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Holiday From Hell

A couple from the South West, say they are stuck in a village in Corfu, which Mirrors a war zone.

Mick Clarke and wife Jayney claim they are stuck in the village of Agios Gordios, Corfu, which they’ve said has no water, is strewn with rubbish and is making them ill. Mick is a former soldier and says the resort reminds him of his time serving in war-torn Bosnia. And Jayney has a rare blood disorder she calls a “ticking timebomb.”

“This holiday was supposed to help end a really bad time in our lives. I was really ill last … Read more

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Timeshare exit firm banned from business

A timeshare exit company has been permanently barred from operating and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars back to customers it conned.

Owners Steven Martin did not show up in court when the ruling was made, however the judgement ruled against him and his company who were found to be charging clients exuberant fees for so called timeshare exit services.

The company first came to the attention of officials several years ago and in 2017 The Better Business Bureau issued a warning against the company as they had received hundreds of complaints from customers across the United States … Read more

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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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Another Warning Over Booking Pilgrimage

Action Fraud is warning people to be cautious when booking their pilgrimages.

Action Fraud, the reporting service, is warning anyone looking to book an upcoming pilgrimage to the Middle East, to exercise extreme caution as fraudsters are specifically targeting Hajj trips.

Up to 25,000 British Muslims will be booking trips to Mecca over the coming months to perform Hajj in the autumn.

The total reported loss to victims was £185,967 betw,,een July and December 2018. The public are urged to check that their travel company is a member of a recognised association such as ABTA

Last year, in the period … Read more

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Don’t let a scam ruin your holiday

Fraudsters stole more than £7 million from holidaymakers in 2018.

Action Fraud’s figures show more than 5,000 tourists were conned into paying for fake flights, non-existent villas and other scams. Figures released by Action Fraud show the average amount lost due to holiday fraud in 2018 was £1,380.

Travel trade organisation Abta’s chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “The cost to victims is not just financial. This crime causes very real emotional distress. Fraudsters are using increasingly Elegant methods to target destinations and times of year when demand is high and availability limited, as they know people will be looking … Read more

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Woman used by criminals in bank fraud case

A mother-of-two who acted as a mule for an organised crime gang has been exempted jail after she admitted multiple frauds.

The 35 year old woman from Belfast, was described in court as a vulnerable woman with a heart condition picked on by fraudsters. Joanne Rice pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud by false representation over a six day period in 2016.

The M&S bank accounts that were owned by a separate customer had £85,500 transferred from it into what was described as a mule account, one of which belonged to Joanne Rice. In fact, over a six … Read more

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Scam Timeshare exit companies cons $2.2 million

The Better Business Bureau is alert residents of Missouri to be careful when looking to exit their timeshare contracts.

Desperate timeshare owners, looking to get out of their lengthy expensive contracts are falling victim to rogue timeshare exit companies, throughout Missouri the Better Business Bureau is claiming.

One family who discovered this for themselves, took their story to a local news channel to warn others facing the same problem. Thirty years ago, a local family and their three children purchased a timeshare in Sedona. The fees started off just $38 a year but eventually increased to a whopping $3,700 annually.… Read more

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Customer Services Officer Fined For Accessing Personal Data

Former customer services officer fined after unlawfully accessing personal data.

A former customer services officer for Stockport Homes Limited has been found guilty at Stockport Magistrates court and ordered to pay a £300 fine, for unlawfully accessing personal data.

The court heard how Wendy Masterson spent time looking at anti-social behaviour cases without a legal reason to do so. In fact, she accessed Stockport Homes Limited case management system a total of 67 times between January and December 2017 when she was not authorised to do so. Her actions only came to light after concerns raised about her performance at … Read more

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Toy boy Fraudster Tricked OAP into signing away her £320k will

A court has heard how 28-year-old Benjamin Field wrote messages from God on an Elderly woman’s mirror, to trick her into signing away her £320,000 will.

Benjamin Field is in court charged of attempted murder, alongside Martyn Smith. The two men are thought to have conspired to break their elderly victim’s mind and drive her to the grave. Benjamin Field was 57 years her junior, he sent her letters and poems during his year long seduction plan. He fooled her by saying he was in love and wanted to get married, eventually convincing her to leave her house to him … Read more

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