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Sixth-former on work experience stole thousands from top law firm in cheque scam
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:41 PM on 08th July 2008

A sixth who stole thousands of pounds while on work experience with a top international law firm was jailed for five months yesterday.

Within three days of joining Freshfields, Titilayo Olaifa used the computer system to generate company cheques.

She forged her boss’s signatures and paid them into her bank.

Southwark Crown Court in London heard that two cheques for a total of £13,500 were processed and the money withdrawn before the City-based firm realised what was happening.

Olaifa, 19, of Clapton, East London, pleaded guilty to theft and fraud last June. She is now doing a management degree at Essex University.

Olaifa sobbed as Judge Martin Beddoe said that while he had ‘sought very hard’ not to disrupt her ‘there is no other method of dealing with you other than by a custodial sentence’.

The judge added she would serve her sentence in a young offenders’ institution.

The teenager then became hysterical and had to be prevented from leaving the dock and going to her distraught mother in the public gallery.

Eventually she was restrained and taken to the cells below.

The court heard that Olaifa was just 15 when she was assigned for a couple of weeks to Freshfields, which has 2,400 lawyers in 18 countries.

She impressed her colleagues so much that when she asked for another short-term placement three years later, they readily agreed.

She refused to tell police what had happened to the money, none of which has been recovered.

But she claimed to a probation officer that her then boyfriend forced her to betray her bosses, took the money she obtained and then disappeared with every penny.

The judge said that while he accepted someone else was involved he had ‘serious doubts’ that she was forced into crime.

In fact, considering her crimes began just 72 hours after returning to the law firm, it seemed to him she ‘went back with this in mind’.

He continued: ‘The fact is you made the choice to do as you did and really no one else is to blame. It was a very clear and determined course of conduct.

‘Where the money has gone, you have chosen not to say. I find it hard to think you have got nothing out of this offending.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033436/Sixth-work-experience-stole-thousands-law-firm-cheque-scam.html
 
Nigerian football conmen exposed

An undercover BBC investigation has exposed how young African footballers are being conned out of thousands of dollars by Nigerian fraudsters.

One gang which was confronted pretended to be Manchester United officials working with manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Another conman was impersonating the chief talent scout for Chelsea to trick naive teenagers into wiring him cash.

They prey on the thousands of amateur players who post their details online hoping to be spotted by English agents.

Victims are often duped into sending money in the false belief that they are paying official registration fees to have a trial to play for their favourite English Premier League clubs.

The fraudsters simply pocket the money and disappear.

For the BBC investigation, an undercover reporter played the role of the father of a young Ghanaian striker keen to make it big in England.

In that guise, he contacted a man who called himself Paul Jones and claimed online to represent Manchester United. The man falsely boasted that he worked closely with Sir Alex.

In e-mails and secretly recorded phone conversations, Mr Jones claimed that Sir Alex was so impressed by the BBC's fictional player that he wanted to him to come for a two-year trial.

Mr Jones said that the club would coach the player to stardom once a "registration fee" of more than $7,000 (£3,500) was paid.

"As soon as your child comes over here in London, the club will sponsor their food, their accommodation, all the necessary things they need in the club. So after two years of the training, if the player performs well, he will join Manchester United," Mr Jones promised in one call.

In an effort to persuade the undercover reporter that his offer was genuine, Mr Jones e-mailed several fake player registration forms.

The documents were headed with the club's official logo. But one obvious error was that the instructions stated the form should be addressed to legendary United manager, Sir Matt Busby - who died in 1994.

In a sting operation, the undercover reporter persuaded Mr Jones to send his assistant, a "Dr Frank Johnson" to meet him at a hotel in the Nigerian city of Lagos to receive the cash in person.

At the meeting, Dr Johnson was secretly filmed as he produced another fake registration form.

He assured the undercover reporter that Manchester United were keen to recruit more African players and that his son would be well provided for.

"What we do is give them a good contract. That is why you have to sign as a sponsor," he said.

"We will prepare an apartment for your son and give him special training so he will improve. Then we will set him up with another club or he will play with us."

Dr Johnson's sales pitch was brought to an abrupt end when BBC reporter Gavin Lee and a camera crew approached and confronted him.

Despite the evidence on tape, Dr Johnson initially denied he was a fake. But he later confessed that his real name was John and that he was ashamed of his actions.

He was taken away and questioned by a Nigerian policeman who provided security for the sting.

The BBC team was allowed to examine Dr Johnson's mobile phone and found it contained texts that suggested he was involved with scams involving victims across Africa and Europe. Several people had sent him their bank details.

In the phone's directory the number for the BBC's undercover reporter was listed under "mugu" - the word used by Nigerian fraudsters to describe those that they swindle.

......

Nigerian's Sport and Tourism Ambassador John Fashanu commended the BBC investigation for highlighting the perils faced by young African players who want to play abroad.

The former Wimbledon player and England international said there needed to be greater action against the conmen who were ripping off their fellow Africans.

"They have seen an opportunity to make money and they are making money off desperate young Nigerian, Ghanaian, South African, African, Third World country footballers who all want to live of professional footballers like Thierry Henri, Kanu and Jay Jay Okocha," he said.

Often those who fall for scammers like this are from poor backgrounds. Their families scrape together the fees in the vain hope of giving their children a route out of poverty.

Players as young as 12 post their photo, phone number, e-mail address and in some cases even their passport details online in the hope of getting an agent.

Most appear to be unaware that English clubs would never demand money from a player they were considering signing.

These ambitious amateurs seem largely ignorant that under immigration regulations it would be impossible for them to get a British work permit.

They would not qualify as they have not played several games for their own national sides. And it is this naivety which the fraudsters exploit to ruthless effect.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7505395.stm
 
APPLETON, Wis. - A woman accused of planting a dead lab rat in restaurant food and demanding $500,000 to keep quiet was charged Monday with one felony count of extortion. Debbie R. Miller, 41, of Appleton, also faces misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and resisting an officer.

Miller claimed to find the rat in her lunch April 17 as she ate at the upscale Seasons Restaurant in Grand Chute, according to the criminal complaint.

She threatened to alert the media unless the owners paid her $500,000, the complaint said.

The owners turned the rat over to their insurance company. Investigators there determined the rodent was a white laboratory rat, the complaint said.

Tests also suggested the rodent had been cooked in a microwave, but the restaurant doesn't use microwaves in cooking.

Miller said the incident caused her to seek unspecified medical treatment. She was being held Monday in the Outagamie County jail in lieu of $1,500 cash bond.

Court Commissioner Brian Figy said the bond amount reflected Miller's lack of a criminal record.

"The defendant may have some physical or mental issues and has no warrant history," Figy said. "But the allegations are rather disturbing."

Online court records did not list a defense attorney for Miller, who is due back in court Thursday for further proceedings. The extortion charge carries a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years in prison.
 
American writer reveals how she conned experts with Noël Coward forgeries
Even by the standards of audacious literary scams, it was a remarkable project. Armed with Noël Coward's diaries and a British dictionary, a New York author turned out some 150 forged letters attributed to one of England's most gifted and flamboyant writers.
By Philip Sherwell in New York and Christopher Hastings
Last Updated: 10:46PM BST 26 Jul 2008

Down on her luck and desperate for money, Lee Israel sold the phony missives - along with hundreds of other notes in the name of such American literary luminaries as Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman - to dealers in autographs and letters across the US.

To her delight, she captured the merciless wit and gossipy tone of the English playwright and actor with such pitch-perfect panache that two of her compositions ended up in the critically-acclaimed Letters of Noël Coward when it was published last year.

Miss Israel confesses all about the astonishing hoax in a highly entertaining, raucously honest and near-shameless memoir to be published next month, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (a title drawn from an invented line she penned for Parker).

In an interview in the chaotic Manhattan apartment from where she conducted her forgery racket, she told The Sunday Telegraph: "I loved doing Noël. I sat down with his diaries and a British dictionary and had a collection of Noëlisms for inspiration. He was so outré. It was such fun."

Indeed, she considers the inclusion of the bogus billets in the new collection, a 10-year project edited by Barry Day, one of the world's foremost experts on Coward, to be her greatest triumph. "For me, this was a big hoot and a terrific compliment," she writes in her book.

Her revelations were greeted with less exuberance in Britain this weekend. "We understand that two letters in the book may be forged," said Alan Brodie, the literary agent who represents both the Noël Coward Estate and Mr Day. "The whole thing as come as a complete shock to us and we are looking into it.

"Barry is going through the files trying to work out where he got those letters from. He spent 10 years gathering the letters from all sorts of places. It was a major operation."

A & C Black, the book's British publisher, said the letters had been obtained from respectable archives and were extremely plausible. A spokeswoman said the company was now discussing whether to drop them letters from the paperback version to be published in the autumn - as the US publisher has already decided to do.

Mr Day has written seven previous books on Coward, is a trustee of the Noël Coward Foundation which provides financial support to British theatre companies and is Vice-President of the Noël Coward Society.

Miss Israel, 68, a biographer of the colourful American actress Tallulah Bankhead and the cosmetics queen Estee Lauder, proudly shows photocopies of the two offending letters in her thick forgeries file at home in the scene of her crimes. In one, Mr Day notes in his collection, Coward apparently scorns attempts by younger playwrights to consign him to theatrical irrelevance during the 1960s.

Coward purportedly writes: "My professional demise has been predicted gleefully for years now by the same types who blame the Queen Mother for their own dreary lives and meagre talents... Any intercourse with them leaves me bored and inordinately depressed."

And in the second, Miss Israel has Coward turn his thoughts to the prospects of Julie Andrews playing his dear friend Gertrude Lawrence in the film Star!. "She is a bright, talented actress and quite attractive since she dealt with her monstrous English over-bite," he observes.

Other fake Coward letters, all supposedly written from his home in Montreux, Switzerland, abound with the sort of vituperative wit and bon mots for which he was famous.

In one, she has him confess that he has failed to shake his nicotine addiction, observing: "If I am sacrificing two or three years of incontinent old age, tant pis! (That's French for 'I saw your aunt in the loo!')" In another of her inventions, he talks derisively about the singing talents of an unnamed soprano. "I am quite certain that it is her high 'C' what killed my tropical fish, though he conceivably could have been a suicide." Marlene Dietrich often appears as "the old Kraut".

Miss Israel, who is unmarried, turned to a life of literary forgery in 1990 when her own writing career dried up and she was desperate to pay her rent and meet the vet's bills for a beloved cat. "Time was passing, my money was all spent, I was on welfare and my apartment was in peril. I was poor and it was scary," she recalls.

She copied letterheads and signatures and studied style in correspondence in the prestigious Lincoln Centre library, then went to work with her ageing typewriter at home. She found a ready market from autograph dealers willing to pay her from $80 to $250, no questions asked, for each letter - including a one-off Humphrey Bogart.

"I have a background writing parody and humour and put that to good use," she says. "But the dealers said they would pay more for better content - the more scandalous, the better. So of course I made them more scandalous."


But eventually that flair was her downfall. For she started to litter Coward's correspondence with barely-veiled high-camp allusions to his homosexuality, something he never acknowledged during his life but did address in the posthumously-published diaries that were the source of her inspiration.

Those references prompted the first suspicions in collecting circles that the letters she was selling might be fakes. By the summer of 1992, a dealer was co-operating with the FBI and Miss Israel was caught in a sting operation after she expanded her operations to stealing original letters from libraries - the one act that she admits causes her deep shame.

By contrast, she has no guilt about her output of forgeries. "I hewed close to the facts and didn't take real liberties with the truth. People enjoyed reading them and I don't feel any shame for that."

Miss Israel pleaded guilty at her one-day trial in Sept 1993 and was sentenced to six months house arrest and five years' probation. She subsequently found legitimate work as a magazine copy editor and regaled friends with tales of her exploits over dinner before she belatedly decided to commit those memories to paper.

The book is already causing a huge buzz in New York literary circles, with opinions sharply divided over whether Miss Israel should be condemned for her offences or hailed for her talents. Her 18,000-word memoir, which publishers Simon & Schuster say has been carefully checked for accuracy, has already been optioned for film rights - further proof of Coward's current and continuing appeal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2461664 ... eries.html
 
Arrests after city fuel dump raid

A woman and a man have been arrested and tens of thousands of pounds seized in a raid on an illegal fuel dump in west Belfast.

The dump, which had been under surveillance for months, was located in an industrial estate between the Crumlin and Shankill roads.

The fuel had been brought in from the Republic via south Armagh, where it was laundered.

More than 5,000 litres of fuel were seized.

Around 100 people were involved in the operation - local Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs investigators were joined by colleagues from England. Police officers and staff from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency were also involved.

"Early this afternoon, they moved into the industrial estate and seized a van that had arrived just minutes earlier," said BBC NI home affairs correspondent Vincent Kearney.

"The van contained around 3,000 litres of diesel laundered in the republican heartland of south Armagh and then delivered to loyalist west Belfast."

Surveillance

Customs officials who have had the depot under surveillance for months said it has been receiving two deliveries a day and selling around 36,000 litres of fuel every week.

It is estimated that each year those who run the depot could make a profit of £400,000, which equates to £1m in lost tax revenue.

"The way the laundered fuel is transported and sold is so dangerous, customs officials have described it as a 'portable bomb'," added Mr Kearney.

"This is a bit like having a bomb in your own backyard.

"What we've got here is fuel which is volatile, and it's being delivered and stored in vehicles and premises which are not designed for the delivery and storage of fuel." :shock:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7638713.stm
 
"The van contained around 3,000 litres of diesel laundered in the republican heartland of south Armagh and then delivered to loyalist west Belfast."

Its great to see such cross-community co-operation against the excisemen!
 
I seem to be getting a vast increase in the number of hoax 'You have won the Mongolian Lottery' or 'Please allow me to introduce myself. I am an auditor for the Bank of Umbogo and I just happened upon $20 million dollars which I want to share with you' type of scams.

Why are they picking on me? What if the Bank of Umbogo really did want to give me some money. I could miss out!
 
Ginando said:
I seem to be getting a vast increase in the number of hoax 'You have won the Mongolian Lottery' or 'Please allow me to introduce myself. I am an auditor for the Bank of Umbogo and I just happened upon $20 million dollars which I want to share with you' type of scams.

Why are they picking on me? What if the Bank of Umbogo really did want to give me some money. I could miss out!

I'm being swamped with them as well. I also win several lottery prizes a week.
 
A fake museum & fake cures! This guy was some grifter.

Korean man 'ran museum of fakes'

A 60-year-old South Korean man ran a private museum stuffed with fakes, police said as they arrested him.

The man collected 530 million won ($443,000) from people who thought the objects on display were ancient treasures, AFP news agency reported.

The man, who police named only as Mr Yu, is said to have bought ceramics and other items from flea markets.

The museum was set up in August 2004 and has attracted more than 130,000 visitors, police said.

Police told AFP that 153 of the 184 artefacts on display at the museum in Gongju, about 160km (100 miles) south of the capital, Seoul, were fakes.

Mr Yu had apparently claimed his collection included artefacts of "Koryo Dynasty celadon" dating to the 10th-14th centuries.

He had pretended to be a herbal medicine doctor with a doctorate and various citations from the president and prime minister, police said.

AFP also reported that he is suspected of taking 240 million won prescribing fake cures to patients.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/a ... 645966.stm
 
Mr Yu should get a job on Wall Street.... his skills in the area of fraud and misrepresentation are obviously above the average.

Joe
 
I thought we already had something about this character, but I can't find it...

Fraudster's 'pop star' lifestyle
By Phil Kemp
The Donal MacIntyre programme, BBC 5 live

A fraudster who has been jailed for more than 12 years led a 'pop star' lifestyle, complete with helicopters, fast cars and race horses bought from the proceeds of a multi-million pound VAT scam.

Craig Johnson, 35, from Stone in Staffordshire, laundered more than £6m through a complex tax fraud involving the apparent importation and exportation of mobile telephones between several EU states.

So-called 'missing trader' or 'carousel' fraud is estimated to cost European taxpayers up to £170bn a year - twice the European Union's annual budget. :shock:

Johnson is one of 21 people to be jailed in connection with a £138m VAT fraud following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Stately home

"The grass was never long. It was always cut short," said Alan Tune, describing the Grade II listed Meaford Hall, which is next door to his house in Staffordshire.

The beautifully-kept stately home, which is situated in 22 acres of grounds, was the birthplace of the Napoleonic War hero Admiral John Jervis.

Meaford Hall, valued by HMRC at between £2.5m and £3m, is perhaps the most vivid indication of its most recent owner Craig Johnson's ill-gotten wealth.

"It was nice to see the automatic gates opening and see Bentleys coming out of there and Ferraris. Top of the range cars you'd die for," Mr Tune told 5 live's Donal MacIntyre programme.

"It was like living next-door to pop stars really."

'Fiction'

Meaford Hall, which will soon to be put up for sale by the tax authorities, was just one of a millionaire's wish-list of assets seized by authorities after the six year fraud investigation.

Other assets seized in the operation include a yacht, Rolex watches, diamonds, luxury cars and two helicopters.

Craig Johnson was at the centre of a scam in which businesses illegally claimed back VAT on imported mobile phones - taxes which they had never paid.

"They construct a fiction of paper movements, and [actual] movements of high value goods such as mobile phones and computer chips," said Euan Stewart, director of operations for HMRC's Criminal Investigations Inspectorate.

"The invoicing relates to hard cash and large amounts of VAT, and at some point in the carousel, somebody goes missing with the money.

"We have to put the carousel of paperwork and phones together with the money and how the money moves," he added.

etc....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7650883.stm
 
VAT fraudster must pay back £26m

A 35-year-old man jailed for his part in a multi-million pound VAT fraud must repay £26m to the government.

The repayment order on Craig Johnson who is serving 12-and-a-half years, was made at a confiscation hearing.

Among the assets he must sell are a helicopter, his stately home near Stone in Staffordshire, two Bentleys and an Aston Martin.

The fraud is one of the largest thefts from public funds that has been brought to court after a Customs investigation.

Robert Alder, assistant director of Criminal Investigation for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), said the six-year inquiry had resulted in one of the longest prison sentences for such a VAT-related offence and one of the largest confiscation orders ever secured.

If Johnson does not repay the money he could face another 10 years in prison under the terms of the confiscation order at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday. :shock:

He must pay £8m within the next 12 months and the remainder within a further 12 months, HMRC said.

Another defendant was also ordered to repay £376,540 within nine months or face a further three-and-half years in prison.

Johnson was one of 21 people to be jailed in connection with the £138m fraud. The defendants were sentenced to a total of 133 years, HMRC said.

He laundered more than £6m through a complex tax fraud involving the apparent importation and exportation of mobile telephones between several EU states.

Meaford Hall, Johnson's stately home situated in 22 acres of grounds, has been valued by HMRC at between £2.5m and £3m.

After he was sentenced, a neighbour told BBC News that "it was like living next-door to pop stars" although they were unaware of the source of his wealth.

Other assets seized in the operation include a yacht, Rolex watches, diamonds and more luxury cars.

Mr Adler said the order "signals our determination to pursue convicted criminals".

"The outcome of our investigations will result in vital funds being restored to the nation for investment in public services," he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 741881.stm

Seems to bear out the old saying: "Crime doesn't pay"....
 
NHS funds 'used to import horse sperm'
Police investigate allegation that hospital manager imported equine semen for her stud farm, claiming it was for human IVF treatment

By Ian Johnston and Paul Bignell
Sunday, 7 December 2008

Police are investigating allegations that horse sperm was imported into Britain disguised as human semen for IVF treatment. They are looking at claims that a senior manager in the UK's largest NHS trust diverted NHS funds to buy the horse sperm that was then used to breed mares.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police have arrested and questioned the daughter of a former British ambassador to France in connection with the inquiry. The woman, Louise Tomkins, was employed as a senior general manager at the Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust in west London.

Mrs Tomkins also runs a stud farm in Horsham, West Sussex, where she breeds top showjumping and dressage horses. It is understood that she recently left the NHS trust, which she joined in 2004.

NHS trust sources said police were alerted after internal audits revealed an unusual series of large purchases of human semen from overseas suppliers. Invoices said to be worth several hundred thousand pounds had allegedly been created to account for the transactions. When these were later checked it appeared that the companies had supplied thoroughbred horse sperm. :shock:

They stressed there has been no suggestion of any horse sperm being improperly or inadvertently used in the trust's IVF treatments. Imperial College Healthcare has some of the UK's leading IVF treatment facilities. These include the Hammersmith Hospital, where Robert Winston pioneered many groundbreaking techniques in reproductive surgery.

A spokeswoman for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust declined to comment on the investigation. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "Officers from Hammersmith and Fulham are investigating allegations of fraud involving Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust. A 45-year-old woman has been arrested and bailed."

Mrs Tomkins, the daughter of the late Sir Edward Tomkins, a former British ambassador to Paris and The Hague, was unavailable for comment yesterday. Her stud farm, Southfield Stud, describes itself as "a small breeding operation which aims to breed good competition horses by using top-class proven mares from known pedigrees and crossing them to stallions known to improve performance and temperament". It boasts several brood mares, including Holsteiner, Hanoverian and Westphalian breeds.

The allegations are likely to cause a commotion in the well-heeled world of horse breeding, which is still recovering from its first dope test scandal. The showing judge Lucinda Sims was fined £1,000 this summer by Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain, the governing body, after her horse Herngate Buccaneer tested positive for the banned painkiller phenylbutazone (bute). The nine-year-old gelding was randomly tested in May after winning a major competition.

Random drug testing was introduced after allegations that some horses had been doped at competitions. Herngate Buccaneer is the only horse to test positive so far.

Mrs Sims, a judge for the British Show Horse Association who adjudicates at the Horse of the Year Show, said the doping occurred after the horse ate some of a companion horse's feed that contained bute to treat the animal's laminitis.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 55691.html
 
This story has been in the papers for a few days now...

Two banks exposed to '$50bn con'

Two major European banks said they have exposure worth billions of dollars to a US broker accused of a $50bn (£33bn) Wall Street fraud scheme.

Spain's largest bank, Santander, which also owns three UK banks, said one of its funds had $3.1bn invested in the firm run by Bernard Madoff.

France's BNP Paribas estimated its exposure to be more than $460m.

Mr Madoff has been charged with fraud, in what is being described as one of the biggest-ever such cases.

Correspondents say the case is likely to fuel uncertainty about the entire hedge fund industry.

Mr Madoff is alleged to have used money from new investors to pay off existing investors in the fund.

Investors are assessing their exposure to the alleged fraud Mr Madoff is said by prosecutors to have confessed to.

US Prosecutors say Mr Madoff, a former head of the Nasdaq stock market, masterminded a fraud of massive proportions through his hedge fund and investment advisory business.

A federal judge has appointed a receiver to oversee Mr Madoff firm's assets and customer accounts, while the 70-year-old banker has been released on $10m bail.

"While BNP Paribas has no investment of its own in the hedge funds managed by Bernard Madoff Investment Services, it does have risk exposure to these funds through its trading business and collateralised lending to funds of hedge funds," BNP said in a statement.

Santander said its exposure to Madoff was through its investment fund Optimal.

Santander also owns the UK High Street banks Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

UK-based asset management firm Bramdean Alternatives accused US regulators of "systemic failures".

The firm saw its share value drop by over 35% after it revealed that about £21m - nearly 10% of its holding - was exposed to the New York broker.

"It is astonishing that this apparent fraud seems to have been continuing for so long, possibly for decades, while investors have continued to invest more money into the Madoff funds in good faith," the firm said.

"The allegations made appear to point to a systemic failure of the regulatory and securities markets regime in the US."


Mr Madoff founded Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities in 1960, but also ran a separate hedge fund business.

Investors have withdrawn from hedge funds amid market volatility.

According to the US Attorney's criminal complaint filed in court, Mr Madoff told at least three employees on Wednesday that the hedge fund business - which served up to 25 clients and had $17.1bn under management - was a fraud and had been insolvent for years, losing at least $50bn.

He said he was "finished", that he had "absolutely nothing" and that "it's all just one big lie", and that it was "basically, a giant Ponzi scheme", the complaint said.

He told them that he planned to surrender to the authorities but not before he used his last $200m-$300m to pay "selected employees, family and friends".

Under a Ponzi scheme, which is similar to pyramid schemes, investors are promised very high returns on their investment, while in reality early investors are paid with money collected from later investors.

If found guilty, US prosecutors say he could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $5m.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7782731.stm

No wonder the world's in a mess... :(
 
Fines fraud hits Italian drivers
By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News, Rome

Thousands of drivers in Italy are expected to seek compensation after it was revealed that a system to catch them jumping red lights was rigged.

More than 100 people, including police officers, are being investigated as part of the fraud.

The T-Redspeed system - a revolutionary camera technology - has been in use for two years in 300 areas across Italy.

Cameras linked to traffic lights capture 3-d images of vehicles if they jump the lights or are speeding.

It can also detect offences like illegal u-turns.

It is believed more than a million drivers have been trapped by the system.

But it is now claimed the lights were rigged to change from yellow to red in three seconds instead of the regulation five or six seconds.

The fraud was uncovered by a senior police officer who noticed an unusually high number of fines being issued.

Instead of an average 15 fines a day in some places, the figure jumped to more than 1,000.

The fraud may have netted as much as $170m (£116.4m) for those involved.

The scheme's inventor is now under house arrest, though his lawyers say he is innocent.

More than 100 other people including 63 police commanders are also being investigated as part of the scam.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7862893.stm
 
Those wacky Nigerians are at it again! :roll:

Straw hit by internet fraudsters


Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been the victim of Nigerian fraudsters who sent out hundreds of e-mails in his name asking for money.

The e-mails claimed he had lost his wallet on charity work in Africa and needed 3,500 US dollars to get home.

Messages headed the Right Hon Jack Straw MP were sent to council bosses, government chiefs and others.

The fraudsters are thought to have hacked into computers at Mr Straw's Blackburn constituency office.

Mr Straw has confirmed the e-mails had been sent to a "significant number of people" in his address book but he said there were no security issues as it was his Blackburn e-mail address rather than his ministerial account that was targeted.

He told his local newspaper the Lancashire Telegraph: "I started getting phone calls from various constituents asking if I was really in Nigeria needing 3,000 dollars.

"It was an issue for constituents, not the government.
"We are checking all that and I am assured there's no evidence that confidentiality of constituents was affected."

When he was home secretary, Mr Straw established the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit to combat internet hackers. [Oh, the irony!]

He said: "The internet is wonderful in many ways, but these gangs put a lot of effort in because they make money from it.

"In a lot of cases they do get people to cough up.

"But I think it was so obviously ridiculous that I could go off trekking in Africa and I would lose my wallet."

The scam e-mail, which was sent to Labour members, council chiefs and Ministry of Justice officials, said Mr Straw was travelling to Africa for a project called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, and was at an address in the Nigerian capital Lagos.

Mr Straw is quoted as saying: "I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept.

"I would like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently to settle my hotel bills and get myself back home".

The scam came to light on Thursday when Mr Straw's office received an e-mail saying its account would be suspended unless a reply was sent.

But when a member of staff replied, they were blocked out of the account.

Constituents then began to phone Mr Straw's constituency office asking about the e-mail they had received.

One is believed to have replied to the e-mail, but nobody has offered any money to the fraudsters.

The Hotmail account was suspended by Microsoft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7908498.stm[/i]
 
Listen up, this can happen to you, It almost happened to my Daughter:
She is looking for a musical instrument - one that is very expensive to buy, especially a good known make. She has been looking on e bay etc, and found one, a good make and an unbelievably good price on an auction site (not e bay). My Daughter contacted the seller and it turned out that the instrument is situated a very long way from where we live so we left it at that.

Out of the blue, and after the auction time ended the seller contacted my Daughter and asked if she is still interested. She was, and after some e mails exchanged the seller offered this as a plan to get the instrument to us:

She gives the instrument to DHL to transport, DHL contact us when they are ready to deliver it. We send a cash transfer to a private individual then pass on the reference no. to DHL, who then deliver the item on 5 days approval. If we want the item we keep it, if not, contact DHL who will collect it and arrange for the payment to be refunded.

My Wife & I thought it looks a bit odd but maybe sounded plausible. I had a look at the DHL web site and very quickly found a FRAUD WARNING about this kind of transaction. http://www.dhl.co.uk/publish/gb/en/info ... .high.html
I called DHL and they confirmed that they do not offer this service. We called the whole thing off obviously. We were lucky this could have cost us over £1000.
The main clue for me was that the bogus "official" DHL information (using their logo's etc) contained some poor English. Not major but little things.

Please be warned and tell others too.
 
I was contacted regarding a laser printer I was selling, except your example shows a degree of finesse that the scammer I dealt with lacked.
It got quite amusing.
He'd tell me that PayPal would only release his funds when I provide proof of postage/courier docket.
I strung him along for a good week or so, adjusting the shipping costs, and would he adjust his payment accordingly, etc.
Good fun.
 
'Lord' jailed for £229m bank plot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7926294.stm

"Lord" Hugh Rodley lived in a Tudor manor in Gloucestershire
A bogus peer who led a "sophisticated" plot to steal £229m from a Japanese bank has been jailed for eight years.

"Lord" Hugh Rodley, of Gloucestershire, who bought his title and lived in a manor house, was convicted of conspiracy charges dating back to 2004.

Gang members had installed spyware on computers at the London offices of Sumitomo Mitsui bank in order to steal money from big business accounts.

Four other men were jailed for a total of almost 15 years.

Rodley, 61, who lived in Tewkesbury, had teamed up with a gang of internet thieves to target the bank.

The judge in the trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court described him as the "chief executive".

The "bold and sophisticated" plot was only foiled at the 11th hour by the complexities of inter-bank money transfers, the court heard.

Bank insider and security supervisor Kevin O'Donoghue, 34, of Birmingham was jailed for four years, four months after admitting conspiracy to steal.

He unlocked the Japanese bank's London offices so the gang could make "surreptitious" visits at night, the jury was told. THE £229M BANK SWINDLE PLOT
Hugh Rodley, 61, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, guilty of conspiracies to defraud and to transfer criminal property
David Nash, 47, from Durrington, West Sussex, guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property
Kevin O'Donoghue, 34, of Minstead Road, Birmingham, admitted conspiracy to steal
Jan Van Osselaer, 32, of Belgium, admitted conspiracy to steal
Gilles Poelvoorde, 35, of Belgium, admitted conspiracy to steal


Heist plan that came so close

He also tampered with CCTV equipment in a bid to avoid the presence of Belgian computer expert Jan Van Osselaer, 32, and his "recruiter", Frenchman Gilles Poelvoorde, 35 being caught on camera.

Osselaer and Poelvoorde then used software to corrupt the bank's computer system, record the keystrokes of staff and reveal user names and passwords, jurors were told.

That gave them access to the holdings of major companies like Toshiba International, Nomura Asset Management and Sumitomo Chemical UK.

They made several attempts to electronically transfer up to £12.5m at a time around the world, but were unsuccessful because of "field logging errors".

The plot was discovered when staff returned to work after the weekend and realised their computers were not working properly.

Then they found a number of network cables had been "taken out".

Woman cleared

Rodley was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to transfer criminal property between 1 January and 5 October 2004.

Soho sex shop owner Nash, from Durrington, was cleared of that first same charge but convicted of the second same charge.

He had been used by Rodley to front accounts into which the funds would have been channelled, the trial heard.

Osselaer received three-and-a-half years while Poelvoorde got four after they admitted conspiracy to steal.

Soho sex shop owner David Nash, 47, from Durrington, West Sussex, was jailed for three years for his role in the plot.

He had been used by Rodley to front accounts into which the funds would have been channelled, the trial heard.

Swedish national Inger Malmros, 58, who lives in Gran Canaria, was cleared of both counts.

She had told the court she knew nothing of two instructions - allegedly from her firm - concerning the planned transfer of some of Sumitomo's cash.

A seventh defendant, Rodley's 74-year-old business partner Bernard Davies, committed suicide two days before the trial began.

'Lost will to live'

A note was read to the court in which he said he had "lost the will to live" after receiving death threats from an underworld figure because he would not reveal Rodley's and Nash's whereabouts.

Rodley did not give evidence during the trial, relying on his barrister to defend him against Nash's claims he was "the architect of all this".

But the sex shop owner went into the witness box to deny any knowledge of the bank theft plot, insisting: "I was just the driver, the security, working on a need-to-know basis."

Sumitomo Mitsui said in a statement that its systems and controls had prevented the fraud's success and that at no point were customer accounts at risk.

"Following the fraud attempt, we conducted a full review of our internal procedures and have subsequently continued to enhance them further," it added.
 
This is a very different kind of Nigerian scam, sent to my husband the other day. They want his hardware :shock:

"My Dear,

My name is Destiny Duru i work with the Financial Bank of Benin , here in Benin Republic as a Manager in (Telex/Computer Section) .I am in charge of all payment into foreign bank account. I will help you if you will not deny me after i helped you.

As i was going through the computer in the morning ,i saw your name and your unpaid inheritance fund/ Expired Cheque which has been kept for quite some time now un cashed/unpaid due to some outstanding fees you need to offset before your payment could be delivered or transferred to you, though this your payment was sometime discussed with our Director, but this information i want to give to you now , do not discuss it with our Director as i will not be happy if you do and I will abandon it as soon as you inform him about this development.

You see , i am ready to credit this your money into you bank account just of Free Of Charge (FOC)since I am in charge here, i am given you 100% Assurance that i can do this for you, but on the ground that you will give me 5% or 10% of the total sum IMMEDIATELY this fund is credited into your account just as soon as the credit is effected , i will cover up every tracing point about this fund so that no one could trace or find out about this fund again. You know this thing i am embarking on is some how illegal, but i want to take the risk so that i will make some money to establish good business out there.

Please if the above suggestion is ok by you, do reply me immediately i will inform you about the next step.

Note that the Hard Disc for all foreign payments is only one and there is no way i can use the same Disc to credit your account to avoid any trace and on that ground you will have to buy a Hard Disc in your country and send to me so that i will transmit all your file into it and later use it to credit your account. You don't need to spend money any more before you receive your money except the Hard Disc you will buy and send to me. I would have asked you to send money to buy it here in Africa , but for the fact that it will be cheaper in your country than here; hence i wanted you to buy it there and send it to me. The name of the Hard Disc is (TIAC.U12 HDD) and please do not buy any one made in Taiwan, the best is the one made in England ok please take note, and what is needed is just one Hard Disc only to execute this transaction either the small size or the big size any one among them can serve ok. This Hard Disc is used for crediting of an account, only use in the bank and financial houses. Just buy it and send it to me immediately so that before the next 48hrs the job will be completed.

Thanking you in advance for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,

DESTINY DURU (FINANCIAL BANK OF BENIN )"
 
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That all sounds very complicated!
Note again the poor English. I think that is a giveaway.

I keep getting phone calls asking if I am considering selling my time share. This might well be above board, BUT I DO NOT HAVE A TIME SHARE. It worries me a bit, that somewhere there is a piece of information that says I do, that I would find hard to refute. I have asked what information these people have to suggest I own one, but they go all elusive and will not disclose anything.
is anyone else having this?

We are registered with TPS http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/ which is very good, but the odd call still comes through.
 
I keep getting phone calls asking if I am considering selling my time share. This might well be above board, BUT I DO NOT HAVE A TIME SHARE. It worries me a bit, that somewhere there is a piece of information that says I do, that I would find hard to refute. I have asked what information these people have to suggest I own one, but they go all elusive and will not disclose anything.
is anyone else having this?

Not timeshares, but I got a call earlier today from a gentleman with a strong Indian accent who claimed to be calling from the "MS Windows monitoring centre" or similar. He said that he had received reports that my computer was running slowly. I said I had no problem with my computer and asked where he had obtained this information. He said the computer had sent the information directly. I expressed some scepticism and asked who he was where he was calling from. He gave a non-Indian name (I can't recall it now) and claimed to be calling from Bradford. Despite repeated requests he wouldn't give the company name, but kept saying he was working for "Windows", etc.

I got fed up by this stage - I'm on the TPS list too - said he had the wrong number, and hung up. I thought it was all a bit odd but a quick Google indicates this is a fairly well-known scam aimed at making people believe their PC is infected with viruses and that they need to purchase expensive anti-virus software to combat the problem.

So, if you do get a call like this, don't get taken in!
 
Metal detector user David Hutchings jailed for selling fake coins
David Brown

A metal detector enthusiast who claimed to have discovered hoards of valuable antiquities during years of treasure hunting has been convicted of selling modern fakes.

David Hutchings, known to fellow users as “Coldfeet”, was renowned for finding rare items. But his reputation lies in tatters after he pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and was jailed for six months.

Hutchings, 43, was the organiser of the Coventry Moles metal detecting club, which held archaeological searches across the Midlands. He used legitimate digs to “discover” fake items before passing them off as genuine antiquities. Some buyers were told that the items had been verified at the British Museum.

Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques Unit raided his home in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, after an Essex-based dealer raised concerns about a set of coins Hutchings was trying to sell.

During the searches they discovered a number of real coins that are believed to have been used as a base for test striking during the manufacture of some of the fake items.

Warwick Crown Court was told last week that Hutchings had tried to sell the Essex dealer £2,000 worth of coins that he said dated from the 1st to the 8th century. He had already sold similar coins to two other dealers for a total of £1,400.

Experts from the British Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, assessed the coins and concluded that all had either been manufactured by casting in a mould or struck using forged dies.

When questioned by police, Hutchings, who was unemployed, claimed that he had bought the coins from two dealers, “Gary and Steve”, believing they were genuine. Hutchings — who used other names including David Chester and Roy Chestert — said that he did not know where the dealers were.

Hutchings has been the subject of speculation among metal-detecting enthusiasts. Despite many dramatic finds over the years, there had been growing suspicion about his claims to have discovered antiquities many miles from where they would normally be found.

There were also rumours that he had been involved in “nighthawking”, illegally looting protected historical sites.

Roy Blunt, a verifier for the UK Detector Finds Database said that Hutchings had recorded about 80 finds in recent years.

“He is a strange character,” he said. “There was a general view that the find-spots he recorded were not reliable. He seemed to find items where you would not normally expect to see them.”

Mr Blunt said he had first raised concern about Hutchings when he recorded an Anglo Saxon Shilling which he claimed to have found in Warwickshire in July 2007. Two experts later contacted him challenging its legitimacy.

Another metal detector user said last night: “Coldfeet was known as a bit of a rogue. We are pleased he has been jailed — we don’t need people like him damaging the reputation of detectoring.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 261804.ece
 
'Fake' claims over Nefertiti bust

The famous bust of Queen Nefertiti believed to be 3,400 years old could be a fake, according to an art historian.

Henri Stierlin, who has studied the subject for 25 years, claims the bust of the Egyptian beauty is a 1912 copy.
 
'Man in wetsuit' claiming yacht stolen has case adjourned
Mark Hilliard

A MAN who arrived at a Wexford hotel in a wetsuit claiming that pirates had stolen his €100,000 yacht while on a voyage up the Irish coast had his prosecution for making false statements adjourned at a court hearing last week.

Marek Kucia, 38, a Polish national with an address in Mallow, Co Cork, claimed that when he arrived off the coast of Courtown in Co Wexford, two men boarded his yacht and took it in an act of piracy.

On 28 July last year, Kucia arrived at a hotel where, dressed in a wetsuit, he told his story in broken English and was brought to meet a translator at Gorey garda station.

In a separate incident in the same month, Kucia had made up a story of having his jet ski stolen by a gang of four men while visiting Lough Derg.

He later conceded that both stories were false.

In Gorey District Court earlier this year, Kucia admitted a charge of making a false statement tending to show an offence had been committed at Gorey garda station and to giving false information and that he had made a false statement in Killaloe garda station in Co Clare.

At a sitting in February, his solicitor said Kucia had told him his family owed €50,000 to the Polish mafia but added that he did not know if this was true.

Kucia, who has no previous convictions, has lived in Ireland for five years and has a wife and a 14-year-old son.

He had worked for some time as a truck driver and is currently completing a Fás computer course.

His solicitor said that he had suffered from psychiatric difficulties in the past and recommended that he be sent for an assessment.

Psychiatric reports were submitted last week and the court head that Kucia was very remorseful for his actions.

Judge Donnchadh O'Buac­halla had remanded the defendant on continuing bail until the production of a probation report last week.

The case was adjourned again last week ahead of sentencing.

www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2 ... case-adjo/
 
Criminal gangs target car buyers

Criminal gangs are duping car buyers out of millions of pounds each year by using adverts on reputable trade websites, the BBC has learned.

The "virtual vehicle" scam also involves fake shipping websites that promise to safeguard the buyer's money.

The Metropolitan Police say 21,000 fraudulent sites were shut down in the UK last year. :shock:

The Met warn that unless buyers see the car for themselves, it is likely to be an offer that is too good to be true.

According to BBC correspondent Fiona Trott, criminals will place an advert on a reputable website, like Auto Trader or E-Bay, but for a vehicle that does not belong to them.

But the ad looks legitimate and the websites themselves are none the wiser.

Then, the fraudsters direct you to another website that is supposed to look after your cash until the car is shipped to you.

But this one is fake and the money goes straight into their bank accounts, our correspondent added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8090559.stm
 
Isn't democracy wonderful? :roll:
[Iran Election]

....Mr Mousavi's cancellation of the protest came as sporadic disturbances continued around the Iranian capital, and reports circulated of leaked interior ministry statistics showing him as the clear victor in last Friday's polls.

The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.

The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.

Mr Mousavi has accused Iran's government of "fraud" after Mr Ahmadinejad was declared on Saturday to have 62.6 per cent of the vote, making him the landslide winner. The capital has been rocked by disturbances for the last three days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... third.html
On the radio (Friday, Saturday?) I heard that a poll of London-based Iranians showed they had voted about 90% against Ahmadinejad, although the 'official' result showed he'd won! :shock:
 
Iran's Supreme Leader orders election inquiry as opposition defies rally ban
Jenny Booth

Iran's Supreme Leader has ordered an investigation into the disputed re-election of President Ahmadinejad, reversing his earlier decree that the result was fair.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's intervention came as Iran braced itself for a third day of street protests by reformists, who claim that official voting figures giving Mr Ahmadinejad 63 per cent in last Friday's election were rigged, and a "charade".

Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the final say on all strategic matters, had described the result as fair and urged the country to unite behind Mr Ahmadinejad.

Today it emerged, however, that he had met the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi last night and ordered the powerful Guardians Council to examine his allegations of vote-rigging.

"Naturally in this election, complaints should be followed through legal channels," Ayatollah Khamenei told Mr Mousavi, according to Iranian state television. "It is necessary you follow the issue calmly."

etc...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 502374.ece
 
Maybe this needs a thread of its own.

Here are articles about the election.

The Iranian Election a ‘Legacy of Martyred Flowers’
by Farah Mokhtareizadeh


The Iranian government’s campaign to mold ‘model’ Islamic citizens has not only fashioned a profound crisis of loyalty to the religious ‘ideals of the revolution’, it has nurtured action that many have silently prayed for - as the public sphere, the last bastion of the religious elites grip on power, was shot open by their own guns Sunday.

https://www.indymedia.ie/article/92744

Secret Police Open Fire At Opposition Demo In Tehran
by Chicherin (me)


Iranian Secret Police have fired on the crowds protesting against the stealing of the Presidential election. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the "defeated" oresidential candidate had previously addressed the crowd. The demonstrators gathered in Tehran's Revolution Square, chanting pro-Mousavi slogans as riot police menaced them. "Mousavi we support you. We will die, but retrieve our votes," they shouted, many wearing the green of Mousavi's election campaign.
https://www.indymedia.ie/article/92719

Support the mass struggles in Iran

Yassamine Mather, chair of Hands Off the People of Iran, assesses the highly fluid situation in Iran. She calls for support for the mass demonstrations but warns against any illusions in Mir_Hossain Moussavi.

It is no surprise that the highly contested results of the presidential
elections in Iran have sparked unrest in Tehran and other cities across
Iran. The level of cheating on display seems crazy even by the standards of
Iran's Islamic Republic regime. Clearly, the results are the final proof
that confirms that the whole electoral process is deeply undemocratic and
rigged from top to bottom:

https://www.indymedia.ie/article/92697

Heres a press release I sent out today:

Press Release: No Embargo.

Hands off The People of Iran’ calls for solidarity with the masses in their struggle for liberation!

No to imperialist intervention!

Demonstrate Saturday 20th June at 1.00pm - All Welcome
Outside the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
72 Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin

Demo followed by meeting at 3.30pm
Seomra Spraoi, 10 Belvedere Court, off Gardiner Street

Join us in showing solidarity with the masses in Iran who have taken to the streets in outrage against the rigged elections. This is a revolt against a deeply repressive state. The situation is Iranian is on a knife-edge. Hopi supporters are in daily contact with Iran. We are pushing for maximum solidarity from the working class movement here in Ireland to progressive forces in Iran. The upsurge against theocratic rule should not derailed by reformists from within the Iranian regime itself. Moussavi was himself a demagogue during his 8 years in power. He is not a solution but a danger to the struggle for mass democracy.

Anne McShane of HOPI Ireland said:

Too many have already lost their lives at the hands of the state forces. We call for immediate, unconditional release of all prisoners arrested and for the withdrawal of state forces from the streets. The ban on reporting and on use of the Internet must be lifted immediately. We are pushing for maximum solidarity from the working class movement here in Ireland to progressive forces in Iran. The upsurge against theocratic rule should not derailed by reformists from within the Iranian regime itself.

Yassamine Mather, chair of Hands Off the People of Iran UK said:

It is no surprise that the highly contested results of the presidential elections in Iran have sparked unrest in Tehran and other cities across Iran. The level of cheating on display seems crazy even by the standards of Iran's Islamic Republic regime. Clearly, the results are the final proof that confirms that the whole electoral process is deeply undemocratic and rigged from top to bottom.

Irrespective of the illusions of his supporters, Moussai is no radical opponent of the regime. For eight years, Moussavi served as prime minister of the Islamic republic. He was deeply involved in the arms-for-hostages deals with the Reagan administration in the1980s, what came to be known as ‘Irangate’. He also played a prominent role in the brutal wave of repression in the 1980s that killed a generation of Iranian leftists. During this period, thousands of socialists and communists were jailed, with many of them executed while in prison.


Contact Anne on 086 2343 238 or at [email protected]
 
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