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TV and Radio Presenter Scammed out of life savings

TV and radio presenter, Helen Skelton has spoken out and revealed she lost her life savings after fraudsters fooled her over the phone.

Speaking on ITV breakfast show with Lorraine Kelly, Helen Skelton told viewers to be cautious after the busy mom of three was distracted and believed fraudsters who claimed to be calling from her bank.

She explained how the fraudsters asked a few simple questions over the phone and they gained access to her bank account and stole her entire £70,000 life savings. She explained that whilst at home looking after her children, she was called out of … Read more

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Gang Of Fraudsters Con Victims Out Of £240,000

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

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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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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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Marriott Must pay £99 Million Fine

The Information Commissioner’s Office says it is issuing Marriott International a £99 million fine, for a huge date breach in 2014.

The data breach led the personal and financial details of some 339 million guests being stolen by cyber-criminals. The breach happened in 2014, but Marriott only discovered it in 2018. Marriott said 339 million guests had their information exposed, this included their names, phone numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, passport numbers and arrival and departure information. Some guests had their credit card numbers and card expiration dates exposed. CEO Arne Sorenson said in a statement: “We fell short … Read more

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British Airways Ordered To Pay Record Fine

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has informed British Airways they are facing a record fine of £183.39 million, this is the biggest fine ever issued by the ICO.

Between June and September 2018, the airline suffered a massive cyber-attack leading to the personal and financial information of over 500,000 customers being stolen. The sensitive information, which included people’s passport numbers, names and addresses and credit card details, was stolen from the airline’s website and mobile app.

The ICO launched an extensive investigation and found that a variety of information was compromised, and the airline was to blame as they had … Read more

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First Time Buyer Has Deposit Stolen

Home buyers are being warned that fraudsters are out to steal their money and to be on guard when purchasing a new property.

Action Fraud has issued the warning after a charity worker who was about to purchase his first home, had £67,000 stolen after hackers intercepted emails between him and his solicitor.

It is known as Conveyancing fraud and is committed when criminals hack into the email chains between sellers and buyers and their solicitors and estate agents.  The fraudster will wait for the right time, usually the day of the sale, and send a spoofed email informing the … Read more

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Rogue Traders Sentenced

Scammers stole thousands from vulnerable people.

Two men who scammed more than £35,000 from a vulnerable elderly man have been sentenced. The two men first approached their elderly victim at his home in September 2017. They claimed that, while working on his neighbours property, they noticed a leak in his gutter, which they could repair for £5.

Sensing the man was vulnerable, they went on to tell him a series of lies, claiming he could be sued by his neighbour if he did not allow them to urgently repair his roof. The man agreed to have this work carried … 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 tricking 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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