year, for example, thousands of

  • people in the UK fell for a fraudulentor

  • fakeemail,

  • requesting that people update their direct

  • debit details for paying their TV licence.

  • That's a payment we have to make in the

  • UK to fund the BBC.

  • Sam: This is something the BBC Radio 4

  • programme, You and Yours, has been

  • discussing. Its BBC Fraud investigator

  • reporter, Shari Vahl, explained

  • why it was easy to be deceived

  • Shari Vahl: It's a sleight of hand fraud.

  • Criminals get you to look over there whilst

  • they rifle your pockets and I have the

  • email here and it looks

  • completely convincing. All the right logos,

  • all the right fonts. It just says that my

  • direct debit on my TV licence has failed

  • and I need to pay it. It’s very polite.

  • Sam: So some great language there. She

  • said that this scam was a sleight of hand

  • fraud. 'Sleight of hand' means the use of

  • clever skill to gain something dishonestly

  • in this case, money.

  • Rob: As Shari said, the criminals get you

  • to, metaphorically, look over there whilst

  • they rifle your pockets. 'Rifle' means

  • search something in order to steal

  • from itso to steal from your pocket

  • very dishonest!

  • Sam: Now, like in this case, fraudsters

  • the people who commit fraudgained

  • financial information by 'phishing'. That’s

  • not fishing using a rod, line and hook, but

  • by sending an email that looked like it

  • came from your bank, asking for

  • confidential information.

  • Rob: But banks do warn us not to give

  • away our financial details online and to

  • change our passwords regularly.

  • Sam: But sometimes criminals are very

  • clever in what they do and it’s easy to be

  • fooled. The You and Yours programme

  • also heard about this from social

  • engineer, Jenny Radcliffe. What does she

  • call this type of fraud?

  • Jenny Radcliffe: The more sophisticated

  • frauds are ones that have been thought

  • through very carefully.

  • And this has been thought through. It’s

  • a fraud that can be layered so you know

  • we're getting some information from you.

  • What you really look for is a window into

  • someone - a key that unlocks just a small

  • part of their identity or their personal data

  • and from that a good fraud will build and

  • build and build on it until the

  • consequences to some people

  • can be completely devastating.

  • Rob: So Jenny Radcliffe is talking about

  • 'sophisticated' fraud. That means it’s

  • clever and often complicatedso it can

  • confuse us.

  • Sam: Yes, criminals need just a small

  • piece of information about us – a key

  • that can eventually open up our identity

  • and expose our personal data.

  • Rob: And as Jenny says, for victims of

  • fraud the consequencesthe outcome

  • can be very bad. Especially if somebody

  • loses all their hard-earned savingsit

  • can devastating.

  • Sam: Of course banks and security

  • companies are working hard to beat the

  • criminals but it still remains a problem

  • and earlier I asked you, Rob. According to

  • UK Finance, how much money did

  • criminal steal through fraud and scams

  • last year?

  • Rob: I said b) £120m. That’s a lot of

  • money.

  • Sam: It is but it’s even more. In 2018,

  • criminals successfully stole £1.2 billion

  • through fraud and scamsand that’s just

  • in the UKglobally it’s even more.

  • Rob: Well, it certainly is a serious issue

  • but hopefully we haven’t deceived you

  • with the vocabulary weve discussed

  • today.

  • Sam: Hopefully not! Weve been talking

  • about fraudthat’s the criminal activity

  • of getting money by deceiving peopleor

  • tricking people by doing something

  • dishonest.

  • Rob: Next we had 'scam' - which is an

  • illegal or dishonest way of making money

  • by tricking someone. The people who do

  • it are 'scammers'.

  • Sam: We talked about the phrasal verb

  • 'fall for'.

  • When you 'fall for' something you believe

  • something that is a trick or a lie, to be true.

  • Rob: Then we heard about 'sleight of hand'

  • which means use of clever skill to gain

  • something dishonestly. And 'rifle', which

  • means search something in order to steal

  • from it.

  • Sam: 'Phishing', spelt with a ph, means

  • tricking someone by email or online to get

  • their personal data by pretending to be

  • from your bank.

  • Finally, we discussed 'sophisticated'

  • fraud. When something is sophisticated,

  • it’s clever and often complicated.

  • Rob: Unlike our programme, Sam!

  • Sam: Let’s hope so but now, weve

  • reached the end of the programme.

  • Rob: See you again soon. Goodbye!

  • Sam: Bye.

Sam: Hello I’m Sam and welcome to 6

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