BIFAlink


News Desk


Freight and customs training dates added to meet demand


Five months after EU-exit, the demand for BIFA training is still strong – so get in quick to secure a place. Despite predicting a slowdown in Q2, delegates have been scrambling for the last remaining places, with our training team as busy, if not busier, than in the second half of 2020. Carl Hobbis, executive director,


commented: “There are a few factors contributing to this stampede; the extra government grant funds are still being used, the extra support for SMEs, as well as the delayed customs declarations, allowing a bit of breathing space for training to be completed. “We are still receiving enquiries


every other day. It has slowed down a little, but it is certainly hard to predict. We have recently added Q3 and Q4 dates and would encourage Members to secure


www.bifa.org


Who is joining BIFA?


New Member applications are published monthly and listed on the BIFA website, www.bifa.org. You can find details of new Member applications by selecting the tab MEMBERSHIP, where you will see a separate page titled MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS. If you wish to bring any


places as who knows how things could pan out in Q4. “We are planning to re-introduce


face-to-face sessions in Q4 in the key locations of Heathrow, Manchester and the Midlands, but the virtual online version of training courses will be a permanent part of our calendar now. We will announce the dates for these venues in the summer.”


He concluded: “Whilst we are


very grateful for being so busy, what we really hope to see is an upturn in apprenticeship starts as pre-Brexit this was 60% of our training. We would like to see apprentice delegate numbers return to these levels again, if not higher.”


For course information visit: https://bifa.org/training/


Identifying and avoiding fraud


Mike Yarwood, TT Club’s managing director for loss prevention, has authored a series of articles to assist parties in the global supply chain in identifying and avoiding fraud


Stakeholders in the global freight supply chain can easily become victims of fraud – notably carrier fraud and procurement fraud – especially in today’s digital business environment that enables fraudsters to transact with reduced risk of getting caught.


Setting the scene No-one – from freight forwarders, shippers and carriers to container owners and logistics, ports, warehouse and depot operators – should under-estimate how lucrative an industry fraud is. Using sophisticated, low-risk tactics, fraudsters can easily steal large amounts of money or


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consignments of cargo. The more prevalent fraud risks in


the supply chain include those related to payments, procurement or billing, and identity of carrier. The first article (available at


www.ttclub.com/news-and- resources/news/tt-talk/2021/tt-talk –identifying-and-avoiding-fraud/) kicks off a four-part fraud series focusing on some of these risks: • Identity of carrier fraud, which includes ‘round the corner theft’ and fake carriers,


• Payment fraud, which includes mandate fraud and CEO fraud,


• Procurement fraud/billing fraud. The aim of the series is, through giving practical examples of how


the cons work, to assist in how to spot them and ultimately how to avoid them. The remaining articles in this


series will consider these fraud risks in greater detail, including case-study examples of how they are perpetrated. At the end of this series, readers will have a clearer understanding of the types of fraud that threaten business, and the importance of: • Fraud education and awareness, • Vigilance, • Questioning suspicious requests, • Red-flagging urgent requests, • A clear due diligence and escalation process.


The second article in the series


focusing on mandate fraud & CEO fraud is available at: www.ttclub.com/ news-and-resources/news/tt- talk/2021/tt-talk–mandate-fraud-and -ceo-fraud-do-not-be-a-victim/


information to our attention regarding any application, an e-mail should be sent to Robert Windsor (r.windsor@bifa.org). BIFA has a Membership group that can evaluate any applications where such information has been submitted. We also list on the website those companies that have ceased membership. If you sign up for the BIFA


e-newsletter, it will make checking who has applied for membership really easy. It is sent to subscribers every two weeks and there will be a prompt enabling a one-click link to the appropriate page on the BIFA website. You can register to receive the


BIFA e-newsletter by a simple sign-up process on the front page at www.bifa.org. You can tailor the type of news that we feed to you. If you have any questions


concerning the website our resident expert, Spencer Stevenson (s.stevenson@bifa.org), will be pleased to help you.


Don’t keep it to yourself


Not your copy of BIFAlink? Register for your own copy by contacting Sarah Milton in membership s.milton@bifa.org or visit www.bifa.org/bifalink for a digital version. BIFAlink is the magazine of the


British International Freight Association and is distributed free to BIFA Member companies.


June 2021


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