THE SUPREME Court has directed judges of first and second level courts to prioritize cases involving women and children, government projects, commerce and economy, human life, and those with urgent reliefs.
In a circular dated Oct. 13 and released on Thursday, the High Court said the directive came from Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo in his message during the Philippine Judges Association’s First Virtual Convention last month.
The order also calls for the use of alternative dispute resolution to speed up the disposition of cases.
In his speech, Mr. Gesmundo called on judges “to give primacy” to cases involving women and children; those seeking a temporary restraining order; applications for writ of habeas corpus, amparo and habeas data, and kalikasan; government expropriation and infrastructure projects; commercial- and economic-impact cases; and those that affect the liberty of the accused in criminal cases.
In June, the High Court also released a resolution to amend its internal rules in an effort to unclog case dockets and speed up the judicial system.
The Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, made up of 22 business organizations, called on the Supreme Court in March to strengthen the implementation of the Philippine Constitution provision that states that “all persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.” — Bianca Angelica D. Añago
THE TnT Tropang Giga go for the knockout to secure a spot in the finals of the PBA Philippine Cup in Game Six of their best-of-seven semifinal series against the San Miguel Beermen on Friday. — PBA IMAGES
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
THE TnT Tropang Giga go for the knockout (KO) to secure a spot in the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup in Game Six of their best-of-seven semifinal series against the San Miguel Beermen on Friday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga.
Playing at 3 p.m., TnT aims for the jugular that would send it to the finals of the Philippine Basketball Association All-Filipino tournament for the second straight season.
The Tropang Giga, losing finalists last year, moved to a position of advantage following a 110-90 rout of the Beermen in Game Five on Wednesday that broke a 2-2 tie in the series.
It was a dominant performance by TnT right from the start, never allowing San Miguel to get its game going.
The Tropang Giga opened the contest with a 30-9 run in the first nine minutes of the match and never looked back from there.
The team played with added bounce, playing with a full complement of players.
Previously unavailable Kelly Williams (health and safety protocols) finally returned and injured JP Erram (fractured cheekbone) fought through and played.
The two combined for 22 points and nine rebounds while also doing their share in countering San Miguel’s big men.
“I have to give credit to those two guys (Williams and Erram). They came out and played, giving us huge minutes,” said TnT coach Chot Reyes in the post-Game Five press conference.
Also stepping up big for the Tropang Giga in the win was veteran guard Jayson Castro, who finished with 19 points and eight assists apart from being a steadying presence.
Rookie Mikey Williams and Roger Pogoy each had 18 points. The latter bounced back from a two-point showing in the previous game and was efficient with a 50% (7-of-14) shooting clip from the floor.
Troy Rosario, meanwhile, had 17 points and eight boards.
In last season’s Philippine Cup Finals, TnT fell to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in five games.
It is seeking its eighth PBA title in franchise history and first since winning the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup.
MAGNOLIA MAKES ANOTHER GO Meanwhile, the Magnolia Pambansang Manok Hotshots make another go for a spot in the Philippine Cup Finals after being frustrated by the Meralco Bolts in Game Five of their own semifinal series.
Held a 3-1 series lead entering the last game, the Hotshots tried to close out the Bolts, but fell short, 102-98.
Allein Maliksi, Nards Pinto and Chris Newsome towed Meralco to the gutsy win.
Magnolia was led by Mark Barroca and Calvin Abueva, finishing with 25 and 19 points, respectively.
Game Six of the Magnolia-Meralco series is set at 6 p.m.
REBISCO recently backed the campaigns of the country’s squads in the 2021 Asian Volleyball Confederation Club Championship in Thailand as part of the local federation’s national team development program. — AVC
PHILIPPINE volleyball has a stern believer in Rebisco, the biscuit and snack food firm said.
A major supporter of the national men’s and women’s teams, Rebisco is glad and honored to be given an opportunity to do its share in keeping volleyball in the country alive notwithstanding the prevailing conditions with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Most recently, Rebisco, in partnership with the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), backed the campaigns of the country’s squads in the 2021 Asian Volleyball Confederation(AVC) Club Championship in Thailand as part of PNVF’s national team development program.
And while the men’s and women’s teams had it rough in the Thailand competition, finishing out of a podium placing, Rebisco is still of the belief that going through such is part of an arduous journey and that it is “a great opportunity for our local athletes to get the all-important foreign exposure that will hone their game.”
In the Club Championship, Rebisco supported all three teams — two for women and one for men — that the PNVF fielded.
Chuco Mucho and Rebisco women finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the seven-team field while the Rebisco men ended up at ninth in the 10-team competition.
Rebisco and the national team are moving on and preparing for more activities and competitions to participate in, including next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, where the country is looking to do well in the sport.
In the last edition of the SEA Games in 2019 held in the country, the men’s team broke through with a silver medal finish while the women’s team had its struggles in finishing fourth, but showed promise and competed nonetheless.
“Our dream is to help the PNVF grow the sport and make this game an expression of the Filipino soul, locally and internationally. Our long-term goal is to make the Philippines a recognized international power in volleyball,” Mr. Ng said.
Part of Rebisco’s three-year partnership with the PNVF involves providing regular funding to enable participation in different competitions.
WINNING NOTE Meanwhile, while the Rebisco men’s team had a tough campaign in the AVC Club Championship, it did not stop it from salvaging pride by winning its final game on Wednesday to avoid landing at the bottom of the standings.
The Philippine team defeated Sri Lanka’s CEB Sports Club in five sets, 25-14, 22-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-11, in the ninth place game at the Terminal 21 competition hall in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Jao Umandal capped a tournament-long impressive showing by scoring 28 points, including a kill that sealed the Filipinos’ victory. He also had five blocks and three service aces.
“This is our first exposure and we hope to become better for the next edition,” national team head coach Dante Alinsunurin said of their outing which saw them go 1-4 in five total matches.
“We are hopeful for the continued rise of the level of Philippine volleyball on its return to the international scene,” he added.
It was the Philippines’ third appearance in the men’s continental club competition and the first since the country, represented by Cignal HD, finished 12th in 2015 in Chinese-Taipei.
The Philippines booked its best finish in the Manila 2014 edition where PLDT placed seventh. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
TRADITIONALLY a strawweight fighter, up-and-coming Team Lakay female athlete Jenelyn Olsim said she is settling well in fighting in the atomweight division of mixed martial arts.
The decorated muay thai fighter, Ms. Olsim, 24, made a successful debut in the 52.2-kg weight class, defeating Vietnamese-American Bi Nguyen by unanimous decision at ONE Championship’s “Battleground III” event in August.
It was a victory that Ms. Olsim (5-2) said is indicative of the kind of fighter that she is — banking on hard work and discipline to take on new challenges, including testing her skills against the best in the atomweight class.
“I only tried to do my best. That has been our mantra from the moment I started training with coach Mark [Sangiao] and Team Lakay,” said Ms. Olsim, a muay thai silver medalist in the 30th Southeast Asian Games held here.
It is the same mindset that she is bringing when she returns to the ONE Circle in November where she will fight against Jihin Radzuan of Malaysia in a ONE Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix alternate bout at ONE: NEXTGEN II.
She was originally to take on in an alternate bout American Grace Cleveland in September, but the latter pulled out days before, forcing Ms. Olsim to put her atomweight grand prix push on hold.
“I’m very excited to earn my spot in the Grand Prix. I know Jihin is a very good technical fighter and she’s very dangerous on the ground, so it’s something I will have to be wary about,” she said.
Adding, “I’m really happy to get this opportunity again even if I’m only considered as an alternate. This is one of the main reasons why I moved weight classes, because I really wanted to be part of the Grand Prix.”
Meanwhile, ONE Championship holds “First Strike” on Friday, which will showcase world-class kickboxing action.
It will be headlined by the featherweight kickboxing world championship fight between Italian Giorgio Petrosyan and Superbon of Thailand.
ONE: First Strike will be shown live over One Sports and One Sports+ at 8:30 p.m. as well as on ONE Championship’s super mobile app. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
MELBOURNE — Australia has canceled its men’s and women’s Open tournaments in a hammer blow for the struggling domestic game as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and travel restrictions continue to bite.
Organizers had planned a late-January, early-February window for the men’s Australian Open in Sydney after its original November schedule proved untenable.
But Golf Australia boss James Sutherland said enduring travel curbs and the country’s mandatory 14-day quarantine had left organizers with no choice, but to cancel the flagship event for a second year in a row.
The women’s Australian Open, a stop on the elite Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour, had been scheduled for February in Adelaide.
Australia’s borders are effectively shut and unlikely to open to non-residents until 2022, while the two-week isolation is putting off the nation’s top players from coming home from the US and European tours to support the domestic game. — Reuters
A DAY after the Brooklyn Nets determined star point guard Kyrie Irving will not participate in team activities until he is vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), head coach Steve Nash called the decision “difficult.”
“Everyone had their say,” Nash told reporters after the Nets’ practice on Wednesday. “It takes time to make decisions like that. This is a difficult decision. But I think it was a sound one and one that makes complete sense to everyone.”
Nash addressed the team on Wednesday. Star guard James Harden said it’s time to proceed without Irving, but both said they would happily welcome him back.
“We are just going to move on, and if things change, it would be incredible to have him back in the fold,” Nash said. “It was a tenuous situation to have a player in and out like that. There’s more clarity, and we can focus on the future and get going.”
Irving, 29, has been staunch against getting vaccinated, despite a New York City order requiring the shot if he is to play or practice with the team at home this season.
“Given the evolving nature of the situation and after thorough deliberation, we have decided Kyrie Irving will not play or practice with the team until he is eligible to be a full participant,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement on Tuesday. “Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose. Currently, the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the team, and we will not permit any member of our team to participate with part-time availability.”
Harden said he and star forward Kevin Durant talked with the personnel involved in the Irving decision and that all parties see eye-to-eye.
“Sean, Steve, me, KD, Kyrie, we all had conversations,” Harden said. “Kyrie believes in his beliefs, and he stands firm and strong on that. And for us, we respect it. We all love Ky. But as far as us, we have a job to do.
“Individually, myself, I am still wanting to set myself up for a championship. And I feel like the entire organization is on the same path and we are all in this as a collective unit.”
The Nets, who lost to the eventual National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, are scheduled to open the regular season at Milwaukee on Tuesday night.
The New York COVID mandate prohibits unvaccinated individuals from working in or attending events at many indoor spaces, including entertainment and sporting venues. Similar rules are in place in San Francisco and will go into effect in Los Angeles as of Nov. 29.
Irving’s stance potentially could cost him millions, although the players’ association could move to challenge salary withholdings over vaccination status.
Marks said on Tuesday that Irving would not be paid for home games he misses while “ineligible.” The NBA isn’t forcing players to get vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but it is going to withhold pay for any player who misses games due to local regulations.
Irving is due $35.3 million this season in the third year of a four-year, $136.5-million deal he signed July 6, 2019.
Marks said the team’s decision is not indicative of an impending trade. — Reuters
TAMPA Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski has been ruled out of his third straight game due to his injuries.
Linebacker Lavonte David (ankle) and safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. (concussion) will join Gronkowski in sitting out on Thursday’s game against the host Philadelphia Eagles (2-3). Those three players did not practice this week for the Bucs (4-1).
While those three players will not play on Thursday, center Ryan Jensen (hip), defensive lineman Pat O’Connor (calf) and edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul (shoulder, hand) are listed as questionable for the game. Those three players were listed as full participants in Wednesday’s practice.
Gronkowski previously told FOX Sports he sustained “four cracked ribs, one broken rib and a punctured lung” in the Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Gronkowski, 32, has collected 16 receptions for 184 yards and four touchdowns this season.
David, 31, is expected to miss three to four weeks with a high ankle sprain he sustained during Tampa Bay’s 45-17 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
David has 34 tackles and one sack in five games this season. The 10-year veteran has spent his entire career with the Buccaneers and was an All-Pro in 2013 and a Pro Bowl selection in 2015.
Winfield, 23, will miss his second straight game on Thursday. He has 25 tackles, one interception and one forced fumble in four games this season.
Quarterback Tom Brady, 44, is a full-go for Thursday’s game. He injured his right (passing) thumb against Miami.
Philadelphia right tackle Lane Johnson (personal matter) remains away from the team and will miss his third straight game. — Reuters
TWO pitchers who were difficult to beat in the second half of the regular season — and have continued to be one game into the postseason — will command the spotlight with the season on the line on Thursday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit the San Francisco Giants in the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series (NLDS).
The teams have alternated wins and losses in the best-of-five series, with the Giants’ Logan Webb (1-0) getting San Francisco off to a strong start with 7 2/3 shutout innings in Game 1. Then, the Dodgers’ Julio Urias (1-0) countered with five innings of one-run, three-hit ball in a bounce-back win in Game 2.
The two pitchers will oppose each other on Thursday night.
After Game 2, the clubs repeated a similar split in Los Angeles. Now, the National League (NL) West rivals are a win away from an National League Championship Series (NLCS) date against the Atlanta Braves — and a loss from having nothing, but a week’s worth of playoff experience to show for one of the greatest two-team duels in baseball history.
While the Giants have captured the close games — winning 4-0 and 1-0 — and the Dodgers dominating the blowouts — 9-2 and 7-2 — each club was left on Wednesday on their off day wondering how to handle the other’s red-hot pitcher in a win-or-pack-the-gear showdown.
“This is what baseball wants,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his team’s stay-alive win in Game 4. “We’re going to be the only show in town. So if you have a pulse or you’re a sports fan, you better be watching Dodgers-Giants. It’s going to be a great one.”
While Roberts left Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night confident his guys had solved the Giants’ pitching, rival manager Gabe Kapler assured reporters that he and his staff still had homework to do in preparation for a final exam against Urias.
“That’s going to take some planning and conversation. I’m happy to discuss that with the guys,” Kapler said. “We’re going to take a look at the last game against Urias and make adjustments accordingly.”
The Giants had their chances against the 20-win left-hander in their last matchup on Saturday.
Austin Slater hit a ground-rule double in the first inning; the Giants put two on with no outs in the second, scoring once on a Donovan Solano sacrifice fly; then Buster Posey provided a leadoff double in the fourth.
But besides that sac fly, the Giants went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in Urias’ five innings. He won for the 12th straight time since June 21, an 18-game stretch in which the Dodgers have gone 16-2.
The Dodgers got just three baserunners into scoring position in Webb’s 7 2/3 innings in Friday’s opener, one the result of a first-inning error.
By the time Corey Seager and Will Smith had doubled in the sixth and seventh innings, the Giants had built a 2-0 lead and Webb was on the way to his 11th straight win dating to May 11.
San Francisco has gone 19-2 in those games.
Neither team will have its standout first baseman available again, with San Francisco’s Brandon Belt (broken thumb) and Los Angeles’ Max Muncy (dislocated elbow) relegated to cheerleading.
But the status of the rest of the rosters isn’t as equal, as Giants second baseman Tommy La Stella is battling a sore Achilles and Kapler has been prompted into making 10 pitching changes in the past two games, resulting in a taxed bunch.
The Dodgers are coming off a game in which six different players got two hits, while Roberts has had to go to the bullpen just seven times in the past two games. — Reuters
DANIIL Medvedev was knocked out in the fourth round of Indian Wells by Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday as the world number two’s near-flawless start turned nightmarish in a (4-6, 6-4, 6-3) defeat.
Medvedev broke Dimitrov’s serve to open the match, easing through a near-perfect first set in which he won all, but four of his first-serve points and fired off three aces with just five unforced errors.
The Russian, who won his maiden major title at the US Open last month, was up two breaks in the second set and seemingly on track for an easy victory.
But Dimitrov came roaring back, winning five games in a row to wrest control of the momentum as Medvedev unraveled, converting on break point to close out the second set, before winning another three games in a row to open the third.
“Little by little, I was just trying to stay in the game, stay in the moment, and really fight through every opportunity I had. I really had to go for it,” Dimitrov said after the match.
Down 15-40 and 4-1, Medvedev’s frustrations boiled over as he missed a first serve and angrily flung his racquet to the ground. He then double faulted, handing Dimitrov the break.
Medvedev broke back and then held serve, but it was too late, as the world number 28 completed the stunning comeback in the following game, before thrusting his arms aloft in triumph.
“I really wanted to play this match to be completely honest. I think what he has been able to accomplish this past, like, year and a half is pretty amazing. I think it really pushes me also to do better,” Dimitrov told reporters.
Medvedev, who picked up his fourth Masters 1000 title earlier this year in Toronto, told reporters he struggled to control the ball, particularly on the first serve and said he was growing tired just as Dimitrov “flipped the switch.”
“I don’t remember myself losing three service games, even four service games ever, I guess, on hard courts,” he said.
“That shows how slow this court is and the conditions, more like clay, I would say, which I don’t like, because to lose four times the serve is just unacceptable.”
Dimitrov has now recorded two wins against Medvedev and next faces eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinal round. — Reuters
INCREMENTAL progress toward a reunion between Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers continued on Tuesday with a meeting between the All-Star and the franchise’s decision-makers, ESPN reported.
Simmons passed his entry physical, per reports, but his immediate future and long-term status with the 76ers remain cloudy due to his demand for a trade and “surprise” decision to report to the team on Monday.
ESPN reported Simmons met with team president Daryl Morey and general manager Elton Brand in what was described as a “brief” meeting on Tuesday night. Simmons is in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) health and safety protocol and took his initial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test on Monday, when he arrived at the arena before the Brooklyn Nets played the 76ers in a preseason game.
Head coach Doc Rivers reportedly met twice with Simmons on Tuesday and is not against the idea of him playing immediately.
Simmons, 25, could return by Friday, when the 76ers play the Detroit Pistons. Whether the team will permit Rivers to play him without measuring his fitness in practices is uncertain.
Per multiple reports, Simmons’ trade demand still stands.
Rivers, who recalled his own holdout as a player, said he expects Simmons to be welcomed back when he’s ready to play.
“Players don’t get involved with people’s business,” Rivers said. “… I’ve been a player and this has happened before, and I was a player that has done it before. Other than those first 10 minutes of welcoming back and taking the crap from your teammates about missing camp and stuff, guys want to win. They do. I’m telling you, especially if you’re on that type of team where you have a chance to win… they look at Ben as a guy that can help them do that.”
Fellow All-Star Joel Embiid has been transparent with his emotions during Simmons’ time away. Embiid last week said the holdout was “borderline disrespectful” to the players who reported to training camp and preseason.
Embiid also helped spark the drama with comments last spring immediately after the 76ers were eliminated from the playoffs when he said, “Man, I will be honest. I thought the turning point was, you know, when we, I don’t know how to say it, but I thought the turning point was just we had an open shot and we made one free throw and we missed the other and they came down and scored.”
The open shot reference was to Simmons passing up what appeared to be a sure dunk at the rim, finding a cutting Matisse Thybulle instead. Thybulle was fouled and made one of two free throws. The Atlanta Hawks scored the next five points to close out the series.
The thorny commentary from Embiid and Rivers, who indicated after the same game he couldn’t answer whether Simmons was capable of leading the team to the title, prompted Simmons reportedly to tell the team he’d never play for the 76ers again.
Then came Monday’s unexpected appearance as no-show fines for Simmons hit $1 million.
“I think there’s going to be some adjustments, but it doesn’t need to be awkward,” Embiid said of Simmons rejoining the roster and ending a contentious holdout. “We’re all professionals. We want to win. He gives me the best chance to win… We’re going to be fine.”
Simmons has four years remaining on a five-year, $177-million deal signed last year.
The Sixers reportedly worked feverishly to find a trade partner, but Morey is said to be seeking an All-Star player in return. — Reuters
It’s easy to contend that the Nets tried their best to convince starting guard Kyrie Irving to get inoculated against the novel coronavirus. Given their championship aspirations, his presence on the court is integral to their competitiveness. In addition, there’s no pleasure in absorbing the full cost of his $33.33-million salary when he’s not able to show up half the time.Forget the fact that he won’t be receiving any pay for missed starts; the more telling repercussion of his status as a part-time All-Star involves the inability of the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Given the all-too-real internal threats to stability, the Nets had no choice, but to totally decommission Irving. Needless to say, they would have wanted the other extreme. And, barring that, staying in the middle would have been the worst of the remaining alternatives. Initially, they were confident of convincing him to take the vaccine. When he kept on actively rebuffing their efforts, they then studied the possibility of having him join them for road games, in which health protocols allowed visiting players to suit up. It didn’t take them long to realize that the latter option was untenable.
Indeed, the Nets would have suffered from an identity crisis had they insisted on tapping Irving as much as possible. Imagine needing two sets of strategies for two different starting lineups. And in the face of his high usage rate, the adjustments would have been significant. Which was why even Kevin Durant and James Harden, the other members of the Big Three, knew insisting on a Big Two the right thing to do; inasmuch as they preferred that he be around, he needed to be all in. Else, he would be hurting their cause.
All signs point to Irving digging in his heels. He is, after all, known for espousing conspiracy theories and unscientific beliefs, all the evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. Then again, there’s sense in never saying never. Stranger things have happened in the National Basketball Association; league annals are replete with examples of virtual impossibilities occurring due to an unforeseen twist in circumstance. It’s certainly what the Nets are hoping against hope would happen, but they know enough not to hold their breath while in waiting.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
A magnifying glass is held in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. — REUTERS/PAWEL KOPCZYNSKI/FILE PHOTO
LONDON — It was an email offering a discount on an electric toothbrush that began the sequence of events that ruined Anna’s life.
Within minutes of entering her card details, she got a call from her bank telling her fraudulent transactions were being made. The next day Robert Clayton from Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority called to say they were pursuing the criminals responsible but that her savings were at risk.
There was no toothbrush, though. No fraud department, no Robert Clayton. They were all part of a scam to gradually siphon off Anna’s life savings, and within a few weeks the plot had succeeded, to the tune of about 200,000 pounds ($270,000).
“I am still in shock, the guilt and shame are impossible to convey,” said the 78-year-old widow from central England, who did not want her full name to be used in this story.
She is one of thousands of people who have seen savings swept away this year by an unprecedented wave of online bank fraud hitting Britain, where you’re more likely to be a victim of online fraud than any other crime.
The country is the global epicenter for such attacks, according to five of the biggest British banks and more than a dozen security experts who said scammers were buying up batches of consumers’ personal details on the dark net to target the record numbers shopping and banking online since the pandemic.
The country’s super-fast payments infrastructure, relatively light policing of fraud-related crime, plus its use of the world’s most widely used language English, also made it an ideal global test bed for scams, the banks and specialists added.
A British record of 754 million pounds ($1 billion) was stolen in the first six months of this year, up 30% from the same period in 2020, according to data from banking industry body UK Finance, and up more than 60% from 2017, when it began compiling the figures.
That represents a per capita fraud rate roughly triple that seen in the United States in 2020, according to a Reuters calculation from UK Finance and the latest available Federal Trade Commission data.
“The most sophisticated fraud tends to start in the UK, and then move two years later to the US and then around the world,” said Ayelet Biger-Levin, vice president of product strategy at US-based cybersecurity firm BioCatch, which provides anti-fraud technology to banks.
“In the last 12 months we have seen more fraud attacks than we had seen in any other year in history. Data breaches have also accelerated, so there’s a lot more personal information out there that criminals can take advantage of.”
Unlike simple email-based scams of the past purporting to be from princes or oil barons seeking your help to shift their millions, the modern bank scam can be sophisticated, multi-phased and extremely convincing.
“We’ve seen some cases where the fraudster has been talking to somebody for three or four years as someone else before they actually scam them out of a large amount of money,” said Brian Dilley, group director for economic crime prevention at Britain’s biggest bank Lloyds.
FAST PAYMENTS, FAST FRAUD? The government’s National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) agrees with the banking sector’s assessment that fraud represents a threat to British security.
“It is growing from an already enormous scale,” said Chris Reed, fraud threat lead at NECC, which he said was meeting at least every month with bank bosses, technology executives and telecoms companies to assess and respond to threats.
Britain’s Faster Payments’ network, which allows transfers between bank accounts to settle instantly rather than in hours or days as in the United States and other developed banking markets, means criminals can rapidly spirit away funds.
“The faster payment system has facilitated faster fraud,” said Richard Emery, a fraud expert who is advising Anna and 63 other scam victims whose average loss is 102,000 pounds.
Pay.UK, which runs the network, said the system supported the British economy, consumers and businesses. It added that criminals were getting better at exploiting digitization and that it was working with the industry and regulator to fight fraud.
While security experts and senior bankers said many fraud attacks could be traced overseas — including from India and West Africa — Britain is also increasingly exporting attacks.
Crimes such as authorized push payments (APP) — where people are tricked into authorizing a payment by a criminal posing as their bank or other trusted company — are proliferating globally after having started off as a largely UK phenomenon.
The country ranks second in the world behind the United States as a source of automated bot attacks, the fastest-growing type of fraud attack in the world, according to data from LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a financial crime analysis firm.
Bot attacks see criminals use a high volume of stolen identity credentials to overrun a website, allowing them to set up new accounts or access existing ones.
“It’s popular to say the fraud threat is imported into the UK, and I don’t think that bears analysis,” said NECC’s Reed. “There is a significant UK nexus to a lot of fraud, our operational experience is showing that.”
HSBC: UK IS HOTBED OF FRAUD Britain’s banks — which often pick up the compensation bill when people are scammed — are trying to respond.
HSBC, which has operations in the Americas and Asia, has hired more than 300 staff in a year to support its anti-fraud operations in its home market and increased annual spending by 40% to deal with an “exponential” number of customers affected, the bank told Reuters.
“The UK is the hotbed of activity for fraudsters. Currently the UK accounts for about 80% of our global personal fraud losses,” it said.
Lloyds said it had invested 100 million pounds in its defenses over the past two years, while rival NatWest has 10% of its workforce — amounting to 6,000 people — dedicated to combating financial crime. TSB has hired 100 extra staff to support fraud victims in the last year.
But lenders are also pressing the government to make social media platforms, where they say some attacks originate, share the burden. British lawmakers told bosses at Facebook, Google, Amazon and eBay last month that they needed to do more combat fraud.
The NECC’s Reed said another problem was that just 1% of policing resources were dedicated to fighting fraud, despite it making up over a third of all crime in England and Wales.
“I won’t hide away from the fact that resourcing of the response is completely out of step with the scale and seriousness of the threat. We’ve got a mountain to climb.”
This means that criminals are emboldened to target people like Anna, who has little hope of recovering her savings.
The fraudsters had told her to shift her “at risk” cash to an account on a cryptocurrency platform that they emptied — while isolating her from family by stressing secrecy and coaching her on how to respond to skeptical bank officials.
“They knew the name of my financial adviser, they were utterly convincing as FCA staff,” she said. “And they told me I could not tell anyone about the investigation as it would damage their efforts to catch the crooks.” — Reuters
