Frauds, Scams & Cons (General; Miscellaneous)

[David Plankton]

A Cardiff -based jeweller was defrauded of diamonds and watches worth £420,000 after being paid in “Monopoly” money, a court has heard.

He'll end up going to jail. Straight to jail without passing Go and collecting his £200.

 

[Mythopoeika]

He'll end up going to jail. Straight to jail without passing Go and collecting his £200.

Who? The jeweller?

 

[David Plankton]

Who? The jeweller?

No, the one who lives in that little green house in Mayfair.

 

[ramonmercado]

And she admits it.

An Australian "wellness" blogger who built a successful business on claims she survived terminal cancer has admitted she never had the disease.

"None of it's true", Belle Gibson told Australia's Women's Weekly magazine in an interview.

Ms Gibson chronicled her battle with cancer on a blog, The Whole Pantry, which spawned an app and recipe book But doubts about her claims surfaced after she failed to deliver a promised $300,000 donation to charity.

"I am still jumping between what I think I know and what is reality," Ms Gibson said in the interview, her first since the story was called into question. "I have lived it and I'm not really there yet," she said. ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-32420070

An Australian blogger and author who faked terminal brain cancer faces legal action over her deception.

Belle Gibson gained fame in Australia after she claimed to have beaten cancer using natural remedies rather than medical intervention.

She launched a successful app and cookbook, but later admitted the diagnosis was made up.

Consumer Affairs Victoria is aiming to prosecute Ms Gibson for allegedly breaking Australian consumer law.

The regulator said it had conducted an in-depth investigation of Ms Gibson's activities and had applied to Australia's Federal Court for leave to pursue legal action.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-36195825

 

[ramonmercado]

Tanzania has removed more than 10,000 "ghost workers" from its public sector payroll after a nationwide audit found their fraud cost the government over $2 million a month, the prime minister's office has said.

Government officials say the payroll audit is continuing and more non-existent workers are expected to be found.

"We will identify those behind this payroll fraud and take them to court ... the fight against corruption is top priority for the government," Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa was quoted as saying in the statement issued late on Sunday.

Purging the "ghost workers" from government payrolls would save more than 4.5 billion shillings ($2.06 million) a month, the statement said.

Reformist President John Magufuli ordered the national audit in March as part of a wider corruption crackdown. ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tanzania-corruption-idUSKCN0Y70RW

Could this happen in UK or RoI?

 

[OneWingedBird]

I'm not sure what's going on with Simon Buckden, mainstream reporting seems to have given up on him but I did find this blog post which suggests he's got a new fake illness he's trying to use to slide off the hook for having falsely claimed to have cancer and PTSD.

Simon Buckden, on 22nd Feb 2016, in court, admitted to lying about having terminal cancer & PTSD, but used the excuse he now has Munchausen Syndrome.

He was very upset the judge would not accept guilty on all charges based upon this new (fake) illness. But, anyone with any intelligence would know a judge is not going to accept his new ‘diagnosis’ without proof.

The judge has ordered he be evaluated by an expert in fraud and the case was adjourned until Oct. Bucken was not happy about that, at all. And it shows he does not have enough evidence to refute the 7 fraud charges, if he wanted to plead guilty but with Munchausens.

Buckden has lied for decades, faked many illnesses, de-frauded people out of money, abused people, abused both his ex partners, lied about being in combat, trolls people on social media, and threatens people continually. His own brother has confirmed he was sociopathic as a child. And he was not abused as a child, as he lies about.

Blog

My former line manager and now friend is waiting for him to go down, as he apparently was the partner of someone she worked with previously, very nasty piece of work.

No idea why it's taking so long, or maybe just the availability of crown court time for the trial.

I reckon he's will buggered, not just for his offenses but for pulling the same shit to try and manipulate the court.

 

[Tribble]

For the past nine years, Iraq’s security forces have tried to stop car bombs with a British-made bomb detector wand that was long ago proven to be fake. A day after a car bomb killed at least 157 people in central Baghdad, the country’s prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, has demanded their withdrawal.

After the single deadliest attack in Iraq this year, Abadi also ordered a renewed corruption investigation into the sale of the devices from 2007-10, which cost Iraq more than £53m and netted the Somerset businessman James McCormick enormous profits, as well as a 10-year jail sentence for fraud.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ctors-baghdad-haidar-al-abadi-james-mccormick

(They were still using these? And it took the deaths of 157 people to finally persuade them?)

 

[Coal]

For the past nine years, Iraq’s security forces have tried to stop car bombs with a British-made bomb detector wand that was long ago proven to be fake. A day after a car bomb killed at least 157 people in central Baghdad, the country’s prime minister, Haidar al-Abadi, has demanded their withdrawal.

After the single deadliest attack in Iraq this year, Abadi also ordered a renewed corruption investigation into the sale of the devices from 2007-10, which cost Iraq more than £53m and netted the Somerset businessman James McCormick enormous profits, as well as a 10-year jail sentence for fraud.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ctors-baghdad-haidar-al-abadi-james-mccormick

(They were still using these? And it took the deaths of 157 people to finally persuade them?)

Why isn't the git serving time for corporate manslaughter? In Iraq.

 

[ramonmercado]

A Chinese businessman is suing an Australian escort agency to which he paid more than €2.3m, believing he was going to get to spend the night with Hollywood stars including Megan Fox, it has been claimed.

The man paid A$3.7m for supposed encounters with Ms Fox along with Victoria's Secret model Candice Swanepoel and Chinese model and actress Yang Ying. Named as Yu Xu, the businessman believed he had arranged for the women to meet him in China.

He has now launched a legal action against the parent company of the Sydney-based agency Royal Court Escorts, the report in Australia's 'Sunday Telegraph' said.

Mr Yu claimed to have been told he would be provided with "female escorts of international standing for the provision of sexual services".

There is no suggestion that Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel or Yang Ying, known by her nickname 'Angelababy', are escorts.

"It was agreed that if (Mr Xu) paid the sum of $3.7 million (the agency) would provide Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel and 'Angelababy' as escorts for sexual services," Mr Xu's statement of claim said. ...

http://www.independent.ie/world-new...r-sex-with-hollywoods-megan-fox-34857383.html

 

[OneWingedBird]

Why isn't the git serving time for corporate manslaughter? In Iraq.

God only knows. It doesn't seem that they've managed to nail him for more than fraud. Also at least one of the officials who took a bung to give him the contract. Maybe it's the way that responsibility is split down between McCormick, the people who took the contract, the others who knew the devices were ineffective and the terrorists that stops it meeting the criteria?

 

[Mythopoeika]

A Chinese businessman is suing an Australian escort agency to which he paid more than €2.3m, believing he was going to get to spend the night with Hollywood stars including Megan Fox, it has been claimed.

The man paid A$3.7m for supposed encounters with Ms Fox along with Victoria's Secret model Candice Swanepoel and Chinese model and actress Yang Ying. Named as Yu Xu, the businessman believed he had arranged for the women to meet him in China.

He has now launched a legal action against the parent company of the Sydney-based agency Royal Court Escorts, the report in Australia's 'Sunday Telegraph' said.

Mr Yu claimed to have been told he would be provided with "female escorts of international standing for the provision of sexual services".

There is no suggestion that Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel or Yang Ying, known by her nickname 'Angelababy', are escorts.

"It was agreed that if (Mr Xu) paid the sum of $3.7 million (the agency) would provide Megan Fox, Candice Swanepoel and 'Angelababy' as escorts for sexual services," Mr Xu's statement of claim said. ...

http://www.independent.ie/world-new...r-sex-with-hollywoods-megan-fox-34857383.html

Yu Xu - pronounced 'You Sue'?

 

[Coal]

God only knows. It doesn't seem that they've managed to nail him for more than fraud. Also at least one of the officials who took a bung to give him the contract. Maybe it's the way that responsibility is split down between McCormick, the people who took the contract, the others who knew the devices were ineffective and the terrorists that stops it meeting the criteria?

Surely (he aid carefully) if you knowingly sell a fake bomb-detector the outcome is inevitably the death or serious injury of someone?

 

[OneWingedBird]

Well I would agree with that, the mystery is why the judge seems not to have done?

 

[GNC]

Olympic swimmer says he and others were robbed at gunpoint in Rio, police say there's no evidence it happened:
http://www.people.com/article/ryan-lochte-robbery-no-evidence-police-gunpoint?xid=rss-fullcontent

Not sure who to believe, or why either party would lie.

 

[OneWingedBird]

I've posted stuff elsewhere about police in some places in Brazil being on strike due to not being paid, dunno if this is some weird sort of protest, whether the witnesses were too scared to say they saw anything, or police have been told to downplay or discredit olympic related crime.

A lot of the reporting around the olympics has been very wtf, from athletes accommodation not being finished or having no electricity or water to sailing taking place on the site of a raw sewage dump... there's some serious problems going on behind all the show.

Edit: Latest Rio WTF is that upto half the paralympians may not be able to attend if their travel grants don't get paid.

 

[OneWingedBird]

Looks like Simon Buckden finally made it to trial, he is so screwed, no idea why he'd try and plead not guilty, he is totally buggered.

A FORMER military clerk lied about having cancer and suffering from trauma as a result of serving on the front line in war zones across the world, a fraud trial heard. A jury was told Simon Buckden claimed to have served with the SAS and was invited to take part in the 2012 Olympic torch relay through Leeds after building up a reputation as a heroic fundraiser and campaigner. Leeds Crown Court heard people provided money and practical help after hearing of his cancer diagnosis and being inspired by story. Buckden, 44, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court where he pleads not guilty to six charges of fraud.

YEP

 

[mr_nic]

Interesting (long read) article on Napoleon Hill - ‘All-American Huckster’


"Napoleon Hill is the most famous conman you’ve probably never heard of. Born into poverty in rural Virginia at the end of the 19th century, Hill went on to write one of the most successful self-help books of the 20th century: Think and Grow Rich. In fact, he helped invent the genre. But it’s the untold story of Hill’s fraudulent business practices, tawdry sex life, and membership in a New York cult that makes him so fascinating.

That cult would become infamous in the late 1930s for trying to raise an “immortal baby.” But even those who know the story of Immortal Baby Jean may not know that the cult was inspired by Hill’s teachings, practically using his most famous work as their holy text. Don’t worry, the whole story of Napoleon Hill only gets weirder from there."


I’ve been intrigued by Hill’s books and concepts as there seem to be a cross-over with Occult/Chaos Magick teachings.

Anyway, article here:

http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-untold-story-of-napoleon-hill-the-greatest-self-he-1789385645

 

[Mythopoeika]

I have a copy of Think and Grow Rich in a box somewhere.
Done plenty of thinking, but not rich yet.

 

[hunck]

Bung bungle: Italian mayor tells of brazen biscuit-tin bribe

a waste management executive strode into Metta’s office claiming to have a meeting scheduled and proffering the package with a Christmas card.



“I opened it and found a tin of biscuits. I thought I would offer it to my colleagues, but inside the tin were banknotes [20,000 Euros] of various denominations,” Metta told Corriere della Sera. “Many banknotes in two different packages. I immediately called the police.”


The purpose of the bribe, according to reports, was a bid for a landfill in the Cerignola area. Waste management is known in Italy to be rife with mafia-linked corruption, as are public works contracts.

 

[kamalktk]

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...

Mr. Madoff has cornered the market on hot cocoa in his prison.

https://qz.com/885005/bernie-madoff-manipulated-the-market-for-hot-cocoa-mix-at-his-prison/

 

[ramonmercado]

I posted about this guy's latest crimes elsewhere but this article outlines his history as a conman.

The Dutch con artist, the Hell’s Angels and the heiress
Anthonie Van Wilderoden, convicted of shoplifting in Dublin, had a colourful past
Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 05:00 Updated: about 14 hours ago

The Oudenbosch Basilica in the Netherlands, where Van Wilderoden (inset) planned a lavish society wedding to Tara Elliott, daughter of a wealthy Scottish-Irish aristocrat

Last week Dublin Circuit Criminal Court dealt with a shoplifting case. Nothing unusual there, bar the fact that the accused was a Dutch national who claimed to run a business that sold insects for human consumption.

However, Anthonie Van Wilderoden (sometimes spelt Wilderode) was guaranteed headlines when it emerged that he had run “a steal-to-order” scam in Dublin, using a specially adapted pram.

So equipped, the Dutchman had stolen a Nespresso coffee machine, crockery sets, even a vacuum cleaner from Arnotts, Currys and Harvey Norman after he had taken “orders” on the DoneDeal auction site.

But that is just the beginning of the story, one that involves the Hell’s Angels, claims to membership of the Spanish royal family, and his place in one of the biggest weddings ever planned in The Netherlands.

Described by his estranged wife as “a pathological liar”, the Dutchman claimed that he was born in 1972 under the name Anthonie de Bruin and had an unstable childhood. His parents, he said, split up when he was a child.

Male prostitute
In court documents, he claimed that he was kidnapped by his father. He also said he was sexually abused and that he became a male prostitute at 15. Prostitution gave him enough money to set up his first business.
Convicted first in 1997, he was jailed later for fraud, theft, embezzlement and forgery. In 2005, he pretended to be a millionaire and conned top-range restaurants and a helicopter rental company.

Later, he came into contact with a notorious branch of a Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang called The Nomads, according to Jos Verkuijlen, a journalist with Dutch broadcaster Omroep Brabant.

The Nomads controlled much of The Netherlands’ drug trafficking and prostitution rackets. In 2004, three gang members were murdered, allegedly by a fellow member. De Bruin told the Dutch authorities he could help solve the case. ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...nd-the-heiress-1.2939419#.WH3uI-PVETE.twitter

 

[Tribble]

A "brazen fraudster" received a £329 refund for a TV he had just picked up from a shop's shelf, police have said.

The man then shook the hand of the manager at the Aldi store on Wragby Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire Police said.

The force said he walked into the shop, picked up the TV and took it to the cashier to obtain a refund.

Police are appealing for information about the 2 January incident.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-38761492

 

[Mythopoeika]

A "brazen fraudster" received a £329 refund for a TV he had just picked up from a shop's shelf, police have said.

The man then shook the hand of the manager at the Aldi store on Wragby Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire Police said.

The force said he walked into the shop, picked up the TV and took it to the cashier to obtain a refund.

Police are appealing for information about the 2 January incident.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-38761492

Aren't people normally obliged to produce a receipt?

 

[GNC]

Let's go see the new Morgan Freeman movie!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-38921929

Hey, waidaminnit! Obviously truth in advertising hasn't reach the Uzbeks.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

Aren't people normally obliged to produce a receipt?

Not if they claim it's faulty, you don't need a receipt for that.

 

[AgProv]

Looks like Simon Buckden finally made it to trial, he is so screwed, no idea why he'd try and plead not guilty, he is totally buggered.



YEP

Cue jokes about "once in prison, that will prove to be literally correct".

 

[ramonmercado]

Musician who claimed he could not work after fall seen jumping on trampoline
Owner was good enough ‘to let you use his property for free and you end up suing him’
about 20 hours ago Saurya Cherfi

A file photo of Philippe Clark bouncing on a trampoline. His case for damages was dismissed. Photograph: Courtpix

A musician who claimed he injured his left shoulder when he fell into a deep, dry, concrete-lined moat after he left Martello tower in south Dublin to “relieve himself” had claimed he was unable to play gigs for a year. However, pictures taken from a video showed him playing bongo drums and jumping on a trampoline and he had not appeared to have any problem whatsoever with his arm, the Circuit Civil Court heard, as he lost a €60,000 damages claim. ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crim...ter-fall-seen-jumping-on-trampoline-1.2982836

 

[EnolaGaia]

Staff at Italian hospital suspected of shirking on grand scale

ROME (Reuters) - Doctors and nurses are among 94 hospital workers from Naples who have been placed under investigation on suspicion of repeatedly skipping work, police said on Friday.

One supervisor at the Loreto Mare hospital was instead found working as a chef in a hotel, while an on-duty doctor was spotted playing tennis and going shopping. Two health workers were caught clocking in 20 colleagues each day to make it look like they were on the job.

Police said 55 of the suspects had been placed under house arrest. There was no immediate comment from the hospital.

In a bid to tackle shirkers in the notoriously inefficient public sector, the government signed into law last year a measure to immediately suspend people caught dodging work, pending an investigation into whether they should then be fired.

Managers who fail to comply with the new rules risk being fired themselves.

SOURCE: http://www.yahoo.com/news/staff-italian-hospital-suspected-shirking-grand-scale-185530039.html

 

[rynner2]

Can you hear me scam: You can fall victim to fraudsters by answering simple phone question
By Jeff_Reines | Posted: February 26, 2017

There is a new phone scam to be on the lookout for and it's very sneaky and could cost you thousands of pounds. Crooks are getting more and more clever and every time one trick or fraud is busted, another comes along - with this one catching innocent victims out when they simply answer the question: 'Can you hear me?'.

Now police are warning people to remain vigilant and be careful when answering the phone to a number they don't recognise.

If you hear the phrase from a caller on a number you don't know, the advice is to hang up straight away. The scam, which uses voice signatures to try and charge you for products or services that you've never used, has been a major problem in the US and experts expect it to turn up in the UK very soon.

How does the scam work?

• A local number will ring you
• The person on the phone will then introduce themselves and the company they supposedly work for
• They then ask: 'Can you hear me?'
• Your answer is recorded, and if you say 'yes', your response will be edited and then used to charge you for products or services without your knowledge.

If you try to disagree with them, they will then play back their recording of you saying 'yes' and threaten to take legal action if you don't pay up.

CPR Call Blocker, which markets specialist devices to help avoid such calls, has discovered a rise in the scam recently and is warning that it is only a matter of time before people in the UK will be targeted too. The scammers can also use your voice recording to authorise a stolen credit card.

Kris Hicks, from CPR Call Blocker, told the Sunderland Echo: "In our experience of working across the US and UK, scams spread quickly across the pond."
He then warned Brits to be wary "as we have no doubt that fraudsters operating in the UK will soon start using these tactics".

News of this scam comes hot on the heels of another which Plymouth residents were warned about. In December, Trading Standards officers said they had received a number of reports that residents were getting phone calls saying there was a problem with their council tax and asking for payment. The residents said that, when asked, the person on the other end of the phone was unable to tell them how much they owed or their account number. The callers got frustrated and hung up on the customer after they failed to pay.

Another resident received a call from a company claiming it was issuing council tax refunds for over-payment and wanted bank details.

Councillor Dave Downie, Plymouth City Council Cabinet member for safer and stronger communities, said: "These fraudsters are making money out of targeting some of our most vulnerable residents. It's terrible that people would try to use the council's name in this way. We'd like to make sure as many people as possible are aware these scams are doing rounds so they don't fall victim. The council does contact customers to ask for payment of council tax and we also send text messages. However, when we contact a customer, we are always able to verify their account number and account details."

If anyone has responded to one of these cold calls they should report the matter to Action Fraud on www.actionfraud.police.uk call 0300 123 2040 or the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 08454 04 05 06.
Read more at http://www.cornwalllive.com/can-you...0164638-detail/story.html#kwx73m0AdsjWPIB9.99

http://www.cornwalllive.com/can-you...one-question/story-30164638-detail/story.html

 

[Mythopoeika]

Sounds like nonsense to me.