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.

This 10 minute email address system could be of help to someone :-)


http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html

Just in:

Bank charges are unlawful. Take them on and get your money back.
Help spread the word. Please forward to anyone who may be interested.

The campaign to reclaim unlawful bank charges is the biggest consumer revolution for years. Anyone who's had a penalty charge/fine from a UK bank in the last six years should get their cash back. Tens of thousands already have, many in the 1000s. Yet it's in danger of being hijacked by commercial claim handling vultures, who are dominating Google with ?no-win, no-fee? ads. It's hoped this e-mail will help combat that, spreading the word that you should....

...Never pay any company to reclaim bank charges!

Everything needed, including template letters to send to the banks, is available free, without registration, at

http://www.MoneySavingExpert.com/bankcharges

Plus further support can be found at

http://www.penaltycharges.co.uk and also http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

Please forward this to everyone in the UK you think will be interested.

I'm not usually one for posting warnings about potential scams but I had a close miss at the weekend.


I walked into B&Q and some old guy dressed in orange asked me if I wanted decking. Fortunately, I got the first punch in and that was the end of that.

Those less suspecting might not be so lucky.

You too? It must be a widespread scam :-)

Yeah! Well done, Declan!

From http://money.guardian.co.uk/saving/banks/story/0,,1994533,00.html

Bailiffs raid Royal Bank of Scotland

After a long battle about 3,000 in bank fees, one account holder took legal action - and won. Tony Levene reports

It's a heart-warming tale for anyone who thinks it is impossible to fight back against unfair charges by big banks. Last week, bailiffs raided a Royal Bank of Scotland branch in London to take control of computers, fax machines and a cash till after a customer won a court judgment over more than 3,000 in overdraft charges.
The unprecedented raid followed a long battle by RBS account holder Declan Purcell, 48, who had been an RBS customer for more than 20 years and ran a motorcycle business until recently.

He says: "Each time I exceeded my limits, the bank hit me with penalties of around 30. From 2002 to 2004 it added up to 3,000 on my business account alone."
Following advice from Guardian Money and website Consumer Action Group, Mr Purcell challenged the penalties, citing legal precedents to show the bank could not take more from him than the actual costs incurred with his unauthorised overdraft.

He also asked for copies of bank statements using a Data Protection Act "subject access request". He sent 10 for each account.

"The bank ignored all this so I took out a small claims court action in Bow County Court in late October. The bank did not respond in the 14 days allowed. The court gave me default judgment. The court then gave the bank a second chance but it did not enter a defence. So I asked the court to send in debt enforcers. By now, I was owed 3,369, including interest and court fees. This month, I went back to the court to get my money," he says.

The bailiffs enforced a "walk-in possession", effectively putting a sticker on items which would be grabbed and sold later if the bank did not cough up the judgment monies.

The bank admits the bailiff visit took place. It says: "Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, the bank failed to defend the claim, leading to a default judgment and a resulting warrant. The bank has since organised payment. No goods were actually taken."

Mr Purcell says: "The bank never bothered to reply. It treated me as if I did not exist. Now I want my penalty fees back on my personal bank account as well."

Earlier this week, Lib Dem shadow social exclusion secretary Matthew Taylor said in a parliamentary debate: "Millions of people are being ripped off by their own banks, plunging the poorest deeper into debt. The Office of Fair Trading has failed to act and the banks are dodging the courts.

"Banks are only supposed to charge customers for the real cost of a transaction, rather than make a profit. Everyone who has received one of these charges should phone their bank and demand the money back," he says.

Last year, the Office of Fair Trading ordered credit card companies to reduce their penalty fees to a maximum of 12

Hello,

My name is Edmund Gbadago currently working as a consultant here in the United Kingdom. I found this medium; I work as a consultant for a fabric company in United Kingdom called Interface Fabrics Limited).I will like to know if you can work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly.

***YOUR TASK IS TO CO-ORDINATE PAYMENMTS FROM CUSTOMERS AND HELP US WITH THE PAYMENT PROCESSING***

We will be glad to offer you a job position in our company, Interface Fabrics Limited)/we need someone to work for the company as a Representative in all part of the world. This is in view of our not having an office presently in Countries. You dont need to have an Office and this certainly wont disturb any form of work you have going on at the moment.

BENEFIT IS AS FOLLOWS:-
* The average monthly income is about $2000....
* No form of investments from you....
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day....
* You do not pay any form of taxes....

REQUIEDMENTS:
* Name..................
* Address...............
* City..................
* State.................
* Postal Code...........
* Phone.................
* Email.................
* Age...................
* Occupation............
* Bank Name.............

If you are interested in being our representative out there please get back to this email with the informations asked above to start receiving payment from our customers and start cashing right away.

Example: Get a Money Order,cashirs Check or a Treasury Bill of $1000 and get 10% off the $1000 which is $100 as your salary immediately.

Reply me as soon as possible if you are interested for more details to this email below and I will be glad to get back to you within 24hr.
Web site: - http://www.interfacefabricsgroup.com/home.html
Product Samples: - http://samples.camirafabrics.com/

Interface Fabrics (Sales and Customer Service)
Hampton Mills,
Mir field,
West Yorkshire,
WF14 8HE
United Kingdom
Phone: +447024099296
Email address:edmund_gbadago@yahoo.com

***Best Regards***
***Edmund Gbadago ***

jeffmack,

Well the address exists, although the company has changed name!

Interesting error on the address though!

Mir Field is actually MIRFIELD

Pair jailed over royal phone taps

The interesting bits ...

Mulcaire had a year's contract with the News of the World for "research and information services" ... and it was ironic that Mulcaire ran a company - Nine Consultancy - that offered a service protecting clients from media intrusion.

Losing a home on costa del scam

"Thousands of new homes have been built in Albox, southern Spain as the market burgeoned in recent years but some owners have discovered their homes were constructed without planning permission."

"One of the developers blamed by residents is Procoal, which the BBC has learned is still advertising in the UK.
However its managing director Juan Franciso Alarcon was less keen on publicity when confronted by BBC reporter Paul Kenyon.
Mr Kenyon and film crew were manhandled and forcibly removed from the company's offices."


Greystone, are you OK where you are in Spain?

Arrests made in VAT fraud probe

"Customs officers have made 10 arrests across England and Wales in a 250m value added tax (VAT) fraud case.

The arrests relate to "carousel fraud", where criminals import high value goods free of VAT, from other countries in the European Union.

..."

axdpc. You seem to have a thing about this "carousel fraud". Let it go.

I was short changed once on the "dodgems" and I know I was peeved for an hour or so but, hey, life goes on.
:-)

Bolshi, sincere thanks for your concern :-) I probably had too many bad experiences...

So you've met my 1st wife as well? Phew!
:-))

Bolshi, LOLLL.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6341129.stm

A scam!

BA to charge 240 for extra bag

British Airways is planning to add up to 240 to the cost of a return long-haul flight if passengers want to check in an extra bag.
Travellers on shorter international trips will face a bill of 120 and those on domestic journeys, 60.

Analysts said the tactic was a way for the airline to cover costs - and possibly to ease its move to Heathrow's Terminal 5 next year.

The whole baggage thing is a scam anyway. I weigh just over 11 stone and my missus is under 9 stone. We get the same baggage allowance as the ultra fat 18 stone beggars queuing next to us. They then have the cheek to charge us if we are a couple of kilo's over the allowance for baggage.
Fume! ;-(

Bolshi, IMHO, air travel costs and chages shouold be itemised in detail. Including separate items for staff cost, baggage handling cost, company profit margins, fuel costs etc. The fuel cost and carbon charges should be directly based upon the total weight of passenger, clothes, baggages, seating, food and drinks to be served ...

On Wake up to Money this morning they were talking about one of the low cost airlines letting you take what you wanted on the outward journey and then making punitive excess charges for the return leg.

TP

Let's have a tax on lard-arses!
:-)

TP,

That is an underhand scam, so is not warning passengers on the luggage limitations BEFORE they buy the tickets :-(