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This half term don’t get tricked into buying fraudulent flights

Action Fraud, the national fraud and cyber reporting centre, is warning half term holiday makers to avoid fraudulent flight ticket sellers.

The reporting service has received 110 reports from victims whose total losses amount to £98,043. Action Fraud say victims are being enticed by offers of cheap flights and getaways this half term.

A new scam

Victims are being cold called by fraudsters claiming to work for travel companies. Action Fraud say the fraudsters are using new tactics to gain the trust of victims. Intelligence suggests they appear to know that the victim has recently searched for flights online. This … Read more

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Action fraud Warn About Pension Scammers

Action Fraud have released a statement saying that organised criminal groups led by married couples and families are scamming pension holders to the tune of millions of pounds.

Action Fraud say criminal investigations involving regulators, government agencies and police forces are currently ongoing into a number of these gangs. In some cases, the fraudsters have hired fraudulent financial experts with pension experience to run large-scale scams. The fraudsters would not be able to run these scams without the insider knowledge of fraudulent experts.

Victims report receiving cold-calls, offers of free pension reviews and promises of high returns. However a ban … Read more

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Fresh Warning Over Investment Scams

The Financial Conduct Authority is warning investors to be vigilant when investing their hard earned cash. Action Fraud has revealed that over £197 million was reported as stolen by scammers in 2018. On average, victims were conned out of £29,000 each, the FCA and Action Fraud are warning investors to be on the lookout for increasingly sophisticated fraudsters.

Data from the FCA call centre shows, that the most common scam reported involved investments in shares and bonds, forex and cryptocurrencies. The companies offering these products are not registered with the FCA and together they account for 85% of all … Read more

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Carbon Credit Fraudster Jailed For Eight Years

A man from Essex who lived a lavish lifestyle, has been jailed for eight years after mis-selling carbon credits to 130 victims in 2012 and 2013. He was found guilty of six counts of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.

The police say victims received cold calls from apparent brokers through companies named as Harman Royce Ltd and Kendrick Zale Ltd, and were persuaded into investing in voluntary emission reductions. They targeted people living in affluent areas and were all aged 50 and over. Carbon Credits were charged at between £5.26 and £6.50 with victims loses totalling £1.5 million.

Police … Read more

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New figures show extent of pension scams

Action Fraud has revealed that two people have reported to the service, that they have lost more than £1 million each to pension scams. However, Action Fraud believes this is only the tip of the iceberg as many victims never contact the authorities to report it and so the total amount of people who have handed over such large pension pots is unknown.

In 2017, the average loss of pension scams was £91,000. Victims reported receiving cold-calls, offers of free pension reviews and promises that they would get high return rates, all of these promises are warning signs of … Read more

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Money Launderers Jailed Over £67,000 Phone Banking Fraud

A student has been jailed and four others have been sentenced over a £67,000 phone fraud. The judge in the case said the defendants acted as money launderers for a gang who defrauded a care home owner out of her entire life savings and destroyed her life.

The scam caused the victims business to fold and left her an emotional wreck. Judge Stephen Ward said: “If it were not for people like you, serious criminals would find life a lot more difficult”.

The victim was contacted in June 2017 by scammers posing as Barclays Bank to say her personal and … Read more

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Victims of Wine Investment Fraud are increasingly being targeted by scammers

Action Fraud working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, has stated that it has seen an increase in reports of this nature over the past six months. Former victims of wine fraud, who were tricked by scammers between four and six years ago, are now being targeted again by individuals claiming that they can resell their wines in return for an insurance or shipping fee. Between 1 June 2018 and 31 December 2018, there were 22 reports made to Action Fraud, with victims losing a total of £97,914. Victims were typically aged between 46 and 86 years old, and sent … Read more

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Pension Review Cold-Calls Banned by the Government

Thousands of people have lost their entire life savings through pension mis-selling, now the government has taken action and changed the law to stop this from happening.

Fraudsters have been using the term ‘Free Pension Review’ and over the past four years it is estimated that £46.7 million has been lost in pension cold-calling scams. And the stories of those who have been targeted are truly heart-breaking, with thousands of pensioners after having saved their entire lives, now facing financial hardship in their retirements. This lead to campaigners calling for an immediate pensions cold-calling ban, to help protect … Read more

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Friends Against Scams

A local community in Dudley is banding together and encouraging businesses and organisations to sign up to an anti-scam initiative. In the borough of Dudley an estimated £3.1 Million is lost each year to scammers, who specifically target elderly and vulnerable people. Their details are circulated amongst fraudsters on what is known as a ‘Sucker List’, meaning some of these people are repeatedly targeted.

In an effort to tackle the problem, 1 year ago, Dudley’s Council Trading Standards department, launched a Scams Unit. They are now asking businesses, organisations, residents and voluntary services help to stop the scammers and protect … Read more

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Conman Jailed for £4.5 Million Fraud

A former financial advisor has been jailed for his involvement in a multi-million pound investment fraud. Neil Bartlett has been sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for scamming £4.5 million from victims, which he used to fund a lavish lifestyle of travel and gambling.

Police in Merseyside began to investigate Bartlett after receiving a number of complaints from Action Fraud, about his business practices. The scheme involved tricking victims into believing they were investing their pensions and life savings into investment accounts with interest. What he was actually doing was filtering the money through his company to pay himself this … Read more

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