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Frauds, Scams & Cons (General; Miscellaneous)

brownmane said:
Wonder if someone was attempting to disappear and tried to make a fake death look real? The more real people you can have to confirm that a funeral was held, death certificate obtained etc would help to verify that someone died. If there was no one to question along the way, people would believe it happened because others who they trust said it did. Good thing the choir master somehow found out that there was something odd.
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Yes, makes you suspect something like that - maybe he needed to disappear for some reason, but the supposed man disappeared in Latvia so a funeral in the UK is odd.

Then there’s the supposed brother, who doesn’t exist.

If you were arranging a fake funeral for someone who needs to disappear wouldn’t you try to get some basic family details right?

Someone spent a bit of money on it - horse-drawn hearse, luxury vintage cars, full choir, funeral directors etc. Now it’s made the news the plan, whatever it was, has gone well pear-shaped.

The could’ve provided a replacement body ala The Third Man & possibly got away with it..

If there was no body, just ashes, a funeral would’ve taken place somewhere, Latvia presumably, & there must be a record of that. If there isn’t then he isn’t dead..
 
hunck said:
There’s no mention of leaving the coffin open in the story.
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My mistake. Thanks for pointing it out. I read the article too quickly and assumed they could only know the coffin was empty, etc, etc.
 
kesavaross said:
My mistake. Thanks for pointing it out. I read the article too quickly and assumed they could only know the coffin was empty, etc, etc.
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It’s all very weird - there was a horse-drawn hearse presumably containing an empty coffin but how this was arranged is a mystery. I can’t imagine a funeral director would send an empty coffin to a funeral so it must’ve been organised independently of them.
 
hunck said:
It’s all very weird - there was a horse-drawn hearse presumably containing an empty coffin but how this was arranged is a mystery. I can’t imagine a funeral director would send an empty coffin to a funeral so it must’ve been organised independently of them.
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I was surprised to find you can actually buy a coffin. So maybe a coffin was bought and then taken to a funeral directors who would assume there was a body inside. Maybe?
 
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kesavaross said:
I was surprised to find you can actually buy a coffin. So maybe a coffin was bought and then taken to a funeral directors who would assume there was a body inside. Maybe?
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think this is what a lot of the artifice was based on. That many people involved would make assumptions and not directly check things themselves.

The funeral director had a death certificate, so if he was not involved in the prep of the body (possible if he was told that the body was shipped in the coffin) then that is one person who might have taken them at their word. He would assume that the body would have been handled properly for transport across countries. And if they had paperwork that looked legit for this as well, then it is quite possible.

Their plan backfired when, I'm guessing, the coffin needed to be transferred for ceremony. They must have not foreseen that it would be picked up by others. Then trying to quickly change the story caused questions.
 

Private jet and yachts seized as three arrested in £76,000,000 care home scam raid​

It appears rooms were sold by this property development co supposedly running private care homes, as an ‘investment’ with guaranteed income & the promise of selling on for a profit. Instead, they spent the money on themselves. More Vulture Capitalism at work.

The Serious Fraud Office investigated property developer the Carlauren Group after they fell into administration, forcing elderly residents to leave their care homes.

Between 2015 and 2019 the group had purchased 23 hotels to renovate them into care-homes, including the historic Windlestone Hall in Durham.

But only nine of these were ever operational, with some even continuing to operate as hotels.
Instead, the group were found to have made huge luxury purchases on two Lamborghinis, a Mclaren 570GT, a private jet and two yachts, which were previously seized by administrators.

Carlauren Group collapsed into administration in 2019.

More than 600 investors have been left out of pocket, after they were promised the care homes would include swimming pools and room service.

Rooms were sold with a guaranteed annual payout with the opportunity to resell with up to a 25% profit.
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Chief exec. Sean Murray
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brownmane said:
I

think this is what a lot of the artifice was based on. That many people involved would make assumptions and not directly check things themselves.

The funeral director had a death certificate, so if he was not involved in the prep of the body (possible if he was told that the body was shipped in the coffin) then that is one person who might have taken them at their word. He would assume that the body would have been handled properly for transport across countries. And if they had paperwork that looked legit for this as well, then it is quite possible.

Their plan backfired when, I'm guessing, the coffin needed to be transferred for ceremony. They must have not foreseen that it would be picked up by others. Then trying to quickly change the story caused questions.
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Horrible recent story of an undertakers in the UK being raided where 30+ corpses have been found together with a large amount of ashes. People had buried loved ones only to be told that the deceased was still at the business. Quite what has gone on is still under investigation
 
The Ask the Mortician (You Tube) has discussed different cases of funeral home mishandling. It always generates outrage and horror. The issue is a funeral home is a business and, like in other fields, may carry out bad practice in order to generate income ... or usually it's laziness. Like the recent sea cruise that deposited the passengers remains carelessly in a refrigerated food store because their morgue freezer had broken down. No one told the crew that the body needed to be stored at least at 2 degrees C.
 
Stormkhan said:
The Ask the Mortician (You Tube) has discussed different cases of funeral home mishandling. It always generates outrage and horror. The issue is a funeral home is a business and, like in other fields, may carry out bad practice in order to generate income ... or usually it's laziness. Like the recent sea cruise that deposited the passengers remains carelessly in a refrigerated food store because their morgue freezer had broken down. No one told the crew that the body needed to be stored at least at 2 degrees C.
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I have said numerous times that I love Caitlin Doughty and her yt channel.

In response to refrigeration system for food being used as refrigeration for bodies:
:omg:
 
Stormkhan said:
The Ask the Mortician (You Tube) has discussed different cases of funeral home mishandling. It always generates outrage and horror. The issue is a funeral home is a business and, like in other fields, may carry out bad practice in order to generate income ... or usually it's laziness. Like the recent sea cruise that deposited the passengers remains carelessly in a refrigerated food store because their morgue freezer had broken down. No one told the crew that the body needed to be stored at least at 2 degrees C.
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I think the case I referred to goes way beyond mishandling though and the info coming out is horrendous. I've stopped reading about it, awful.
 
One of the news reports about the Hull debacle has a photo of a woman kissing her father's coffin. It now seems that the coffin may have been empty.

Brought to mind the last few funerals I've been to, where I was surprised to see mourners invited to approach the coffin at the end of the ceremony.

Lots did this, including me, and we variously patted, stroked or kissed the coffin.

So I can see how upset one might feel about having shown affection towards what turns out to have been an empty coffin.
 
Not content with shovelling prodigious amounts of sewage into various waterways whilst running up debts of £14.7 billion, Thames Water boss Chris Weston now proposes to raise bills by 40% by 2030 ’to pay for improvements'.

How they’ve been allowed to get away with this is verging on criminal & people should be in prison for fraud. Just my opinion of course.

Details
 
hunck said:
Not content with shovelling prodigious amounts of sewage into various waterways whilst running up debts of £14.7 billion, Thames Water boss Chris Weston now proposes to raise bills by 40% by 2030 ’to pay for improvements'.

How they’ve been allowed to get away with this is verging on criminal & people should be in prison for fraud. Just my opinion of course.

Details
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Outrageous.
 
hunck said:
This is bizarre -

Priest baffled when he finds out coffin at lavish Kensington funeral is empty​

Father Rupert McHardy, 49, was due to begin the lavish service at the London Oratory Roman Catholic church in upmarket South Kensington at 11am on Monday.

There was a horse-drawn hearse, two luxury vintage cars, men in top hats, a full choir, and a person to film the funeral.

The were also several photos of Lauris Zaube, the 23-year-old Latvian man it was apparently for, placed around the church.

Dressed in his robes and with a prepared sermon in hand, Fr McHardy was about to start the service when the choir master pulled him aside to explain everything wasn’t as it seemed.

He then learnt there was no body in the coffin and the mourners were actors

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This whole thing sounds like some kind of art project to me. If it WAS anything sinister, then why would half the mourners be wearing puffa jackets and balaclavas - surely they would dress as conventional mourners, particularly as the entire event was being filmed. Sounds more like some elaborate film thing, with the 'crew' being the ones in day dress and the people actually being filmed being the ones dressed up.

I'd guess at an art project from a Russian student with lots of money and friends in Latvia who would know of the unfortunate death of Lauris (who may even have been a friend, given the age group), who decided to give him a funeral and film it for Art.
 
catseye said:
This whole thing sounds like some kind of art project to me. If it WAS anything sinister, then why would half the mourners be wearing puffa jackets and balaclavas - surely they would dress as conventional mourners, particularly as the entire event was being filmed. Sounds more like some elaborate film thing, with the 'crew' being the ones in day dress and the people actually being filmed being the ones dressed up.

I'd guess at an art project from a Russian student with lots of money and friends in Latvia who would know of the unfortunate death of Lauris (who may even have been a friend, given the age group), who decided to give him a funeral and film it for Art.
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Could be - I wonder if the truth will be revealed..
 
hunck said:
More Vulture Capitalism at work.
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I think the issue arose because a major funder withdrew leaving Thames Water only having enough funds to last 12 months. Bluffing/ scam - who knows? There was talk of one of those temporary government interventions which will no doubt cost the tax payer squillions. Massive critism of the incompetence of the Board going on.
 

For sale: The mansion seized from £70m postal fraud scammer​

It’s up for sale - £2.75 million.
I’m not sure how the scam worked but anyway..

A mansion that was seized by police investigating a £70m postal scam has gone on sale.

Hadley Grange, at Jordans in Buckinghamshire, belonged to Narinder Sandhu, 62, who was jailed in February for conspiracy to commit fraud.

He was the architect of a plan to cheat the Royal Mail by falsely declaring mail weights, classes and destinations, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors said he used the proceeds to fund a lavish lifestyle.

His wealth included the mansion, complete with a separate pool house, as well as Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars.

Prosecutors said the falsely categorised mail was sent through logistics companies in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire from 2005 to 2017.
They said the scam cost the Royal Mail about £70m, although the defendants earned a smaller sum.

The firms involved - including Tiger International Logistics, Worldwide Transport Express and Global Express Worldwide - are due to be sentenced in December.

Sandhu, who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy along with his company Packpost International, was jailed for four years.
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catseye said:
This whole thing sounds like some kind of art project to me. If it WAS anything sinister, then why would half the mourners be wearing puffa jackets and balaclavas - surely they would dress as conventional mourners, particularly as the entire event was being filmed. Sounds more like some elaborate film thing, with the 'crew' being the ones in day dress and the people actually being filmed being the ones dressed up.

I'd guess at an art project from a Russian student with lots of money and friends in Latvia who would know of the unfortunate death of Lauris (who may even have been a friend, given the age group), who decided to give him a funeral and film it for Art.
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Over on the other thread on this story, the student whose name was used for the fake funeral has been found dead in a Latvian river.

The man who organised it is from Feltham Middx & was jailed for four years in 2016 for four counts of sexual activity with two 15 year old girls. He’s also apparently made & filmed other fake events.

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...neral-and-the-missing-body.71087/post-2336909
 
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