‘Modern-day fare dodgers’ are leaving a trail of digital breadcrumbs, says Northern’s ‘Digital Fraud Squad’

‘Fare dodgers’ refers to people who do buy a ticket for travel but then fraudulently attempt to claim their money back after their journey as well as customers who only buy tickets for part of their journey.

But with 67% of tickets for Northern services now bought via digital platforms, their Digital Fraud Investigations Team is able to look into the circumstances of attempted fare evasion in much more detail.

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern which runs trains through Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield and beyond, said: “The old-school fare evader still exists, but there’s a new generation who try to outsmart the system through a complex process of fraudulent refund requests, delay repay claims and a process known as ‘short faring’.

“As with any electronic transaction, our systems are able to identify suspicious activity and bring it to the attention of our specialist investigators.”

The Digital Fraud Investigations Team was founded in 2021 and form part of Northern’s Debt Recovery & Prosecutions Unit which, in the 2022/23 financial year, investigated 108,681 reports of attempted fare evasion, issued 53,344 Penalty Fare Notices, helped secure 14,072 convictions and recouped £2.9m (£2,851,883) of lost revenue for the taxpayer.

Mr Powles added: “Once our investigators are on the case, they can review all ticket transactions by that individual over several years and build a case.

“Our message to those people is ‘quit while you’re ahead’.”