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Watch out for scammers targeting your bills!

Action Fraud are warning people to be on the lookout after scammers target utility customers with fake emails.

Action Fraud has received over 100 reports about fake emails purporting to be from utility companies, including British Gas and Anglian Water. The content of the emails vary from threats of account suspension to refunds due to overpayment. The links in the emails lead to malicious websites that are designed to steal personal and financial information.

What is Phishing?

Phishing scams are attempts by scammers to trick you into giving out personal information such as your bank account numbers, passwords and … Read more

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Family TUI Holiday Ends In Disaster

Holiday giant TUI faces further complaints after two family holidays are ruined by sickness jobs.

The Martin family are among 60 others who claim they were struck down with a severe gastric illness whilst staying at a four star hotel in Lanzarote, booked through holiday giant TUI. The family say within days of arriving on their dream vacation, they were struck down with severe stomach cramps and vomiting.

The family say the source of the bug must have come from food which was left uncovered and undercooked. In fact, lawyers working for the family say that they have a … Read more

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Insurance Worker Jailed For £390,000 Fraud

A claims handler working for AIG has been jailed for defrauding the insurer out of more than £390,000 to fund his drug addiction.

James Beaver, worked for AIG insurance as a complex claims case worker, but began defrauding the company after his cocaine addiction took hold, following the tragic death of his young son.

After taking some time off to mourn the loss of his son, Beaver’s cocaine habit began to spiral out of control and by the time he returned to work in 2016, he had developed a £500 a day substance addiction. The court heard how Beaver began … Read more

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Serial Fraudster Ordered To Pay Back His Ill-gotten Gains!

A serial fraudster who was sentenced to four years behind bars, has been ordered to pay back £315,000.

Malcolm Forsyth created false identities to obtain mortgage deals, open bank accounts and even claim benefits. He was ordered to pay back all of his available assets after a lengthy investigation uncovered money he had been hiding.

Police say Forsyth had tried to obstruct their investigation into his assets by telling lies. Despite this, specialist investigators found he had conned £465,554 from his criminal activities and had available assets of £315,000.

Head of West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit and Recovery Team, … Read more

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£80,000 Fine For Failing To Keep Data Safe

The ICO tells London Estate Agency: Companies must accept that they have a legal obligation to both protect and keep secure the personal data they are entrusted with. Where this does not happen, we will investigate and take action.

A London based estate agency has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioners Office for failing to keep the data of their tenants safe.

For two years, London based estate agency, Life at Parliament View Ltd, failed to prevent a security breach, which left the personal data of 18,620 customers exposed for almost two years. The breach happened when the company … Read more

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Betting Fraudsters Ordered To Pay Back Victims

Two men sentenced for money laundering in a betting scam which netted them £3.5 million, have been ordered to pay back some of their ill-gotten gains to victims.

The two men were involved in a complex case of money laundering which police believe they had been running for about 5 years. They were alerted to the two men by Action Fraud, who received complaints from members of the public.

Both men pled guilty in February this year, to money laundering and David Head, who is thought to be the ringleader, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Lee Taylor was … Read more

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Scammer Brothers Jailed for Conning Pensioner

Two brothers have been jailed for scamming elderly and vulnerable victims in a rogue trader scam.

The Flynn brothers were jailed in 2013 for a rat catcher scam, in which they sneaked dead rats into homes of vulnerable people’s homes, to trick people into thinking they had a pest problem. They even took regular instalments from one 76-year-old man of £2,500. Another victim was an 80-year-old man who the brothers told had a woodworm problem and conned him out of £25,000. For these crimes, the brothers were jailed for a combined total of 108 months.

Despite serving time behind bars, … Read more

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Police Raid Courier Scammers

Officers raid properties and make arrests as part of multi-force courier fraud crackdown.

Teams from the North East Regional Specialist Operations Unit, Derbyshire Constabulary and the City of London Police have raided three properties across London as part of a multi-force crackdown on a devious scam which targets the vulnerable and the elderly, known as courier fraud.

Specialist officers from North East Regional Specialist Operations Unit and Derbyshire carried out the raids and officers arrested three men on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud. In addition to the arrest’s officers seized £1,800 in cash and took three men in … Read more

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Conman who made nearly £500,000 ordered to pay back just £2,500

Jason Richards helped John Dodd’s run an illegal scam providing access to pay TV and premier league football matches.

They provided at least 270 pubs with access to a range of channels, police say the fraud caused losses estimated to be in the millions and lined their own pockets with at least £1.5 million.

The impact of these crimes was wide-ranging and caused financial damage to the FA Premier League, Sky, BT and publicans who did not sign up to be part of a scam service.

Dodd’s, 66, and Richards, 46, who admitted conspiracy to defraud after a prosecution by … Read more

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Warning: Don’t let a scam ruin your retirement!

Action Fraud have released a warning to those with pension pots to protect, that scammers are targeting everyone with a pension, no matter how big or small.

Pension scams can be hard to spot. Scammers can be articulate and financially knowledgeable, with credible websites, testimonials and materials that are hard to distinguish from the real thing. Some victims of pension scams have lost more than £1m to fraudsters, according to new figures, amid a surge in criminal activity targeting the savings of over-55s.

While the average amount swindled out of pension scam victims was £91,000, some people had lost … Read more

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