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Do you have a PCP car finance agreement ?

The Financial Conduct Authority announced back in 2017 that they were investigating the motor financing industry, to ensure that consumers were not being caused harm, to understand how finance products were sold and, to see if the market is functioning as well as it could be. In March, the FCA published an update of this review, setting out the areas of concern that they have highlighted for further investigation. One of those areas is PCP or Personal Contract Purchase.

And finance experts are eagerly anticipating the publication of the FCA’s findings. If the FCA rule the sales processes employed … Read more

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Another timeshare scam in the US.

A real estate company in the US is warning consumers and real estate brokers about a spurt of recent timeshare scams. The scammers are cold-calling timeshare owners claiming to be from a legitimate real estate agency and offering timeshare sales and exit services for timeshares owners.

The scammers have been falsely representing themselves as home sales agents working for a legitimate firm, even going as far as to use their real estate license number and address.

The scammer will then offer to sell the victims timeshare, explaining how they have many clients ready to purchase timeshares at a reasonable price. … Read more

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£21 Million Lost To Computer Software Service Fraud

£21 Million Lost To Computer Software Service Fraud
Action Fraud have launched a new campaign to warn people about Computer Software service Fraud. It is one of the UK’s top five most reported types of fraud. In 2017/18, over 22,000 people have reported being scammed and the total loss combined is £21 Million.

Action Fraud received 22,609 reports from members of the public, concerning Computer Software Service Fraud and a total of £21,365,360 being stolen by scammers. Action Fraud report the average age of a victim is 63 and people living in London and Bristol are most likely … Read more

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Tesco Fined £16.4 Million Over Cyber Attack

The Financial Conduct Authority has handed down a massive fine to the supermarket bank following a cyber-attack In November 2016. The attack did not result in any theft or loss of personal customers data, but did lead to 34 transactions where funds were debited from personal accounts and millions were stolen.

Tesco bank is the financial arm of one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains and holds 5.6 million customer bank accounts.

The FCA says that Tesco failed to protect its customers and is holding the bank accountable for its lapse in risk management. This is the first time the … Read more

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£500 Million Stolen From UK Bank Accounts !

A new report states that £500 Million has been stolen from customers of British banks in the first half of 2018 alone.

Industry group UK Finance says £145 Million of the stolen amount was due to APP scams, or Authorised Push Payments. APP crime is the fastest growing type of crime and these new figures show a sharp increase in the amount stolen from 2017. In short, APP fraud is where a victim believes they are paying for a legitimate service or item and the criminal poses as a trusted third party and redirects the payment to a different account.… Read more

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First Ever GDPR notice served to Facebook !

GDPR made its highly anticipated debut back in May of this year and, until recently, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), who are in charge of enforcing the new regulations, had yet to issue any fines.

There had been a lot of speculation as to when the first fine would be issued and to whom, and now Facebook has been issued with the maximum fine of £500,000 under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998. Under the terms of the legislation, companies must report data breaches to regulators within 72 hours and failures to adequately protect information can result in … Read more

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A Conman Stole My Parent’s Home!!

Imagine your loved ones were scammed out of everything they had worked their whole lives for

That’s exactly what happened to one family whose elderly parents were conned by someone they trusted. Syed Bukhari pretended to be ‘Gerry’ from the bank and went on to steal more than £350,000 of their lifesavings including their home.

Bukhari, 37, befriended the ex-merchant navy officer and his wife of 40 years by at first running errands for the pair. Both of the elderly couple suffered from dementia, however, despite this, they were enjoying their retirement and leading somewhat independent lives. They were first … Read more

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Pension Scam Victims Win Case Against Mis-sold SIPP

The Financial Ombudsman Service has upheld a complaint bought by five individuals who lost nearly £100,000 after transferring their savings following a free pension review.

The decision made by FOS could offer hope to thousands of other victims, who have lost their savings in SIPP’s, a successful way to claim back their money.

The five individuals invested into schemes, including Ethical Forestry and Global Plantations, between 2013 and 2016. The 5 victims alleged Guinness Mahon Trust Corporation worked with unregulated introducers, to facilitate non-standard investments.

The five victims were cold called and persuaded to invest their pension pots into … Read more

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Victims Of Pension Fraud Lost An Average Of £91,000

The Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator have issued a statement, to warn the public to be vigilant when receiving cold-calls, regarding pension investments.

 

The warning comes after 253 victims contacted Action Fraud to report pension investment fraud. This resulted in more than £23 million lost to pension scammers in 2017 alone. The average loss equates to £91,000 per victim.

Needless to say, these are highly sophisticated scammers, who convince people into transferring their pensions into fraudulent schemes. Victims can lose their life savings and hard earned money, which could leave them facing a retirement future they … Read more

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Cold-Calling Conman Jailed For 13 Years.

A man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, after he was found guilty of conspiring to con dozens of investors out of millions of pounds. Michael Nascimento, ran a call centre where investors were offered shares in fraudulent companies. But instead, the court heard, how he spent some of the proceeds of his crimes on private school tuition, Arsenal season tickets and expensive trips.

For four years, Nascimento ran a ‘Boiler Room’, another name for a high pressure call centre, where investors, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, buy shares in companies with plausible sounding names. … Read more

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