Reports of frauds, deceptions and scams keep appearing, weekly even daily, on
major news channels and newspapers. Some of these frauds seem just too big and remote to be of immediate, direct relevance to our daily lives. But, we will eventually pay for the consequences and damages, in taxes, costs of goods and services, regulations, copy-cats etc.

I hope we can collect, in one thread, frauds and scams, reported or heard. We must become more aware and more educated to guard against frauds and scams
which impact upon the health, well being, and wealth of ourselves and our families.

Ok,

I have now received a text message from each number saying they have will stop sending messages within 1 day.

The messages were from WWW.WINPLC.COM

I foud the contact information for Winplc.com on their website, and all the mobile logos are there, the Orange logo is top of the page!

I rang them, they asked for my number, and they said the company that has been charging me is DIGITAL DAZE.

They gave me a phone number to ring for a refund - 0871 750 4019
So I have to ring a premium rate number to obtain my refund!


I did a check at Companies House for Digital Daze

DIGITAL DAZE ARE REGISTERED AS A COMPANY NUMBER 04915631.

18 Rudolf Place,
Vauxhall,
London
SW8 1RP.

I tried google, but no info re these guys, so if anyone does know something about them, pleas epost, os send me a private message.

TIA.

Andy,

Who are the directors ?

axdpc,

I presume you have to pay Companies house for that info?

Not sure how to find out otherwise.

I searched around on the address, 18, Rudolf Place, and found another company registered there, QLD Limited - company number 04875845.

I found a phone number for them 0207 735 7555.

I rang and said "is that Digital Daze?", and the reply was "yes"!

I related my story, and the guy said he would check, then their computer went down, so waiting for him to ring me back.

I have asked him to inform me how I started to recieve these text messages.

If I am at fault somehow, I will pay up happily and learn my lesson, but otherwise I want a refund.

Some of these problems occur when you request a service once. Unbeknown to you the terms and conditions state that you will receive one once a week. However you should of course be getting the actual text messages!

kayak,

Yes I have heard of examples of this hapenning with ringtones, but I really haven't requested ANY services, nor rung any chatlines or the like.

I rarely use the phone, only ever call people I know, and only access MAM monitor on internet connection.


Update

The company i rang have not returned my call informing me how i came to receive these unwanted messages, but I have received another text confirming they will not text me again.

I want orange to refund my account, IMHO these transactions were not authorised by me, so they have no right to take the payment IMHO.

I would like a legal view if anyone here can offer one.

If you look at www.winplc.com website, Orange are advertised there!

Dear Mr./Mrs.

We are writing you on behalf of ULTRACO S.A., well-known prestigious Swiss company which main field of operation lies in selling elite watches collections and jewelry series. We are glad to propose you interesting and highly paid job in financial sphere. At this moment we are in need of new regional financial agents whose work consists of collecting the payments from the customers from the same country and forwarding them to our company's main office. Due to our operating employees inability to handle the sales volume we decided to open additional vacancies in each European country as well as in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Regional financial managers are needed because we accept bank wire transfers only and as you know international wire transfer could take more than 3 or even 5 days, thus increasing term of delivery up to 5-8 days. Such long term of delivery adversely affects our sales volume that's why we provide our agent's account details to the customer who is in the same country. Bank transfer within the same country takes 1-2 days only. After we receive confirmation that the amount has been received we send purchased items to the customer immediately. These actions let us to diminish term of delivery to 3-4 days.
Please visit our webpage at www.ultra-co.org/vacancies.html to get to know our proposal in greater detail and if you are interested please send an email to vacancy@ultra-co.org and we will send you an Application Form back. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us at info@ultra-co.org and we will reply you for sure. Thanks for reading our proposal.

Chief Executive Officer,
Jose Ansari,
ULTRACO S.A.

Keryong Mining Company.
P.O. Box 443,Tema,Ghana
Email; dr_daiz@web-mail.com.ar
Dear friend,
I am writing to you at this time to advertise the
availability of our main product,alluvial gold-dust in bulk
quantities. As we represent a large number of local
artisan miners, we are prepared to provide quantities of up
to 350 kilograms of 22 carat plus alluvial gold.

Product: Alluvial Gold Dust.
Quantity: 350 kilograms available
Quality: 22 carat plus.
Origin: Ghana, West Africa
Price: US$6,500 per kilogram
Assay reports provided by SGS Laboratories,Accra-Ghana.

We will need to firstly have a memo-random of agreement
signed and Also an ownership certificate will have to be
made in your name from the high court of justice here in
Ghana before we could start any business with you,as that
will enable us to move the goods directly to your choice
of destination through a well known and registered
diplomatic agency here in Ghana.

Further-more,we are currently seeking outside-based serious
investors to Increase our production capacity. If you are
interested in this proposal, or have any further questions,
kindly contact me at the email address listed above.

Thanks in anticipation as I am expecting your urgent
responses and also Your telephone contact numbers. Looking
forward to doing business with you and your company.
Yours Faithfully,
Dr.Daiz Akpong .

NB:You are also going to take care of the shipment of the
goods

"Watchdog blasts rip-off mechanics

The entire car repair industry has been issued with a final warning by the National Consumer Council over "shoddy service and rip-off charges".

Trade bodies have failed to deal with customers' problems, says the council.

...

The NCC's undercover research on car repair shops suggests that consumers are often cheated.

Repairs that need doing are missed, unnecessary work is done, and consumers are often charged for incomplete repairs.

Women are deceived more often than men, according to the NCC.

...
"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4407627.stm

"'Rip-off' garages cost drivers 4bn a year
Alistair Foster, Evening Standard
4 April 2005

GARAGES and mechanics offer a "shoddy service and rip-off chargesthat could be costing customers an extra 4bn each year.

...
"

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/article.html?in_article_id=399425&in_page_id=2&ito=1565

Hi

We offer easy job to you.
We have contracts with 5 clients from UK.
They should pay our services only by bank transfer inside UK.
Our British representative has left for business trip.

You should have the account (or open new one) with one of this banks: HSBC,
Lloyds, Barclays.

Our clients will send money to your bank account.
You should withdraw cash in bank and take for yourself 10%.

You should send our 90% by Western Union or by MoneyGram to our office to
Russia.

PLEASE REPLY ONLY TO THIS EMAIL: X-STARS@KM.RU


Thanks,
Andrey Gorilenko.
-
X-Stars Group Ltd.
23 Lenina Street,
St-Petersburg, Russia.

Kayak,

presumably this is a variation on the old Nigerian fraud, where once they have obtained your bank details, they withdraw all the funds themselves?

They only want clearing banks, but not RBS, I wonder why?

"Phoney revenue forms con ex-pats"

Last Updated: Monday, 25 April, 2005, 08:51 GMT 09:51 UK

"Bogus tax forms, claiming to be from the Inland Revenue, are being sent out to unsuspecting staff working abroad in a bid to gain bank details from them.

British citizens overseas are receiving what professes to be a P86, for staff "Not Ordinarily Resident in the UK".

The taxpayer is asked to return the completed form, to Kensington House, 33, Imperial Square, Cheltenham.

But it is a "brass plate" address and the letters were being forwarded to Lagos in Nigeria.
..."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/4480379.stm

All LEGAL but it does leave bad tastes in the mouth and cause great alarms ...

"Private deals block Jamie's school dinners

Felicity Lawrence and Katharine Quarmby
Monday April 25, 2005

Guardian
The school meals revolution set in motion by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has already run into difficulties as long-term contracts with private companies prevent schools getting rid of junk food.

The Guardian has learned that new schools locked into 25-year contracts through private finance initiatives are finding that they cannot rid their menus of junk food despite the government's pledge.

Other schools are also running into problems as they discover that they face substantial financial penalties if they try to opt out of long-running contracts with private catering companies.

..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5178651-103690,00.html


The bits that irk me was

"... Most Merton secondary schools are locked into a 25-year PFI contract with a company called New Schools. It has subcontracted all services for 25 years to Atkins Asset Management. Atkins has subcontracted again, giving a 25-year catering contract for the schools to Scolarest catering. ..."

IMO, either the original contract was grossly over-priced or the health of children are sacrificed by the process of two sub-contractings.

If this can be done to children, the most vulnerable and valuable parts of our society, what are being done to .... ?????????

And everyone takes a cut. What's left to pay for food?

A good scam or wot? Not! But it worked for SEVEN YEARS and 164 times and was successful in diverting over 825k into his personal account before he got caught.

"Ian Revue"? "I Revue?" "Inland Revenue?"

From http://www.timesonline.co.uk

April 27, 2005

Lawyer called himself Ian Revue to steal 800,000 in stamp duty
By Simon de Bruxelles

A CROOKED solicitor who set up a bank account using the name Ian Revue stole more than 800,000 intended for the Inland Revenue, a court was told yesterday.

Ian Macfarlane, 44, a senior partner in a company of specialist conveyancing solicitors, deposited 164 cheques from clients intended to pay their stamp duty into the account. He used the money to cover his daughters school fees, take his family on exotic holidays and even to pay his own tax bill.

The deception was simple. Clients would write a cheque for stamp duty made payable to the company. Macfarlane would then write out a company cheque made payable to I. Revue, in sloppy handwriting so it looked as though the payment was being made to the Inland Revenue, and deposited into his own account.

In total Macfarlane diverted 825,064 into the account, which he then withdrew and spent. Macfarlane earned 138,000 a year as a senior partner at Traill & Co based in Blandford, Dorset. But it was not enough. Over a period of seven years he got away with the fraud until a member of staff at the company became suspicious.

Detective Constable Paul Sullivan, of Dorset Police, said: What he did was open an account in the name of Ian Revue, who didnt exist. Because Macfarlane was an existing customer and a solicitor he didnt have to provide any identification for Mr Revue. On the day he opened the account he deposited a 635 cheque and was given a passbook. Over seven years and eight months he lodged another 163 cheques totalling 825,000.

Macfarlane was caught last July when a colleague became suspicious because he had written out a cheque on a property that did not require stamp duty. An investigation by the bank where the account was registered found that Ian Revue and his address in Bournemouth did not exist. Constable Sullivan described Macfarlane as a polished, calculating thief. He said: When we arrested him he had no idea he was under suspicion but was very calm and cool a true gentleman.

Macfarlane lived in the Dorset village of Winterborne Kingston in a five-bedroom converted barn and drove a Mercedes.

The judge at Bournemouth Crown Court, where Macfarlane admitted 26 charges of theft and asked for another 137 offences to be taken into consideration, told him that he faces a jail sentence.

Is this a scam? Is this a fraud? Likely to be widely practiced?
Probably not illegal but ...

"Equitable chief faked his reference"

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/38115.html

What did Apprentice candidates said about themselves ???

"Associated Press
Update 2: Spitzer Sues Intermix Over 'Spyware'
04.28.2005, 01:00 PM

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued a major Internet marketer Thursday, blaming it for secretly installing software that delivers nuisance pop-up advertisements and can slow and crash personal computers.

...

Spitzer accuses Intermix of redirecting computer users to Web sites where ads get displayed, adding unnecessary toolbars to Web browsers and delivering unwanted ads that pop up on computer screens.

..."

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2005/04/28/ap1983927.html


Does it happen in the UK ???

Looks like an interesting publication!

http://www.stopspeedingtickets.com/

" Tough rules expose scale of bogus marriages
By Duncan Gardham
(Filed: 16/05/2005)

New regulations at register offices have exposed the huge number of bogus marriages involving immigrants in the past, it has been disclosed.

Since the Asylum and Immigration Act came into force in February the number of marriage applications at some offices has dropped by 60 per cent.

..."

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&xml=/news/2005/05/16/nbogus16.xml

"Bogus bank drafts warning
NORTHUMBRIA Police are warning people to be on their guard against counterfeit bankers drafts.
Officers believe a bankers draft has been intercepted, possibly in the post, and counterfeited with the drafts sent abroad in batches where they are treated to remove all traces of the genuine payee details and amount.
The counterfeits generated from the original are then returned to this country.
Bankers drafts have always been a guarantee of payment as they are cheques written by the bank from peoples personal accounts.
DC Julie Kinghorn, of the Economic Crime Unit, said: Counterfeit cheques are common-place but a new twist to this is the counterfeit bankers draft.
It has always been suggested that when selling an expensive item privately, such as a car, you request a bankers draft instead of a personal cheque or cash.
But recently bed and breakfast establishments have been e-mailed to book accommodation for contractors working in the area. They ask for the full price to be paid and for a bankers draft to be sent covering the invoice.
Contact is then made saying theres been an error and their accounts department has combined the accommodation with the contractors payment.
They ask the bed and breakfast establishment if they will cash the bankers draft, keep the accommodation costs and send the balance to the contractor via money transfer.
The amounts on these bankers drafts have varied between 1,500 and 3,000. The accommodation cost is at most 300.
Those involved hope the victim transfers the money before the scam is discovered and while this is just one example there is no doubt there will be other variations on this theme.
Anyone with any concerns should contact the Economic Crime Unit on 01661 872555.
13 May 2005
"


http://www.northumberlandtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1117&ArticleID=1023882