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Hundreds of customers locked out of accounts on Black Friday !

HSBC customers looking to grab a bargain on Black Friday had a nasty shock when they learned that they were locked out of their bank accounts. The HSBC mobile banking system went down last Friday, at the height of the Black Friday sales. It was unfortunate timing for shoppers, who needed to use their online banking apps to take advantage of the Black Friday deals. It is also bad timing, as MP’s announce they are investigating banks and the numerous IT failures reported this year.

Last month, HSBC online banking went down, leaving customers locked out of their bank accounts. … Read more

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Letting agency demanding money for simply viewing a property

The BBC programme Victoria Derbyshire has found that a letting agency has been demanding hundreds of pounds from prospective tenants to view properties for rent. The agency in question is Flintons in London and, so far, they have denied all these allegations, but these practices breach guidelines and could be illicit.

Despite denying the allegations, several of Flintons clients told the BBC programme they were told by estate agents that they would receive a refund if they did not want to take a tenancy agreement on the property they were viewing, but, when they did request refunds, were told the … Read more

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New rules and laws for 2019 !

2019 has a lot of changes in store for many UK citizens. Everything from how much tax you pay, to transitioning your mobile provider is changing in 2019. Wages and pensions are set to rise, but so is council tax and rail fares, so what is changing and when? And how will it affect you? With the uncertainty of Brexit, and the possibility of a second referendum or even another general election is is important to get on top of our financial planning, so we can handle whatever 2019 has in store.

Here are some of the key changes planned … Read more

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Timeshare Company Could Face Prosecution

A timeshare travel company based in Cape Town, could face prosecution for multiple charges, including duping customers into signing up for a membership.

Vacation Hub International, a membership based travel and lifestyle company, is being investigated by South Africa’s National Consumer Commission. The NCC is the primary regulator of consumer business in South Africa, and helps regulate business practices. After investigating the company, NCC referred the case to its prosecutors. They allege that the vacation company falsified themselves in order to trick people into signing up to their services. They used unfair tactics to prevent customers from cancelling their memberships … 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 fooling 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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Italian Regulator issues record fine to Facebook

Italy’s consumer regulator is fining Facebook over £8 million, for concealing how they make money from their data. The fine comes after an investigation by the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) looked into alleged violations of the consumer code by Facebook.

According to the ICA, Facebook infringed four of the consumer code regulations, they say: Facebook emphasises the free nature of the service, but not the commercial objectives that underlie the provision of the social network service, thus inducing users into making a transactional decision that they would not have taken otherwise (i.e., to register in the social network and to … Read more

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Action Fraud launch new campaign to fight festive fraud

Action Fraud have launched a new campaign to remind the public to be extra alert over the Christmas period when shopping for gifts online. Fraudsters looking to take advantage of shoppers, are luring them in with promises of great deals and big savings.

Over the Christmas period last year, fraudsters conned 15,024 shoppers out of more than £11 million and fraudsters are using social media and online auction sites to target people. Action Fraud say that mobile phones were the most common item that people tried to buy from fraudsters. Victims reported being hooked in with bargain deals on popular … Read more

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Company Fined £200,000 For Sending 14.8 Million Spam Texts

A London based tax returns company has been fined £200,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office for sending 14.8 million marketing text messages between July 2016 and October 2017. The ICO began an investigation after receiving over 2,100 complaints from members of the public.

The company, named as Tax Returned Limited, did not follow the proper guidelines when contacting people. The ICO found that the company had not taken the reasonable steps to make sure the data complied with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation, which requires a company or organisation obtains specific approval from people receiving the messages, prior … Read more

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Conman took advantage of vulnerable pensioner

A conman who tricked a pensioner into spending money on a unworthy product to cut her heating bills has been sentenced to 3 months imprisonment. Adrian Hillman, a former director of Eco Shield UK Ltd, cold-called his elderly victim in November 2015 and offered her a product, he said would drastically cut her heating bills, and help her save money.

The victim agreed to pay the £2,000 to the conman after he visited her in her home and convinced her this worthless product would be a worthwhile purchase. However, when the job was complete, the elderly victim was horrified to … Read more

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Grenfell Fraudster Jailed

Sharife Elouahabi has been jailed for six years for falsely claiming over £100,000 from the disaster fund.

Elouahabi told authorities that he had been living with his uncle and family in the tower and alleged to be a member of the El-Wahabi family, five of whom had died in the fire. In reality, he had no connection to them at all. He also told authorities he had suffered constant nightmares, anxiety and weight loss because of the tragedy. Nine days after the fire, he approached Kensington and Chelsea council claiming he was the nephew of Mr El-Wahabi, who died alongside … Read more

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