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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

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

Apollo, the company that owns Diamond Resorts, has told Hilton it wants to buy their timeshare arm and will pay a premium to do so.

Hilton Grand Vacations is said to be worth $2.4 Billion and Apollo Global Management has informed the timeshare giant they are planning a purchase offer.

The New York Post reports that Apollo has given Hilton Grand Vacations three options: It would offer to buy HGV at a premium to its share price, merge the company with Diamond Resorts or sell shares in HGV.

Apollo have not released any figures as yet, but the post reports … Read more

One of the biggest timeshare resorts in the US, Orange Lake County Club has announced it will be changing its name to Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

The timeshare giant says it is to change its name to Holiday Inn Club Vacations, so it can capitalise on growth in the timeshare industry. They say that their membership intake has more than doubled in the last ten years. This is the first of several developments the company have undertaken to help draw in new members.

The company recently announced a 100 year extension to its affiliation with IHG. The new agreement … Read more

Karma Group and Diamond Resorts have announced they are expanding their existing partnership to offer timeshare owners new and ‘exciting’ resorts and locations.

Karma Group plans to add a sales centre at Diamond’s Village Heights resort in Greece, to promote and sell vacation ownership points and timeshare units. Karma Group and Diamond both claim their membership levels are increasing and there is a growing need to offer members intercontinental travel between Europe and Asia.

Diamond seem to be adding new resorts and partnerships to expand their vacation offerings to members, Karma group is expanding their vacation offerings in Greece.

John … Read more

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

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

Low budget Airline EasyJet has been slammed online for asking a passenger who was forced to sit on a seat with no back, to remove the picture from twitter.

 The image was shared on social media, and showed a passenger on board a flight from Luton from Geneva, perched on the edge of her seat which had no back to it. The image appeared on Twitter with the caption ‘how can this be allowed?’

The passenger who posted the picture told the Sun Online that his partner was flying from Luton to Geneva when they spotted the seating fault. When … Read more

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

A criminal gang have been jailed for scamming two women out of £240,000 in an online dating scam.

Three men that had orchestrated a cruel dating scam have been sentenced to more than a decade in prison. Together, the men targeted two victims and managed to extract more than £240,000 from the women who believed they were in loving committed relationships.

Posing as Kevin Churchill and Kevin Thompson the men used internet dating sites and targeted the two women, claiming to be international businessmen. The women believed they were in genuine, loving and happy relationships, the fraudsters built up trust … Read more