Not really my normal blog post but still fraud

Hey Boy, Hey Girl… 

At a time when high-level fraud is in the news more and more, the story of Gemma Barker was unusual to say the very least. The story of the teenager hit newspapers across the country this week as the case was heard in court.

According to The Telegraph and The Metro newspapers, Gemma Barker created three male alter-egos for herself, and social media profiles to match. The 20 year old from Staines dressed as a boy to trick and seduce her female school friends. Despite already knowing Barker, who was 19 at the time, the 15-16 year olds had no idea that the ‘males’ were infact a female acquaintance of theirs. Some of the girls began relationships with Barker which “incolved kissing, cuddling and groping” according to Ruby Selva in court. To reinforce the lie, she created Facebook profiles and contact details for the three male characters Aaron Lampard, Conor McCormack and Luke Jones.

The police became involved after one of the victims grew suspicious. During the investigation Barker made allegations against one of her characters “Luke Jones”, claiming she had been assaulted by him. Furthermore, according to The Telegraph, she approached the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in a bid to cheat money.

Miss Barker  appeared at Guildford Crown Court where the case is currently being heard. The defence is reported to have told Guildford Crown Court that Barker is autistic and a "rather lonely character". She admitted to two charges of sexual assault and one of fraud fraud, making it possible for her to receive a prison sentence of up to two years. For now she is remanded on bail until early March, when she faces sentencing and psychological reports.  Summing up in court, Judge Moss reportedly said "What concerns me is that it has got a very mean and manipulative streak to it. And it's very serious. The girls she preyed on are much younger than her." Miss Barker was forced to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

Whilst this incident is unusual, it does highlight the often faceless side to the crime. The human factor in this incident, whilst traumatic, does drive home the dark, manipulative, and dishonest side to fraud. 

Israel Hack Attack

At a time when credit card fraud and online hacking scams are becoming increasingly common, Israel has become the latest victim. On Saturday, January 7, the country announced that the details of thousands of credit cards had been publicised online.

The exact details and figures of the attack vary according to sources; whilst the credit card companies say the details of  around 25,000 cards (of which over 6,000 were current) had been exposed, the government says as many as 400,000 Israeli people have had their private information compromised. Israel is not used to attacks of this nature, and it is believed that this is the worst of its kind the country has seen. This kind of attack is not uncommon, a large cybercrime wave has recently swept across China, as reported on Tero Pollanen’s Online Fraud blog reports.

The hacker claiming responsibility, OxOmar, said he lives in Saudi Arabia. After initial investigations, there is apparently some evidence that it is infact a teenager living in Mexico. As yet, it is not thought that help from Mexican authorities has been sought.

Israel, clearly riled, has hit back strongly, "vowing to retaliate" according to the BBC. Speaking of such kind of attacks, Danny Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister, said they are "a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such. Israel has active capabilities for striking at those who are trying to harm it, and no agency or hacker will be immune from retaliatory action".