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ICO Names and Shames Illegal Telemarketers

Our Vault LTD fined £70k by the Information Commissioners Office, after making 55,364 nuisance phone calls.

 

In a statement, the ICO said it had issued an Enforcement Notice to the company, ordering it to stop its illegal marketing activity.

Our Vault had been cold-calling people who had previously registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and had not consented to being contacted by Our Vault.

Our Vault claimed that all their personal data was checked against the register. However, following an investigation by the ICO, Our Vault were found to have never requested a TPS license. A TPS license … Read more

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Timeshare Fraudster Sent To Prison For Repeat Telemarketing Offences

Wesley Scott Aldred, from Kissimmee, Florida has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for violating the conditions of his probation order. He was previously convicted for telemarketing fraud in 2015, for participating in a timeshare resale Deceptive scheme. The company, named Premier Timeshare Solutions, defrauded timeshare owners all over the United States, including South Illinois, where Mr Aldred is currently serving his sentence.

Whilst on probation for that conviction, Aldred was found to be engaging in a similar telemarketing scam which targeted Timeshare owners. Aldred and nine other defendants were indicted in May 2014 for felony charges, including conspiracy … Read more

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New Technology Helps HMRC Take Down Fraudsters.

Over the past 12 months, HMRC has requested the takedown of more than 20,000 corrupt websites. HM Revenue and Customs claims to have saved the public over £2.4 million, by shutting down websites and fraudsters who run them. Most people with a mobile phone have probably received a text purporting to be from HMRC which looked Genuine. The public have been made aware that these texts are fraudulent, by the government, who stated that they would never contact an individual by text, despite this being the way in which many people have been scammed.

Fraudsters alleging to be from HMRC … Read more

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TSB Overwhelmed by Incidents of Fraud.

TSB loses 12,500 customers after database migration Collided its system for millions in April. The bank says it has been overwhelmed by incidents of fraud following the technical meltdown.

Thousands of customers have been receiving fraudulent messages and emails and the bank has been unable to properly assist customers due to the sheer volume of incidents.

So far TSB has received 95,613 complaints from customers who have been locked out of their online bank accounts and mobile Apps; some customers even gained access to accounts that did not belong to them.

The cause of the problem was an IT migration … Read more

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Marriott Vacation Club Agree To Settle Class Action

Marriott Vacation Club owns and operates more than 70 vacation club properties throughout the United States, Caribbean, Europe and Asia. They have more than 400,000 Vacation Club owners. Owners are able to exchange into other locations through the Interval International Scheme, a timeshare exchange company with over 3,000 resorts. Uniquely, owners may also exchange their ownership week into Marriott Reward Points, which can be redeemed for stays at Marriott Hotel Properties, or for travel activities such as cruises and guided tours with affiliated partners.

It is the latter arm of the organisation that sparked a class action law suit against … Read more

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The Sophisticated Scammer, Timeshare Scams Have Doubled.

Timeshare, Cryptocurrency, Financial And Legal Scams Have Doubled In The Last Year !

 

More and more customers are falling victim to scams involving timeshare, cryptocurrency, binary options investments and phoney solicitors, according the the charity, Citizen’s Advice. Scammers posing as professionals from financial and legal services are on the rise and such cons now account for a fifth of all scams reported to Citizen’s Advice.

Citizen’s Advice have reported a 6% increase of these types of scams being reported to their advisory service this financial year and they have calculated that the median financial loss for these types of … Read more

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Pensions Company Scam, Compulsory Liquidation Ordered By High Court.

The High Court order the compulsory liquidation of scoundrel pension companies for misusing millions of pounds of pension savings and scamming up to 520 pension savers.

 

Fast Pensions LTD and five other related companies have been closed down in the interest of the public by the High Court. The official receiver in the Public Interest Unit North division is now the liquidator in charge.

The Insolvency Service discovered that 520 pension savers were tricked into investing £21 Million in 15 pension schemes, which now appear to be bogus.

Between 2012 and 2013, 520 people were rascal into transferring their … Read more

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Scammers Stole Life Savings From Dying Woman

A Terminally Ill woman and her husband have lost £53,000 in lifesavings to fraudsters who posed as Santander Bank staff.

 

Carol and John Williams, both in their 60’s, were planning to use their life savings to purchase a new property, after Carol Williams was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

The scammers called Mr Williams on his mobile phone. Mr Williams was not alarmed by this, at first, as the number appeared on his phone screen as Santander Bank.

“They told me £15,000 was being taken out of my account by a Stephen King in Dundee, they said they needed … Read more

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Con Woman From Birmingham Jailed For 9 Years

A Woman from Birmingham, who conned more than £20,000 from vulnerable people, has been jailed for 9 years. Derrol Flynn posed as a police officer to gain the confidence of her victims before stealing their cash. She had already been jailed multiple times for similar offences, stretching back 20 years.

Derrol Flynn starting cheating vulnerable people in and around Birmingham out of thousands of pounds when she was in her 20’s. She’s now 45, but will spend the next 9 years behind bars. Despite being released last January on license, halfway through an 8 year sentence for a string of … Read more

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FCC Hands Down Biggest Ever Fine

The FCC Hands Down Biggest Ever Fine For Man Who Made 96 Million Robocalls.

The US Federal Communications Commission have issued a $120 million fine to a man from Miami, Florida. It was alleged that he had been the mastermind behind 96 million robocalls, tricking customers with ‘exclusive’ sales of holiday and timeshare properties through unsolicited automated calls.

In 2017, the FCC first bought the case against Adrian Abramovich, stating that during a three month period in 2016 he made 96 million Robocalls. The commission proposed a $120 million fine for the offence.

A Robocall is a phone call that … Read more

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