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.

:-)

Wonder how widespread are those practices. These are just more real life examples that one should not judge others by their wealth, money, looks, smooth talks or smart looking dresses/suits!

Subject: E-alert from DERBYSHIRE BUSINESS AGAINST CRIME - Parcel Delivery
Scam - Message No. 97

Derbyshire Police would like to circulate the following warning, received
through a number of reliable sources. Please feel free to circulate this
information to any contacts, business or private.


ICSTIS (premium rate services regulator) have receive a number of reports
from indivudals regarding PDS missed deliveries, and you are offered the
following advice.

If you receive a card through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel
Delivery Service) saying that they have a parcel awaiting delivery
instructions and can you contact them on 0906 6611911

DO NOT call the number as this is a mail scam originating from Belize

If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will
already have been billed =A315 for the phone call.

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact
Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655
or ICTIS at http://www.icstis.org.uk or your
local trading standards office.

Further information available at
http://www.icstis.org.uk/pdfs_news/warningnotice.pdf

This is a genuine scam and this is currently under investigation by ICSTIS.

ICTIS have the following information about this number.

This is a card posted through your letter box from PDS Parcel Delivery
suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and to call the premium
rate number in question. This service costs =A31.50 per minute.

Got a call yesterday from my Bank ref some unusual purchases
in Norway. I've never been to Norway.
Mindfull of the post by 'RogerD' further up this thread,
I made sure I didn't give them any information on my card in case
I was being scammed, and checked with my Bank.

Turns out it was genuine, and someone had cloned my card. I don't
use ATM's and so it looks like it may be a garage. Talked to the lovely
lady behind the counter at the bank, and it turns out that they've
had another 5 instances this week already. What we all seem
to have in common is that we all use our local Shell garage.

What some are doing, apparently, is using the cards in the UK to make
small purchases at places such as M&S and taking out 50 cashback
each time. This is siphoning hundreds of 's a day out of customers'
accounts before they get to see a statement and question it.

So if any of you have online accounts or access to an ATM for frequent
statement checking, I would suggest that you check regularly rather than
wait for your monthly statement.

Because they used mine in Norway, the Bank picked it up immediately and
stopped the card after 2 transactions, so I was lucky.
Will get all the money back within 2 weeks, but am now without a card
for a few days.
So check your accounts regularly and don't get caught out. It will take several
weeks to get your money back and this may be a problem to you if they
clean out your account before you wise up.

Melnibone, Have you seen this news item regarding Shell stations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4980190.stm

Thanks, cronky.

If they shut down chip and pin at the weekend, and my cloned card
was used for the first time yesterday, then it looks like these guys
have amassed a stash of cloned cards that can be used at any
time in the future.

Looks like a lot more folk are going to get a nasty surprise over the
weeks ahead.

Yet another Spane-based company urgently needing my bank details to give me a big prize which I didn't even know I entered ... These companies are giving the Spanish people a bad name they do not deserve :-( The people involved are probably not Spanish.

UK bank details sold in Nigeria

"Bank account details belonging to thousands of Britons are being sold in West Africa for less than 20 each, the BBC's Real Story programme has found.

It discovered that fraudsters in Nigeria were able to find internet banking data stored on recycled PCs sent from the UK to Africa.

The information can be found on a PC's hard disk, which is easy to access if the drive is not wiped before sending.

...


"It is essential that companies have appropriate procedures in place to ensure that personal records on computer hard drives are rendered unrecoverable when they dispose of computer equipment," said Assistant Commissioner Phil Jones.

"Under the Data Protection Act companies have a duty to store personal information securely and delete it when it is no longer required."

Real Story's investigation into the risk of identity theft from old PCs will be broadcast on BBC 1 at 19:30 on Monday, 14 August.

axdpc - do you live in spain?

goforit, nope. Not yet. Why?

Welcome to the thread :-)

"The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous." - Niccolo Machiavelli

We should be less trusting and less willing to give unconditional charities to everyone.

axdpc - its just this comment you came out with

These companies are giving the Spanish people a bad name they do not deserve.

Seems a pretty corrupt place from what I see, all nationalities seem to be here and lots of people getting ripped of, particularly in the property department. Lots of vice, drugs etc. They arrested about 20 local planning officers afew months back.

Bit of an eyeopener for a country boy from Devon but I'm surviving!

goforit, glad to hear you are surviving :-) Why not post some more of the local frauds and scams? I tend to get too serious with my off-trading discussions, so why not tell us about some local interest - sites, customs, restaurents :-)

"These companies are giving the Spanish people a bad name they do not deserve."
Agree. IMO, decent, innocent people are often used as cover for the otherwise.

Perhaps you could suggest to Greystone to organised a Spanish get together for the expatriates?

Take the quiz. Are you a scambuster or will you be scam-busted?

To cut a long story short - Several years ago I lost a large sum of money(jointly with 2 friends 450.000) because a solicitor (sole practitioner) lied to my solicitor, having given him an undertaking. CPS would not prosecute because it was an ongoing case with connections in America, SFO were willing to testify if I took out a civil action against him ( to initiate action needed 50,000), Law society struck him off giving him 28 days to pass his clients on to another firm,Law Society compensation fund would not compensate us one penny because he was a sole practitioner.
I understand he was instrumental in laudering over 1,500,000. and he got clean away (except for being struck off)
Since this time I believe the rules have changed regards how solicitors practice but I am always wary when transfering sums of money through solicitors -I thought undertakings between solicitors were supposed to be reliable.

crockham :-((( Would you get into trouble if you publicise his name?

I don`t see why as the Law Soc. striking off would presumably be publicly listed.
Bran Lindsay Thomas formerly with an office in Wimbledon and I believe still living in Surrey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6017250,00.html

22 held in major VAT fraud probe
Press Association
Tuesday August 15, 2006 9:08 PM

Twenty-two people have been arrested as part of a major investigation into a suspected VAT fraud worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Police and customs officers swooped at addresses in London, Manchester and Glasgow in the early hours.

More than 60 search warrants were executed during the operation, which is the biggest ever undertaken by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

About 400 HMRC criminal investigators are being supported by 100 officers from Strathclyde, Greater Manchester and the Metropolitan Police in the inquiry.

Gordon Miller, deputy director, HMRC Investigation, said: "Organised criminals are attacking the tax system, with the aim of stealing huge amounts of revenue. The scale of the problem across Europe is unprecedented, and HMRC has significantly strengthened its response to this serious fraud.

"The operation, the biggest ever undertaken by HMRC, is part of a large-scale, international criminal investigation into frauds that may run to hundreds of millions of pounds."

Police made 15 of the detentions in the Glasgow area, five in the Manchester area and two in London. The investigation is focused on a highly sophisticated scam known as "carousel" fraud. It involves importing small high-value goods such as mobile phones free of VAT from EU countries, then selling them with 17.5% tax added in the UK.

Instead of handing the VAT to the Government, the importing company, run by criminals, is hastily shut down and they pocket the cash. This loss of tax is often compounded when the new owners of the goods export them again and can legally reclaim VAT they paid.

Goods go round in a "carousel" via bogus supply chains within and beyond the EU as they are imported and exported again and again. Mr Miller added: "We are committed to tackling carousel fraud and to showing the criminals behind it, wherever they operate in the world, that there are no safe havens."

Carousel fraud is estimated to have cost the UK Exchequer up to 1.9 billion in stolen VAT revenues between 2004 and 2005.

Travel agents warn of holiday Web scam

" LONDON (Reuters) - Travel agents warned holidaymakers on Friday to be careful about booking trips online after an Internet scam was uncovered that has left nearly 3,000 people out of pocket.

A number of fake holiday Web sites, thought to be operated by the same individuals, have been set up and then quickly closed once people have been conned into paying for non-existent holidays, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said.

"We understand there are six or seven Web site names that have been defrauding people," said ABTA's Dee Byrne.

She said about 3,000 people have been hit by the con.

"Unfortunately many will have lost their money unless they paid by credit card, in which case they should be able to recoup their losses," she added.

The Metropolitan Police, the Fraud Squad and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are all investigating the scam which is thought to have netted hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Byrne said ABTA's advice is to check its own Web site or that of other affiliated organisations like ATOL - (Air Travel Organisers' Licensing) to make sure their holiday firm is bona fide.

"We are saying 'just be careful about booking holidays over the Internet'. Obviously there are a lot of good companies that are perfectly OK, but people need to check," she said.

Byrne said people should be wary of too readily accepting an offer if it looks too good to be true and should instead spend sometime making simple checks on the credentials of the holiday firm."

Cornhill Insurance callback scam 01454 201129

Here's a cheeky little number that someone at Cornhill Insurance dreamed up and was probably paid very well for:

Your home phone rings and you answer it. But there's nobody on the line.
You do 1471 and get the above number. Naturally you ring straight back to find out who wants you etc.

Surprise, surprise. It's a recorded announcement from Cornhill stating that they've tried to contact you re an insurance quote.

I don't know what the rest of the message says as I hung up.