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Hajj fraud warning issued by Civil Aviation Authority over fake pilgrimage deals

Travellers looking to book their Hajj pilgrimage this August, are being warned to stay clear of deals that seem to good to be true.

With over 25,000 British Muslims expected to make the Hajj pilgrimage this August, the Civil Aviation Authority is launching a campaign to ensure that this often once in a lifetime trip is not Thwarted by booking through a disreputable company, or those falsely posing as reputable travel agents. The Civil Aviation Authority’s campaign is working to protect travellers after an increasing trend in the sale of illegal or fake package deals. In the worst cases, … Read more

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Hilton Says It Did Not Robocall Millions Of People

Hilton Grand Vacations is urging a court of appeal to drop a lawsuit alleging the Timeshare giant assaulted consumers with undesirable Robocalls.

Melanie Glasser brought the dispute to court and argued that Hilton Grand Vacations was a ‘classic telemarketer’ and alleged that Hilton made 15.9 million timeshare marketing calls during a six month period. She states that her suit is exactly the type of problem that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was created for.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was adopted into U.S law in an effort to address the growing number of telephone marketing calls. The TCPA restricts … Read more

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Disgruntled Timeshare owner from U.S wants to warn others to stay away from the financial trap he has faced

A former timeshare owner was promised a flashy showy vacation, but instead ended up spending $21,000 on a timeshare. He was approached by a timeshare resort in 2017 and thought it would be a good time for him to invest, as his children were getting married and he thought it might make a nice honeymoon destination for them. He also employed several staff at his own small business, and wanted to offer it as an employee perk for loyal staff members.

It is a financial decision, he now says he regrets. He spoke with a news channel in the U.S … Read more

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Taxi Driver Stops Fraud In It’s Tracks

A taxi driver who was driving an elderly woman to her bank, has saved her from losing her entire life savings.

A taxi driver from Bristol, was alerted to the potential fraud whilst chatting to her on the journey from her home to the bank. His quick thinking stopped the elderly victim from losing her entire life savings.

The taxi driver said alarms bells started to ring when the 87 year old said she was heading to her bank to withdraw all her money from her account. She explained to the driver how she had received a call from her … 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 Prompt pensions cold-calling ban, to help protect … 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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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 alert 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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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 Asserting 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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