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I believe this type of insurance scam happens more often than people think. It's sad that people are this desperate or that, possibly, money means more to them than their own body part or life.
If I remember correctly, back in the 90s one of the lawsuits against McDonalds for having coffee that was too hot was actually a case where it was discovered that the woman launching the suit actually intentionally spilled the coffee knowing it'd burn her.
 
If I remember correctly, back in the 90s one of the lawsuits against McDonalds for having coffee that was too hot was actually a case where it was discovered that the woman launching the suit actually intentionally spilled the coffee knowing it'd burn her.
If the company were stupid enough to make their coffee that hot, they were bound to get scammed.
 
If the company were stupid enough to make their coffee that hot, they were bound to get scammed.
The idea was explained to me as making the coffee hot enough that it was meant for drive through and would be a comfortable temperature 5 to 10 minutes after the customer left the store with it. Which... why? But also, why give that to dine-in customers?
 
...coffee hot enough that it was meant for drive through and would be a comfortable temperature 5 to 10 minutes after the customer left the store with it. Which... why? But also, why give that to dine-in customers?

Perhaps because they did their customers the courtesy of treating them like grownups; people who appreciate that with a “hot drink”, there’s a clue in one of the words.

maximus otter
 
The idea was explained to me as making the coffee hot enough that it was meant for drive through and would be a comfortable temperature 5 to 10 minutes after the customer left the store with it. Which... why? But also, why give that to dine-in customers?

Yup, exactly.
 
Woman arrested attempting to smuggle £1.9 million in cash to Dubai

In 5 suitcases.

Tara Hanlon, 30, was set to catch a plane to Dubai when she was stopped at Heathrow Terminal 2 at around 8pm on Saturday.

Border Force officers searched her luggage and found £1.9 million in sterling notes – the largest amount uncovered at the border this year.

An investigation was launched by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Hanlon was charged with money laundering.

One of the cases.

1602195680263.png
 
Ex-police chief turned pinup model accused of illegally collecting workers comp

A former Washington State police chief is accused of illegally collecting over $67,000 in workers’ compensation benefits while working as a pinup model.

Brenda-Lynn-Cavoretto_.jpg


Brenda Lynn Cavoretto filed the benefits in 2013, a year after the body of a man who hanged himself fell onto her inside a barn while she was the Coulee City police chief.

The ex-officer saw a psychologist beginning in 2015, complaining of nightmares and an inability to leave the house.

In 2019, the state Department of Labor and Industries opened a probe into Cavoretto’s case after noting no progress was made after four years of treatment.

5f88ab114bc50.image.jpg


The investigation revealed Cavoretto was a pinup model for about five years, despite her claim she could not work, the report said.

https://nypost.com/2020/10/16/ex-police-chief-accused-of-illegally-collecting-workers-comp/

maximus otter
 
Those lordship titles you can buy for Scotland, are they worth more than the paper they are printed on? I need a christmas gift for my dad.
 
Those lordship titles you can buy for Scotland, are they worth more than the paper they are printed on? I need a christmas gift for my dad.

Good for a laugh and who knows what doors it may open for him (and that's coming from a Lord of Glencoe)!
 
Stripped of their dignity

A fake game show host tricked two men into being filmed carrying out naked challenges for the chance to win cash, police have said.

In 2018, a 28-year-old man told the Met he had been filmed in a hotel room in Newham, east London, by another man who claimed it was for a show. Earlier this year, a 31-year-old man reported a similar thing had happened to him in 2013, the force said. Scotland Yard said officers "believe there may be more victims".

The 28-year-old approached police in June 2018 to report that a man claiming to be in the entertainment industry had asked him to take part in a game show for the chance to win £5,000. He said he was required to take part in several "nude challenges" which were filmed by the suspect who kept the footage.

The second victim, who was identified by police in February this year, told officers a man had coerced him into doing something similar in a hotel in south-east London in August 2013.

Officers arrested a 29-year-old man in January 2019 on suspicion of voyeurism and he was released under investigation. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-55286084
 
A woman has been jailed for defrauding people of money by pretending tp have terminal cancer.

(Safe Liverpool Echo link)
Fraudster slammed for 'horrible betrayal' after using cancer scam to fund wedding

ECHO readers have condemned a woman who faked a cancer diagnosis to help fund her wedding.

Friends launched an online fundraiser when Toni Standen claimed her ovarian cancer was so severe she was going to die.


But her heartbreaking story has now been exposed as a lie and she is being prosecuted over the con.

Last week the 29-year-old, from West Derby, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation, with District Judge Nicholas Sanders slamming her for her "horrible breach of trust".

Such a weird crime - how did she think she'd get away with it?

I love these stories. It's happened several times before in Britain that I know of and in fact a neighbour of mine is probably up to it. :chuckle:
 
Fraudster slammed for 'horrible betrayal' after using cancer scam to fund wedding
I misread this at first at what registered in my mind was "Fraudster slammed for 'horrible portrayal'. . .
Like she got slammed for doing a poor job of looking like she had cancer . . .
 
Because the focal subject was using forged papers I'm going to put this story in this thread ...
German delivery driver drove without license for 40 years

A 67-year-old man has been caught driving without a license. When pressed by police, he admitted to having no valid license for more than 40 years

German police stopped a man who had been driving without a license for the past 40 years, they said on Wednesday.

The 67-year-old man was pulled over near the western German city of Trier. When asked for his license, he presented a fraudulent copy of a document saying that his license had been presented at another police station, police alleged.

When the forgery was detected, Trier's police said that he admitted to driving without a license for more than 40 years. He had also worked as a delivery driver for several years, police said.
He is facing multiple charges.

There have been several similar cases reported in Germany. In July 2020, a 69-year-old woman was alleged to have been driving without a license for 39 years. She was discovered when she hit another vehicle in a car park and drove away without giving her details.

Driving without a license is a criminal offense in Germany, with steep fines or even imprisonment. Depending on the severity of the offense, and whether the suspect is a repeat offender, police can even seize their vehicle.

In 2014, Borussia Dortmund football star Marco Reus was fined €540,000 ($652,000) after he was caught driving his Aston Martin despite never receiving a license. Fines for more serious offenses in Germany are often calculated based on the offender's income to punish people with different salaries in a proportionally punitive manner. ...

Forging an official document is also a crime, punishable with fines or up to five years in prison.

FULL STORY: https://www.dw.com/en/german-delivery-driver-drove-without-license-for-40-years/a-55886556
 
Family members enjoyed an all-inclusive holiday but then sued the travel service claiming the vacation had been ruined by food poisoning. If they hadn't posted so many Facebook photos of them healthy and happy they might have gotten away with it ...
Family Jailed After Fake Holiday Food Poisoning Claims Exposed By Facebook

A family which fraudulently claimed their holiday was ruined by food poisoning has been jailed after snaps of them enjoying themselves in the pool were posted online via the social media platform Facebook.

Christopher Byng, 38, Barbara Byng, 64, Linda Lane,36, and Anthony Byng, 66, had submitted false gastric illness claims against Jet2holidays following an all-inclusive holiday ...

The family, all from Middlesbrough, claimed that they and two children they were travelling with had all suffered from various symptoms, ... and was as a result of food poisoning.

The family then issued court proceedings ... However, their holiday scam was soon exposed after pictures surfaced on social media of the family having a fantastic time in the resort’s pool and bar.

During the investigations, Jet2holidays and their law firm, Horwich Farrelly, discovered evidence which they said showed the claims were totally fabricated by the family. ...

The family was convicted of contempt of court and appeared Teesside Combined Court on Friday, Feb.26, after pleading guilty. Christopher, Barbara and Anthony Byng were all jailed for four months- Lane received a suspended sentence.

They must also pay a £20,000 interim payment in legal costs by March 26. When handing down his judgement, Judge Mark Gargan said that “false claims for holiday sickness are all too prevalent.” He added that these claims were “not merely a case of exaggeration” and were a “complete invention”.

FULL STORY: https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2021...ay-food-poisoning-claims-exposed-by-facebook/
 
These aren't professional con artists. They don't think things through.
The fake cancer sufferer; she just wanted the money and assumed she could go with the "look, I got cured, didn't I!"
The holiday-makers thought about the old contaminated food scams and saw it as a bigger version. They thought posting online was the same as keeping quiet about the scam.
Look at the awful Mick Philpott who thought that by torching his house - with his children inside - would get him a bigger house! :(
 
Trader gets painted stones instead of $36m of copper

Geneva-based Mercuria Energy Group says it's been the victim of cargo fraud following its purchase of 10,000 tons of copper blister.

When the cargoes started arriving in China, it found containers full of painted stones instead.

Last year, Mercuria agreed to buy the copper blister, an impure form of the metal, for delivery to China. About 6,000 tonnes was loaded for shipment in more than 300 containers on eight vessels.

But before its journey from a port near Istanbul, the copper was switched with paving stones, spray-painted to resemble the semi-refined metal.

Mercuria, one of the five-biggest oil traders in the world, is seeking redress in Turkish and UK courts against the copper supplier Bietsan Bakir.

It appears the copper was initially loaded into the first shipment of containers, before being surveyed by an inspection company. Seals used to prevent fraud were fixed to the containers.

But the containers were opened and the copper replaced with paving stones, Istanbul law firm KYB told media. The fraudsters switched between fake and real container seals to avoid detection.

Once the vessels were at sea, Mercuria paid $36m over five installments.

The fraud wasn't discovered until the ships began arriving in the Chinese port of Lianyungang later that month.
 
Bit of a pisstake.

A zoo in central China has raised eyebrows this week after it was caught seemingly trying to pass off a dog as a wolf.

Social media footage appeared on Tuesday showing a visitor to the Xiangwushan Zoo in Xianning, Hubei province, visiting the zoo's wolf enclosure. He filmed an animal that looked like a Rottweiler lying on its side in a cage, and said to the animal: "Woof! Are you a wolf?" in a short video that has since gone viral. It has led to a lot of jokes online, but has also sparked debate about whether zoos are necessary in a post-Covid era, with many voicing concern about their maintenance.

Mr Xu, who filmed the footage, told Beijing News that he had asked staff at the park why there was a dog in the wolf's cage. He said he was told that there had been a wolf, but that it had "died of old age".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56299849
 
There's fraud, and then there's fraud intertwined with murder - of one's own children ...
California man sentenced for drowning his two sons in 'diabolical' insurance scheme, prosecutors say

A California judge sentenced a man to 212 years in federal prison for killing his two sons in an insurance scheme worth more than $260,000, according to a Thursday news release from the Justice Department.

Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, drove a vehicle -- with his wife and two sons inside -- off a Los Angeles port into the San Pedro Bay in April 2015. Elmezayen escaped the submerged car through his open window. His ex-wife, Rabab Diab, could not swim but survived when a nearby fisherman threw her a life preserver.

The couple's sons, 13-year-old Elhassan and 8-year-old Abdelkrim, drowned. Both children were said to have autism, the release said.

US District Judge John F. Walter called Elmezayen's scheme "evil and diabolical."

"The only regret that the defendant has is that he got caught," Walter said. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/11/us/california-father-sentenced-insurance-scheme/index.html
 
...debate about whether zoos are necessary in a post-Covid era...

Replace the word “zoos” with “Spangles”, “sock suspenders” or “those little plastic bits you get in the middle of pizza delivery boxes”, and that sentence would make just as much sense.

maximus otter
 
This Florida couple managed to obtain over five million dollars in COVID relief funds. Had they invested any of it in intelligence they might have averted getting arrested after flaunting their take on social media. :doh: :roll:
Florida couple charged with $5.8-million COVID relief fraud

A Polk County couple is accused of fraudulently collecting $5.8 million in COVID-19 relief money and using it to buy a luxury car, Louis Vuitton merchandise, and more, then flaunting it on Facebook.

According to prosecutors, Julio Lugo and Rosenide Venant, both of Davenport, submitted at least 70 false and fraudulent loan applications starting last spring to the Small Business Administration, including for shell companies established by Lugo, Venant, and their relatives.

They also secured coronavirus relief funds for a defunct tax-preparation company that Lugo had previously used for a 2015 fraud scheme, officials said. ...

Once the emergency loans were secured, Lugo and Venant paid off a luxury vehicle and spent more than $62,000 at casinos, investigators said. They also allegedly withdrew at least $320,000 in cash.

Lugo later posted a Facebook video featuring a hotel room littered with $100 bills and at least $5,000 in merchandise from Louis Vuitton, authorities said. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-couple-charged-with-5-8-million-covid-relief-fraud
 
This Indonesian con artist spent years and reaped millions in the USA selling counterfeit high-end wines.
“Sour Grapes” wine fraud con man deported to Indonesia

A one-time California man who bilked wine collectors out of millions by selling cheaper booze he rebottled in his kitchen has been deported to his native Indonesia ...

Rudy Kurniawan, 44, was deported last week on a commercial flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Jakarta ...

Kurniawan came to the United States on a student visa in the 1990s. He unsuccessfully sought political asylum and was ordered to voluntarily leave the country in 2003 but stayed on illegally ...

Kurniawan, whose family gained wealth operating a beer distributorship in Indonesia, was convicted of mail and wire fraud in 2013 in a New York federal court and spent seven years in prison. ...

In a public black eye for the wine industry, prosecutors at Kurniawan’s New York trial said he made millions of dollars from 2004 to 2012 by putting less-expensive Napa and Burgundy wines into counterfeit bottles at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia.

The scheme was recounted in the 2016 Netflix documentary, “Sour Grapes,” and in a March episode of ABC’s “The Con.” ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/sour-gra...ed-indonesia-440498ff72a055cedf606b56ecbbd052
 
The scale of the fraud is incredible but it's of a type which happens all too often.

A 90-year old woman from Hong Kong has been scammed out of HK$250 million (£23m, $32m) by fraudsters pretending to be Chinese officials, police said.

Hong Kong police said the criminals had posed as public security officials investigating a criminal case in China.
The woman was told her identity had been stolen and used on the mainland. She was then coerced into making 11 deposits to a bank account between August and January - to help the alleged investigation. So far, investigators have arrested a 19-year old man who has since been released on bail.

According to local media the woman was first contacted in August last year by someone pretending to be a mainland official. The scammers then went to her place and gave her a phone she was to use to communicate with them.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56811380
 
This Indonesian con artist spent years and reaped millions in the USA selling counterfeit high-end wines.
FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/sour-gra...ed-indonesia-440498ff72a055cedf606b56ecbbd052
Meh.
Unless you drink it, can you tell it's fake? The whole "some wines are an investment" thing is a scam ... and this is coming from one who likes a tipple, knows the processes, and values a wine not as an investment but as a taste.
I know of a senior bar staff who, when Premiership Footie players came in with their "escorts", would reach for the old Champagne bottles that had been filled with cheap fizzy white. The players were happy to pay a couple of hundred quid to impress their ... ah ... guests by buying "vintage champagne" without knowing actually what they were drinking.
They were paying for the label, and the gloss that came with it. Not the taste.

I'd recommend listening to John Finnemore's Cabin Pressure radio comedy series, especially any that involves "Burling Days". The 'trick' is all around Talisker whiskey, and the actual taste of the whiskey counts and is counted!
 
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