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.

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

"THE cost of putting right bodged repair work by rogue tradesmen is 529MILLION a year.

Four out of ten home-owners have suffered substandard work in the last year, a report reveals.

...

One in ten people complained cowboys caused more damage than they repaired, Direct Line Home Insurance reported yesterday.

Half a million people were forced to employ a second tradesman to put the job right at an average extra cost of 955.

Carpenters were the worst offenders (11 per cent), followed by builders (eight per cent), plasterers (eight per cent) and electricians (seven per cent).
"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005220136,00.html

Just had this standard text following an ad in Loot. Beware...

"Hello I'm interested to make an offer for of these item What's the present condition and how much do you want to sell it last? and I'm buying it urgently as a gift for my son's birthday.Kindly calculate the total cost which should include shipping cost by Royal Mail Service to Ibadan,23402 NIGERIA. I will be sending you money order by BidPay and I want you to ship upon receipt of my payment's approval from BidPay because of the urgency of this order.Kindly provide me with your full address and the name that will be on your Money Order if this is ok by you and if you agree to ship upon receipt of my payment's confirmation from BidPay. Thanks and God Bless as I await your swift response."

http://www.contractoruk.com/news/002109.html

Nigerian scam targets IT contractors

UK IT contractors are being warned to click clear of a bogus online job advert that demands candidates send their passport and $900 to an end-client in Nigeria, in the hope of earning $60,000 in six months.

(continues)

Here we go again:

Sir/Madam,
My name is Evgen Kuvaldin, Director of Softcom LTD.
We are a growing company in Ukraine. Our business nature is the
creation of financial and industrial software and sell them to
interested customers. We have 1 branch and several showrooms in Kiev,
Ukraine.

We have proved professional skills to our local customers and work on
international markets already, I mean Europe and the USA & UK.
Unfortunately we have faced some difficulties while receiving payment
for our software in the United States & United Kingdom as we do not have a bank
account to accept wire transfers and can't accept cashiers checks and
money orders as well.

At this time we are unable to open our own bank account in the US & UK.

If you are looking to make additional profit we will accept you as our
representative in your country. You will keep 12.5% of each deal we
conduct. We plan to forward our merchandise in exchange of wire
transfers and check payments. Your part is very important: accept
funds and forward it to us. It is not a full time work but a very
convenient and fast additional income. Being our agent may grow into
future branch opening in your area if you are interested and the
business will be on up and up.

Please respond ASAP and you will get additional details on how you can
become our representative. Joining us and starting business today will
cost you nothing, just some extra income for you.

contact us adamant@khalsa.com

Sincerely,
Evgen Kuvaldin,
Director of Softcom LTD. Marketing Dept



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The frequency of this types of scam make it look like part of the Curriculum from the School of Scams.

"OK, you hopeful villains. The project for this term is to devise a scheme to get people in the UK to send you some money ..."

I suspect the frequency of these scams implies more that there are people in Nigeria and other countries who sell would-be scammers a complete package of scam email, email addresses, mobile phone, and fake bank address...

Kayak, I think you are right. These late scammers probably lose out as people got wiser. In a way, it is a bit like stock market where the would-be traders were sold a complete package of ... :-) I suppose we are all mugs in one form or another, sometime we are lucky, sometime we got wiser, sometime we are still dreaming and often we just have not realised that we are victims!

Whistleblower
Wed 1 Jun, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm 60mins

Parking

For six months, two BBC journalists worked undercover, investigating the truth about parking enforcement. In the UK, a parking fine is issued every five seconds reaping local councils and private businesses more than 1billion a year in revenue. Motorists complain that they're ticketed, clamped and often towed for the slightest infringement of the rules - and sometimes no infringement at all. But what about the army of parking attendants enforcing those rules?

We've uncovered a shocking subculture of illegality well beyond a few questionable tickets. We've found parking attendants cancelling tickets for cash; we've uncovered the credit card fraud used to clear fines in return for backhanders; we've seen PAs accepting bribes from local businesses to turn a blind eye to their illegal parking. Within one local authority, we've followed a parking attendant as he's ticketed a motorbike left unattended and then set about trying to steal it - with the full help and knowledge of several of his colleagues. What's more, it's clearly a familiar racket. Whistleblower exposes the corrupt and criminal world of the parking attendant. Contains strong language. [S]

The other Kevin,

Fallen pop stars are at it too it seems!

----------------------------------------------


contact us adamant@khalsa.com

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

June 16, 2005

KPMG 'faces criminal charges' over tax sales
By Times Online

KPMG is locked in "high-wire" negotiations with Federal prosecutors in the United States, who have built a case to show that the global accountancy giant obstructed justice and sold "abusive" tax shelters, it is reported today.

In a move that could decide the fate of KPMG, one of the top four global accountancy groups, American prosecutors are deciding whether to indict the firm, which would involve criminal charges, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Citing lawyers briefed on the case, the Journal claims that the issue of whether to charge KPMG has sparked a debate among top officials at the US Department of Justice. The newspaper reported this morning that indicting KPMG would put future of the company at risk.

The threat of these criminal charges could persuade KPMG to pay "substantial financial penalties" in settlement, the Journal wrote.

In April, KPMG paid $22.5 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States markets regulator, to settle charges that it allowed office equipment maker Xerox to manipulate its accounts. As part of its agreement with the regulator, KPMG agreed to eight specific reforms, including establishing a channel of communication for "whistleblowers" who might expose any alleged wrongdoing at the group.

KPMG did not immediately return calls from Times Online. George Ledwith, the chief spokesman for KPMG, told the Journal that KPMG has "continued to co-operate fully" with investigators.

KPMG disclosed two years ago that it was under investigation by the attorney's offfice for the southern district of New York for the alleged aggressive marketing of tax shelters to its wealthy clients during the 1990s. These tax shelters were subsequently deemed to be "abusive" by the Internal Revenue Service in the United States, according to the Journal.

It was also reported today that KPMG also faces possible criminal charges for allegedly misleading Revenue investigators and concealing evidence.

KPMG has argued that even an agreement to defer prosecution that would keep the group out of the courts would nevertheless do its reputation serious damage.

But it said the accountancy group's case may be helped by a series of recent legal setbacks in the war on corporate fraud in America. The newspaper reported that two weeks ago that the Supreme Court had reversed its conviction of Arthur Andersen, the former top accountancy group that collapsed after its role in the Enron scandal.

"The government has introduced a new initiative to protect consumers from 'cowboy builders'.

In an effort to combat an annual 1.5 billion in consumers' botched home improvement costs, the government will introduce a new database of building firms called TrustMark.

With over 111,000 complaints against builders filed with trading standards officers in 2004 and the figure continuing to rise, TrustMark will allow consumers registered with the service to search across a database of up to 14,000 registered firms for a reputable builder.

..."

http://www.clearlybusiness.com/cb/articles/nf_111903449410116.jsp

I have my doubts ...

I've been out of the construction industry a few years now but I seem to recognise this scheme - not sure if they've changed the name of it.

To be a member of scheme the government proposed 3 years ago they wanted 3% of the companies turnover as a fee to cover their overheads.

As you can imagine the scheme didn't get much support.

CC :-)

"... the government ... wanted 3% of the companies turnover as a fee ..."

sounds like

"... the credit card company ... charges 3% of the transaction as a fee ..."