Posts

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New type of courier fraud targeting older victims

Vulnerable and elderly people are being targeted by scammers and coerced into spending thousands of pounds on designer watches and other costly purchases in a new type of courier fraud.

Harrods and Watches of Switzerland say their staff have repeatedly prevented people from spending large sums of money they were being coerced into giving to fraudsters waiting for them outside. The stores say that the problem has become so serious that the shops have ordered their store detectives to not only be on the look out for thieves, but also watch out for shoppers who appear to be making purchases … Read more

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EE Fined For Spamming Customers

The Information Commissioners Office has fined EE £100,000 for sending millions of marketing texts without permission to do so.

Mobile giant EE has been fined £100,000 for sending millions of text messages to customers. The ICO said EE sent more than 2.5 million messages in 2018. The messages asked customers to download an app and upgrade their phones. EE also sent follow up texts to the customers who did not open the first message.

EE told the ICO that the texts were sent as service messages and because of this were no subject to the electronic marketing rules. However, the … Read more

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Virgin Media issues warning to customers over scam phone calls

An elderly man is warning people to be vigilant after he was targeted by scammers.

A man is warning customers to be vigilant after receiving several scam phone calls claiming to be from his telephone provider. John Brown, from Darlington, had been receiving missed calls and automated messages from ‘British Telecom’ stating his internet and broadband with Virgin Media would be cancelled.

The messages, which he received almost daily in the space of four weeks, told him he could solution this by calling a certain number and pressing ‘one’ to speak to someone claiming to be tech support. Already suspicious, … Read more

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Important Update from Praetorian Legal

Further to our previous correspondence, you will no doubt be aware that it has now been announced that the Spanish branch of Club La Costa (UK) Plc has been placed into liquidation. This includes all of the Spanish companies owned and operated by CLC.

Given the way that the timeshare industry works, it is likely that assorted companies will seek to contact you to try and obtain money from you. Before that happens, we would like to set-out the correct position. At this stage, we are taking advice from senior Counsel about the effect of the liquidation. Until we have … Read more

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Scam Victim Wants to Warn Others

Wendy Williams, was just one of over a thousand people targeted by the ‘Wolves of Wind Street’, a group of fraudsters who targeted elderly victims with a free boiler scam. Renewable Energy Centre Ltd, offered victims a free boiler under what they said was a government scheme, all people had to do was pay a one-off upfront fee of either £299 or £399.

The company managed to con 1,200 people into paying this fee, but only three households ever received their new boilers. The three elderly victims who did receive their new boiler, were actually unknowingly signed up for … Read more

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How can you avoid a timeshare exit scam?

If you like the millions of other timeshare owners across the world, find themselves in the position where you feel stuck by your timeshare and desperately want to find a way out, then there are some important things to consider before you start your journey to economically unburdening yourself from a timeshare contract.

Has your timeshare become unaffordable, or perhaps you have been hit, like the millions of others, with financial strain due to the Covid-19 pandemic? For the majority of people life is changing all the time and we don’t always find ourselves in the exact same position we … Read more

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Vote Leave fined £40,000 for spam text messaging

The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Vote Leave Limited £40,000 for sending out thousands of unsolicited text messages during the 2016 EU referendum. Following an investigation by the ICO, discovered that the Vote Leave campaign sent 196,154 text messages promoting the Leave Campaign. The text messages contained a link to its website.

The ICO found that the Leave campaign claimed they had received people’s details Lawfully, but had actually deleted the evidence of consent after the referendum. They also deleted details of the phone numbers the messages were sent from, the number of messages sent, and the number of messages … Read more

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Five Men Jailed Over Fraud Offences

Five fraudsters have been jailed for a total of 17 years and nine months, for conning susceptible victims out of nearly £1 million.

The five men were facing charges of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. The court heard how, between 2013 and 2015, the group of men conned more than 50 victims into a fraud and money laundering scam. The men would cold-call elderly and vulnerable people, introduce themselves under fake names and claim they were brokers with proficiency in fine wine.

They operated from an industrial estate based in Great Dunmow, and claimed to work for three companies, … Read more

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Scammer Steals $10,000 From Grandfather

A grandfather from Australia has been scammed out of $10,000 by a refined fraudster who knew all of his personal details.

The 77 year old retired grandfather, from Australia, was called on his landline by scammers claiming to be from his broadband provider. They told him he was due a payment of $300 in compensation for his service not working properly. The caller then proceeded to pass his call onto a female agent who claimed to work for the network and would process his $300 payment.

The scammer knew all of his personal details and was able to access his … Read more

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Cold-Calling Scammers Convicted

A cold-calling company based in Swansea has been caught on CCTV pressurising elderly victims into buying boilers that didn’t exist.

Renewable Energy Centre Ltd, offered victims a free boiler under what they said was a government scheme, all people had to do was pay a one-off upfront fee of either £299 or £399.

The company managed to con 1,200 people into paying this fee, but only three households ever acquired their new boilers. The three elderly victims who did receive their new boiler, were actually unknowingly signed up for monthly repayments lasting 12 months.

A four year investigation was carried … Read more

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