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Frauds, Scams & Cons (General; Miscellaneous)

Fermanagh businesswoman conned out of 3,000 euro
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/nort ... 524047.stm
Disabled parking bay

A businesswoman in Fermanagh has been conned out of 3,000 euro after two men told her EU rules meant she had to provide two disabled parking bays.

The owner, from Belleek, paid the men, who were in a yellow van posing as a road safety marking company, to paint the bays outside the premises.

Shortly afterwards they were washed away by heavy rain.

The police have warned business owners to be wary of people making similar claims.
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"Shortly afterwards they were washed away by heavy rain."

:rofl:
 
'Accident-prone' man in more than 12 previous personal injury cases
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ire ... 07595.html

Fri, Mar 12, 2010

AN “ACCIDENT-prone” man who has sued Eircom after allegedly suffering injuries as a result of tripping over a manhole cover had brought more than a dozen previous personal injuries actions, the High Court was told yesterday.

Addiction counsellor and taxi driver Gerard McWilliams (52), Bawnlea Close, Tallaght, Dublin, told the court yesterday that, in the 1990s alone, he was involved in 10 accidents.

He also recalled proceedings for alleged food poisoning, for injuries suffered while out jogging and over falling in a neighbour’s driveway but could not remember details of all the proceedings he was allegedly involved in.

Mr McWilliams told Mr Justice Vivian Lavan that another judge once described him as being either “the luckiest or the unluckiest man” due to being involved in accidents which, Mr McWilliams said, were not his fault.

Counsel for Mr McWilliams described his client as “accident-prone”.

In his action against Eircom, Mr McWilliams claims that, around midnight on March 28th, 2003, he twisted his ankle on the edge of a PT steel cover located beside the kerb outside his home.

He claims the company was negligent and in breach of its duty of care towards him in the maintenance, repair, upkeep and supervision of the manhole cover and the area around it. The claims are denied. Yesterday, Mr McWilliams said the accident occurred when he was removing plants from the boot of his car. He said he was in immediate pain, and was eventually taken to hospital in Tallaght.

He was released from hospital and his ankle was put in a strap but he suffered ongoing pain and discomfort, he said. Following reviews from an orthopedic surgeon, he was fitted with a plaster cast. His ankle was “still not right” and he suffers from uncomfortable pain, he said.

Because of the nature of his work as an addiction counsellor, Mr McWilliams said he had tried not to take strong pain killers and had adopted a more holistic approach to his condition.

Under cross examination from Barney Quirke, for Eircom, Mr McWilliams denied the injuries sustained were his fault. While he knew the cover was there, it was “camouflaged”, he said. “I don’t go looking for holes,” he said.

When Mr Quirke asked Mr McWilliams if he had been involved in 13-14 previous personal injuries actions, Mr McWilliams said he may have been involved in 10 or 11 cases arising out of accidents that “were not my fault”.

Mr McWilliams said it was “probable” he brought proceedings and received compensation arising out of traffic accidents in 1990, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2001. The case continues.
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Bizarre case of missing man, opera singer and body double
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fro ... 43029.html

DEREK SCALLY in Berlin

Wed, Mar 17, 2010

WHEN THE opera world gets around to dramatising this story, it could be titled “The Diva and the Fisherman”. It’s a dramatic tale of an opera singer suspected of killing her fisherman husband and employing a Doppelgänger to rewrite his will to inherit the estate.

The end of the story is not yet clear: the 55-year-old is in police custody as investigators piece together clues in a bizarre crime.

Police began their investigation as a missing-person case last October when they were contacted by a tenant of Hermann H, a 71-year-old fisherman and fish breeder.

The tenant expressed concern for his landlord’s wellbeing because he hadn’t seen him for months around their small town of Kappel-Grafenhausen, near Freiburg in southwest Germany. When police questioned his singer wife, Waltraud, they said she was nervous and was unwilling to talk about her missing husband.

“We repeatedly tried to contact the man through his wife but she simply repeated that he was fine,” said a local police officer. “As our investigations progressed, the matter became more ominous.”

After searching the couple’s apartment several times, without success, police learned that Waltraud had made an appointment with a local notary, ostensibly to get her legal affairs in order. But the singer cancelled the appointment at short notice when the notary mentioned telling the police of the upcoming appointment.

A few weeks later, a man claiming to be Waltraud’s husband Hermann showed up at the notary’s office to sign a power of attorney in favour of his wife.

The suspicious notary contacted the police and “Hermann” caved in immediately. He admitted being paid by Waltraud to pretend to be her husband, and that he even went to a make-up artist with pictures of Hermann with orders to look as much like him as possible.

Police turned their attention again to his wife, but all is not as it seems with Waltraud.

Instead of working as an opera singer, local newspapers claim she worked in a local brothel and was known for trying to strike up relationships with regular customers.

Waltraud has declined to address the allegations against her, including the claim that she approached at least 10 people in the search for someone to play her husband. One of the men who declined the supporting role in the drama tipped off the police, who are now working on the assumption that Hermann is dead.
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Rothschild claim conman jailed for fraud and rape
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 572278.stm

Alexander Marc de Rothschild-Hatton - police photo
De Rothschild-Hatton refused to attend his sentencing

A man who claimed to be financier Edmund De Rothschild's illegitimate son has been jailed for 18 years for conning a woman and raping a girl.

Alexander Marc de Rothschild-Hatton, 49 and from Cirencester, was found guilty of seven counts of obtaining money from divorcee Christine Handy by deception.

At Bristol Crown Court, he was jailed for three years for fraud and 15 for the unrelated rape of a teenage girl.

In May he was convicted of seven sex crimes but an order banned publication.

That order was lifted after the fraud conviction was delivered by a jury on Tuesday.

Judge Julian Lambert told the court De Rothschild-Hatton had refused to attend his sentencing and added it was "not worth the petrol in the van" to force him.


As well as raping a young girl, he took to preying on an emotionally-vulnerable woman
Judge Julian Lambert

Passing sentence, he said De Rothschild-Hatton had "systematically corrupted" his teenage rape victim, getting her pregnant on one occasion.

"From the age of 13 to 17 she was utterly oppressed and he made her miserable.

"He has despoiled her formative years, which should have been filled with happiness."

Judge Lambert went on: "As well as raping a young girl, he took to preying on an emotionally-vulnerable woman.

"By telling lies disguised by a thin veneer of respectability and education he extracted towards £300,000 from her.

De Rothschild-Hatton wasted the money on "high living" to fuel his fantasy of a "jet-set lifestyle," he added.

'Preposterous lies'

On Tuesday De Rothschild-Hatton was found guilty of seven counts of obtaining money from divorcee Christine Handy by deception.

The jury at Bristol Crown Court could not reach a verdict on three counts of obtaining property by deception and these remaining counts will lie on file.

In May he was found guilty of four counts of rape and three sexual assaults.

Unemployed De Rothschild-Hatton, of Bowling Green Road, Cirencester, claimed to be an Oxford-educated international financier as part of his ruse to get more than £300,000 from Ms Handy.

The jury heard De Rothschild-Hatton told "preposterous" lies to Ms Handy, who had her fourth child with the defendant, in an attempt to take considerable sums of money from her.

De Rothschild-Hatton first approached the 45-year-old in June 2003 in a coffee shop in Cheltenham where he told her he had been "observing her for some time" and offered her financial advice with her divorce.

She told the court De Rothschild-Hatton had paid "not a penny" back of the hundreds of thousands of pounds she lent him.
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Irishman cleared of fraud charges in Ritz Hotel 'sale' scam
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/wor ... 01040.html

KEN MURRAY

Sat, Jul 03, 2010

A LIMERICK man now living in England has been acquitted of conspiracy to defraud in an elaborate scam aimed at selling the world famous Ritz Hotel in London.

Retired contracts manager Patrick Dolan (68), Philip Lane, Tottenham, north London, was cleared of the conspiracy charge at Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday.

However, an unemployed lorry driver was convicted of trying to sell the Ritz Hotel for £250 million by falsely claiming to be connected to the wealthy owners.

Anthony Lee (49) preyed on people who were interested in the expensive hotel in Piccadilly and lured them into handing over £1 million.

Lee, Broad Lane, Goole, Yorkshire, convinced potential buyer Terence Collins that he was a “close friend and associate” of the billionaire Barclay brothers, who own the prestigious Ritz.

Mr Collins in turn sought the support of Dutch billionaire Marcus Boekhoorn to finance a £1 million “deposit” payment, telling him that the Barclay brothers had their “secretive reasons” for selling the Ritz through a third party.

When the money was lodged in Lee’s AIB bank account in Dublin, he and his business associate Patrick Dolan split the proceeds between them.

The court was told that Mr Dolan blew his share of €644,000, then worth about £435,000, on a new Mercedes, horse racing and paying off his mortgage.

“I had a good time – a wise man told me there’s no shops in the graveyard,” Mr Dolan, now bankrupt, told jurors.

Under cross-examination, Mr Dolan told jurors he had been “set up by rich people and used as a scapegoat” when the Ritz deal collapsed.

The court heard that the Ritz Hotel owners Sir Frederick and Sir David Barclay had never met or heard of Lee and knew nothing of his attempts to sell off their landmark property.

Lee will be sentenced later this month.
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Tokyo's 'oldest man' had been dead for 30 years

He was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo - but when officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday, they uncovered mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed.

Mr Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

They grew suspicious when they went to honour Mr Kato at his address in Adachi ward, but his granddaughter told them he "doesn't want to see anybody".

Police are now investigating the family on possible fraud charges.

Welfare officials had tried to meet Mr Kato since early this year. But when they went to visit, family members repeatedly chased them away, according to Tomoko Iwamatsu, an Adachi ward official.

Authorities grew suspicious and sought an investigation by police, who forced their way into the house on Wednesday.

They discovered a mummified body, believed to be Kato, lying in his bed, wearing underwear and pyjamas, covered with a blanket.

Mr Kato's relatives told police that he had "confined himself in his room more than 30 years ago and became a living Buddha," according to a report by Jiji Press.

But the family had received 9.5 million yen ($109,000) in widower's pension payments via Mr Kato's bank account since his wife died six years ago, and some of the money had recently been withdrawn.

The pension fund had long been unable to contact Mr Kato.

"His family must have known he has been dead all these years and acted as if nothing happened. It's so eerie," said Yutaka Muroi, a Tokyo metropolitan welfare official.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10809128
 
It's not just British MPs who get creative with their expenses...

Ivor Callely claimed expenses on forged invoices... Taxpayer defrauded in phone scam
By Luke Byrne
Last updated at 3:35 AM on 1st August 2010

Ivor Callely used forged documents to claim almost €3,000 in Dáil expenses, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A two-month investigation into the Fianna Fáil senator’s expenses claims show he was paid the cash on foot of invoices indicating he had bought four mobile phones in five years from a north Dublin firm. But the MoS has established that the company, Business Communications Ltd, went bust over a decade before Callely’s claim. 8)

A former director told the MoS the invoices had not been generated by his company – and that Business Communications Ltd had never sold a mobile phone to Ivor Callely.
While Callely this weekend refused to comment on the damning revelations, they seem certain to spell the final chapter of his ignominious political career.

He has already been suspended from the Seanad for 20 days after the furore over his dodgy mileage claims. But faced with evidence that he pocketed taxpayers’ cash using forged invoices, even Taoiseach Brian Cowen is likely to have to accept that he must do what it takes to ensure Callely’s removal from public office.

The devastating evidence is contained in a series of detailed expenses claims submitted by Callely after he lost his Dáil seat in 2007. To help ease his disappointment, he was appointed to the Seanad by his friend, Bertie Ahern, but seemed to then set about claiming every penny he could in expenses from his time in the Dáil.

In November 2007, he submitted a claim to the Oireachtas Commission – which oversees members’ expenses – for almost €3,000 in expenses for mobile phones.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0vLO8LlNZ
 
Someone let snakes loose in his Dublin garden, I posted that on another thread.
 
rynner2 said:
Tokyo's 'oldest man' had been dead for 30 years

He was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo - but when officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday, they uncovered mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed.

Mr Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10809128
Click to expand...

Japan police arrest relatives of dead 'centenarian'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11107798

Birthday cake, file image Officials had planned a birthday celebration to honour Mr Kato but they found him dead

Police in Japan have arrested the daughter and granddaughter of a centenarian believed to be Tokyo's oldest man whose mummified remains were found last month.

The pair are suspected of fraudulently receiving the dead man's pension.

Records said he was 111 years old, it is thought he had probably been dead for 30 years.

The case triggered a nationwide check that revealed nearly 200 centenarians registered as alive were missing.
Continue reading the main story
Related stories

* Centenarians 'missing' in Japan
* Tokyo's 'oldest woman' is missing
* Tokyo's 'oldest man' was a corpse

The police have been investigating the case of Sogen Kato ever since his mummified remains were found last month in the Tokyo house he shared with his family.

His 81-year-old daughter, Michiko Kato, was arrested on suspicion of illegally receiving about 9m yen ($106,000) in pension payments, according to Japanese media reports.

Her daughter, Tokimi Kato, 53, was also arrested.
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Celebrity Chinese monk on the run from the authorities
One of China's most famous monks, who counts some of the country's most senior figures among his followers, is on the run after being exposed as a fraud.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 9:04AM BST 03 Sep 2010

Chinese government officials said that “Supreme Master” Li Yi, a 41-year-old Taoist monk, had faked a long list of improbable super powers.

Mr Li had claimed that he could sit cross-legged under water for over two hours because of his unique Taoist abilities and that he could withstand 220 volts of electricity circulating through his body.

However, officials at the state religious authority in the central Chinese city of Chongqing suggested that the monk was in fact sitting inside a sealed glass box underwater, with enough air inside to last him for the duration of the performance.

The monk also said he had been a visiting professor at Cambridge University, a status which the university denies. His claims of being a speaker at China's most prestigious college, Peking University, were also refuted.

Mr Li used his fame to sell expensive health and philosophy programmes to his 30,000 followers at the Shaolong Taoist Temple near Chongqing which cost up to 9,000 yuan (£900) a week.

Ma Yun, the founder of the Alibaba commerce website, Fan Xinman, the wife of the head of CCTV, China's state television, and the actress Faye Wong all tried Mr Li's courses. However, Mr Ma and Ms Wong have since denied being "disciples" of the monk.

Mr Li's dramatic fall from grace has now seen him accused of ignoring court rulings to repay over £1 million of debt and taxes.

Attempts to contact him or his two temples were unsuccessful and he is rumoured to have disappeared after resigning as vice president of China's Taoist Association earlier this week. Courses at his temples have been suspended by the government.

Mr Li won early recognition for a failed attempt in 1993 to find the "Wild Man" of Hubei, a Yeti described as "half man, half animal" who was sighted repeatedly in the mountainous forests of the region.

By 1998, he had become a successful entrepreneur, but is alleged to have failed to pay back a loan of ten million yuan (£1 million) taken by one of his companies, Runda Poverty Relief. Southern Metropolis Daily, one of China's few investigative newspapers, also accused Mr Li of raping a student, although the government has said there is no evidence for the claim.

Chongqing's Propaganda department has now ordered Chinese media to cease all reporting on Mr Li. Wang Zuoan, the head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, told the Chinese media that monks should not seek "the fairy tale of overnight fame" and instead exhibit more self-discipline.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ities.html
 
Cornish man jailed for repeatedly selling fake business

A man from Newquay has been jailed for four years after selling a fake business over and over again.

William MacIntyre, 54, sold the business, which consisted of an electronic database which cost him £430, for up to £40,000 at a time.

He was jailed at Plymouth Crown Court after admitting three counts of fraud and three of deception, costing victims a total of £137,500.

Another 34 charges were not pursued but were ordered to be left on file.

The offences dated from 2003 to last December.

MacIntyre attempted to impress potential customers with his luxury four-bedroomed seaside home, and was described as living a tycoon lifestyle with fast cars, speedboats and exotic properties, the court heard.

Defending, Michael Hubbard QC, said Macintyre was suffering from multiple sclerosis which would make his time in prison difficult and painful.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11208033
 
A bit of a mystery here:

Winston Churchill 'letters' to be sold for £20,000 'are completely spurious'
Two letters purportedly written by Winston Churchill which are being auctioned with an estimate of £20,000 have been described as “completely spurious” by an expert.
By Caroline Gammell
Published: 6:40AM BST 09 Sep 2010

The letters, from the end of 1944 and beginning of 1945, are being sold at Barbers Auctioneers in Woking, Surrey, on Monday.

The author begs the recipient to return to work because “I can’t run this show without you” – said by the seller to be a reference to the Second World War.

It is claimed that Churchill wrote the letters to Vivienne June Rutton Boyce, who was said to be his personal assistant. They are signed “A. Conners” or “AC” – apparently a nickname the prime minister gave himself.

Sir Martin Gilbert, a leading authority on Churchill, said there was no record of Mrs Rutton Boyce – who was known as Lady Lisle during the war – having worked for Churchill.

“The letters are completely spurious,” he said. “That it is not Winston Churchill’s handwriting. He never wrote in that type of ink, or on that type of paper. I have never heard of this pseudonym.”

The letters were brought to auction by Mrs Rutton Boyce’s stepson Tony Rutton Boyce. “They are absolutely genuine,” Mr Rutton Boyce, 79, from Cobham, Surrey, said.
“There is no reason why I would make it up.”

Richard Langworth, a historian and Churchill expert in the US, and Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archive Centre, in Cambridge, also cast doubt on the letters.

Mr Packwood said: “Maybe the legend has got twisted in the family and the letters are genuine, but were actually written by someone else.”

Heather Cannon, from Barbers, said she would contact Sir Martin and add his opinion to the description of the lot. “The sale is still going ahead, they are still being sold and the estimate is still the same,” she said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... rious.html
 
More than 230,000 Japanese centenarians 'missing'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11258071

Ageing Tokyo residents use dumbbells on Respect for the Aged Day Japanese citizens are famous for their longevity

More than 230,000 elderly people in Japan who are listed as being aged 100 or over are unaccounted for, officials said following a nationwide inquiry.

An audit of family registries was launched last month after the remains of the man thought to be Tokyo's oldest were found at his family home.

Relatives are accused of fraudulently receiving his pension for decades.

Officials have found that hundreds of the missing would be at least 150 years old if still alive.

The Justice Ministry said some of those unaccounted for may have died as long ago as World War II, possibly during the post-war turmoil.

Others may have emigrated without reporting their status to local authorities, or relatives simply did not report the deaths.
Continue reading the main story
Related stories

* Tokyo's 'oldest woman' is missing
* Tokyo's 'oldest man' was a corpse

The inquiry followed the discovery of the mummified remains of Sogen Kato, who was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo.

However, when officials went to congratulate him on his 111th birthday, they found his 30-year-old remains, raising concerns that the welfare system is being exploited by dishonest relatives.

Reports said he had received about 9.5m yen ($109,000; £70,000) in pension payments since his wife's death six years ago, and some of the money had been withdrawn.

Japan has one of the world's fastest ageing societies, with one in five over the age of 65.

In the past 10 years the number of centenarians has more than tripled to 40,399 - 87% of whom are women, according to the latest government figures.

But the discoveries have cast severe doubt on the accuracy of the numbers.
Click to expand...
 
rynner2 said:
Celebrity Chinese monk on the run from the authorities
One of China's most famous monks, who counts some of the country's most senior figures among his followers, is on the run after being exposed as a fraud.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 9:04AM BST 03 Sep 2010

Chinese government officials said that “Supreme Master” Li Yi, a 41-year-old Taoist monk, had faked a long list of improbable super powers.
rulings to repay over £1 million of debt and taxes.
Click to expand...

More on this Terrible Taoist

Taoist priest with 'magical' powers accused of fraud
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/wor ... 30925.html
CLIFFORD COONAN in Tianjin

Tue, Sep 14, 2010

A CELEBRITY Taoist priest, Li Yi, abbot of Shaolong Temple at Jinyun Mountain in Chongqing and supposedly possessed of magical powers, has been accused of fraud and told to stop recruiting students to his school.

Since setting himself up as a Grand Master, Mr Li had gathered a following of 30,000 disciples, including big names such as software giant Jack Ma of Alibaba and singer Faye Wong. He was a regular fixture on TV.

Taoism is an ancient tradition of Chinese philosophy and religious belief, some 2,000 years old, concerned with unity and opposites, Yin and Yang. Harmony is a big element.

Mr Li is accused of faking “miracles” such as pretending to be submerged under water for two hours, and using his heels to breathe. He was later found to be inside a glass container, with a less than mystical air supply.

The abbot is also accused of using massive 220 volts of electricity to cure the sick, which authorities fear could be harmful.

This kind of cult is increasingly popular in China, which, as a communist state, is fiercely secular but where lingering affection for traditional beliefs, combined with a modern desire for spiritual relevance in a materialist society, has seen a revival in various beliefs, all marshalled by the Communist Party. This has benefited Taoism, and other organised beliefs such as Buddhism and Christianity. But it has encouraged its fair share of fakes.

The Religious Affairs Bureau of Beibei district had started an investigation after a flurry of online accusations of charlatanism, the Xinhua news agency reported.

He was even accused of rape at one point, though that accusation proved groundless, officials said.

Mr Li set up the temple with local government approval three years ago, one year after he became a Taoist and charged 9,000 yuan (€1,034) for a week-long course. Previously Mr Li had run a circus after graduating from school.

Fang Zhouzi, a commentator known in China for exposing religious frauds, said the reason why such charlatans become popular is because people are obsessed with their health; the public health service is poor; and there is a general ignorance about science and group psychology.

Mr Li, whose real name is Li Jun, also rose to become vice president of the Chinese Taoist Association, though he has since resigned that position. His current whereabouts are unknown. Mr Li is only the latest religious figure to be exposed as a fraud.

Earlier this year, Zhang Wuben, (47), a once-popular Chinese diet therapist, was found by officials to have faked his nutritionist qualifications. He said mung beans and aubergine could cure diabetes and even cancer.
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Fake cancer woman starved herself and shaved hair for two years to con friends and family out of thousands dollars
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:40 AM on 16th September 2010

A fraudster conned well-wishers out of thousands of dollars by falsely claiming she had terminal cancer.
Ashley Anne Kirilow shaved her head and eyebrows and even starved herself to look like a chemotherapy patient during the two-year scam.
In a final insult to genuine cancer sufferers, the 23-year-old claimed she had just months to live and had 'Won't quit' tattooed on her knuckles.

But now Ashley has finally admitted her illness is a hoax and is set to appear in court in Canada on fraud charges.
The con artist claims she did it to get noticed and persuade her estranged parents to get back together.

She said: 'I know what I did was wrong but I was trying to get noticed.
'I was trying to get my family back together and I just didn't want to feel like I was nothing anymore.
'It went wrong, the story spread like crazy and then suddenly it seemed like the whole world knew about it.'

In late 2008 Ashley was treated for a benign lump in her breast but after the procedure she started telling friends she had breast cancer.
During the following months the compulsive liar went on to tell people she had brain cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer and ovarian cancer, at various stages and in various combinations.

In 2009 Ashley then called her father, Mike, who she hadn't seen for four years since the breakdown of her parents marriage.
Kirilow told him that she needed a bone marrow transplant or she would be dead in six months.
Her father was immediately suspicious.
He said: 'I had the feeling something wasn't right but I didn't feel I could say anything straight away.
'I spent the next 10 days trying to reach her and when I couldn't I left her a message saying I would tell the police to knock her door down.
'She called me back straight away and shouted at me to stay out of her life.
'I didn't hear from her again for more than a year.'

In the meantime Kirilow also contacted her biological mother, Cindy Edwards, who she had had little contact with since she was 14, to say she needed money for chemotherapy.
Her mother also smelled a rat. She said: 'The only thing she ever wanted from me was money, and I couldn't ever give it to her.
'I was crying but I told her she was beautiful and that chemo was fully covered in Canada and she would be fine.
'Ashley then got angry and told me she was just calling to tell me before she died that I was the worst mother in the world.
'She was always desperate for attention and as a child always wanted to be a princess.
'She just wanted more and more no matter what we gave her.'

After failing to get money from her parents Ashley went on to convince her friend, Adam Catley, of her fatal illness and he let her live rent free with him for several months before organising a benefit at his father's pub.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... z0zgfbhC00
 
Acid attack victim admits injuries were self-inflicted
An American woman who gained sympathy after she claimed a random assailant threw acid in her face has admitted that her injuries were self-inflicted.
Published: 7:00AM BST 17 Sep 2010

Clifford Cook, police chief in the Washington state town of Vancouver, said Bethany Storro admitted under police questioning to fabricating a story about the attack, in which she suffered severe burns.

Mr Cook said he did not know a motive for Ms Storro's actions, but added she is "very remorseful."

The police chief said that "during the course of the investigation, several discrepancies began to emerge regarding the alleged attack," leading police to search her home and interview her.

"During the interview, Ms Storro admitted the injuries were self-inflicted," Mr Cook said.

Police had been seeking a black woman with a ponytail after Ms Storro described the Aug. 30 attack. She had said the woman asked her, "Hey, pretty girl, want something to drink?" then threw acid in her face.

After the incident, Ms Storro made several media appearances, but a planned interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was cancelled. She said she had received correspondence from people around the world concerned for her well being and donations.

Vancouver police Commander Marla Schuman said detectives were working on a way to return any donated funds.

She said the alleged attack had stretched the resources of Vancouver's small police department.

"It's been hundreds of hours," she said about the time invested in the investigation. "It really took a toll on the department and the resources that we have."

Mr Cook said any decision to charge Ms Storro with a crime would be left to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

"She is extremely upset," Ms Schuman said. "In many ways, this got bigger than she expected."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... icted.html
 
I'd say she was probably reasonably attractive before the acid burns. Why on Earth would she do that to herself?
Perhaps she's one of those women who doesn't like all the attention she gets from men (or something).
 
Dead Sea Scrolls expert's son goes on trial over internet hoax

By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Saturday September 18 2010

The son of a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar has gone on trial in New York for allegedly trying to discredit his father's academic rival in an elaborate internet campaign.

Raphael Golb (50) was said to have been so angered by Prof Lawrence Schiffman (62) that he set up fake email accounts and websites wrongly accusing him of plagiarism.

The 2,000-year-old scrolls have shed light on Judaism and early Christianity.

Prof Schiffman, chairman of New York University's Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, has an ongoing disagreement with Mr Golb's father, Prof Norman Golb (72) of Chicago University, over the origins of the scrolls.

He is alleged to have sent fake emails, in Prof Schiffman's name, to his students and colleagues at New York University.

The emails directed recipients to internet postings that accused Prof Schiffman of stealing material from Prof Golb.

In the emails the supposed "Prof Schiffman" requested help in covering up the purported intellectual theft. Some emails read: "This is my career at stake."

Mr Golb has pleaded not guilty to charges including identity theft. If convicted he faces up to four years in jail.
Click to expand...
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/am ... 42946.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My email pal in America just received this email.
Attn: Email Holder,

Congratulation! You have won The UK National Lottery the sum of ?520,731.00 (Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty One British Pounds) only. For more information kindly open the attached file.

Note that the processing documentation have being completed for payment kindly contact the paying bank immediately.

Regards,
ESSEX COURT CHAMBERS
BARRISTER DAVID CRAIG
24 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3EG
Email: [email protected]
Click to expand...

I replied
I hope you deleted the attached file unopened. Lots of nasties can get into
your computer otherwise.
At best it'll be a con, trying to get you to put cash up front to
'facilitate' the transferral of funds.

It doesn't read right at all. It doesn't address you by name, nor does it
mention the company that actually runs the lottery (Camelot). Even if
lawyers needed to be involved, it would probably be a solicitor, not a
barrister.

But the email seems to have taken the name of a real barrister!
http://www.essexcourt.net/members/barrister.asp?b=426
You could try contacting him via the links there - NOT by the addy in the
email, which uses a subtly different domain (essexcourtt.net instead of
essexcourt.net). He might be very interested!
Click to expand...
As dodgy as a nine bob note! ;)
 
Catch me if you can: After eight years on the run, first picture of elusive airport fraudster Andrew Gradon
By Paul Sims
Last updated at 6:58 PM on 19th September 2010

To those he duped, Andrew Gradon was a smartly-dressed businessman who had missed his flight and was desperate to get home.
When soon afterwards he asked them for their help to rebook his ticket, they gladly obliged.
On each occasion they gave him between 30 and 50 euros, took a yahoo email address and telephone number and wished him good luck.

The truth, however, was that Gradon, 37, was not stranded. Nor was he desperate to get home.
In just eight years, in 38 countries, he has conned hundreds of unsuspecting victims with the very same story, raking in £15,000 a month.
Despite a Europe-wide investigation led by Interpol his identity, however, has remained a mystery.

Officers could not even be sure that Gradon was his real name - until now.
After almost a decade on the run he has finally been unmasked after a quick-thinking victim took a photograph of his passport.
Police, who only had an artist’s impression of Gradon, say he is now one step closer to being caught.
Swedish businessman Tommy Forsell, the chief executive of a graphics company in Stockholm, took the photograph after giving him 40 Euros (£33) two weeks ago.
‘I was in Frankfurt Airport’s Terminal One when he came up to me and told me he had missed his flight and needed 34 Euros to rebook,’ Mr Forsell, 57, said yesterday.
‘He said his bank was closed for the day and he needed to get home to Newcastle because his wife was waiting for him.
‘He wasn’t wearing a tie but he had on some kind of jacket and he looked a bit stressed - he did a really good role, he was very convincing.
‘My company has worked with people from Newcastle, so when he said that’s where he was from I wanted to help, no problem.
‘I handed over 40 Euros and he was going to send me contact details, and I took a photo of his passport.
‘When he left I felt sorry for him and hoped he got home.’

It was only later at home, when Tommy searched for Gradon’s name on the internet, that he learned he’d been duped.
He added: ‘The photo is a good likeness, although his face is a little bit thinner now.
Maybe now people will recognise him so he will have to stop.’

In the last year alone Gradon has targeted victims - mostly businessmen and women carrying briefcases - in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Prague, Cologne, Hanover, Bremmen, Lyon, Sicily and Barcelona.

One victim, Richard Wilson said: ‘I was at Nice airport to catch a flight to London and some guy came up to me.
‘He had just missed his flight and needed some money for a supplement to go back on the next flight.
‘I asked him for an address, he said it was somewhere near Newcastle, and there was an email address.
‘I gave him some money and went to get my plane. Later I tried this e-mail address and got an undeliverable response.
‘It’s obviously wrong, it’s fraud, but how you get rid of him I don’t know.’

Each time Gradon promises to pay the cash back and says he is from Sacriston, County Durham, giving contact details.
But when his victims try to contact him via email addresses or telephone numbers he has given them, they realise they have been conned.
The address dates back to 2000. The new homeowners have since been plagued by hundreds of letters over the years from people asking for their money back.

It is understood that Gradon trained as a chef but has never held down a job for long.
He once lived in Prague with a jazz musician, but returned to County Durham for a short time at Christmas in 2008, after telling family members he had been beaten and mugged in Germany.
Soon after, he left his job in a pub kitchen and disappeared.

A man claiming to be Gradon taunted his victims on an internet forum last year, claiming that he could rake in 200 euros in just 20 minutes.
He adds: ‘You got ripped off and can’t handle it. At least I give you the choice to say yes or no. Not like some people out there.’
But with his photograph the game could soon be up.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z103bXaVs8
 
Music teacher caught out after claiming to be ill and boasting about piano tour online
A music teacher who claimed to be off sick was caught out after boasting about her piano tour of the US on her website.
By Laura Roberts
Published: 8:30AM BST 02 Oct 2010

Helen Smith was banned from teaching for two years after it was revealed that she received full sick pay while she was in fact touring the East Coast of America.

The General Teaching Council also found that she had lied about her qualifications to her employers at Abbeydale Grange School in Sheffield claiming to have a PhD and an MPhil.

Mrs Smith, 38, claimed she was unwell over two weeks from October 25 2007. She had previously asked for the time off work but had been refused by her employers.

She then wrote on a website advertising her services as music teacher: "In October 2007 Helen toured around the East Coast of the USA, performing at Steinway in both New York and Naples Florida."

She was discovered after colleagues at the school saw the website and connected the dates. She resigned in 2008 after being confronted by her employer.

Mrs Smith had claimed to have a PhD from "Buxton University" which was found to be an unaccredited online vendor of qualifications by the GTC panel.

Her certificate from the University of Hull was also found to be a fake after it emerged that it bore the signatures of a vice-chancellor, principal and academic registrar who were not in post at the time.

The musician had also made false claims on a music tuition website that she had graduated from the Royal College of Music and that she had been awarded a scholarship - which was later found not to exist.

Liz Nicholas, business manager at Abbeydale Grange, said: "We made our case to the GTC and are pleased with their decision. We felt that she definitely didn't live up to the standards that the general public expect from the teaching profession."

Mrs Smith, who did not attend the hearing, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.

Dr Nadine Bristow, GTC panel chair, said: "We find that Mrs Smith did act dishonestly both by reference to the ordinary standards of reasonable, honest people and that she herself must have realised by those standards that her conduct was dishonest."

The panel noted that Mrs Smith's personal website continues to refer qualifications "she could not substantiate" including her claim to have attended the RCM.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/ed ... nline.html
 
Silly woman!
She's practically unemployable now.

Mind you, I can kind of understand why she felt the need to inflate her qualifications. I give you the example of my own sister (also a music teacher) who is better qualified than this woman (i.e. actually has a good degree in music), and the most she can get at the moment is a teaching assistant post.
 
You see, this is why I don't use my real name, or tell people at work what name I do use.
 
Some people are so stupid, gullible and/or greedy they're practically begging to be ripped off. The was no possible way that this was legitimate to start with, if someone offers you stuff in this setting, it's got to be knicked in the first place.

BTW. Why does it usually seem to be potatoes in this kind of scam?

Hunts Post

Fraudster strikes in Huntingdon
Tuesday, 5 October, 2010
11:49 AM
POLICE are investigating a fraud in which a man and a woman were sold what they believed was a laptop computer but was actually a bag of potatoes.
The incident took place between 12.30pm and 1.15pm on Tuesday, September 28 opposite the Savers shop in High Street, Huntingdon.

The victims were approached by a man who offered them a laptop computer for sale. He took them to a car park at the rear of Domino’s Pizza where they viewed the laptop in a rucksack and agreed to buy it, along with an iPhone.

They then visited Lloyds back and withdrew £650 in cash before handing it to the fraudster who took them back to the car park and handed them the rucksack.
However, when the victims later looked in the rucksack they discovered only a bag of potatoes and some cardboard.
The man is described as white, about 30, more than six foot tall, with reddish brown hair and stubble. He wore light blue jeans.
PC Lorna Owen, from Huntingdon Police Station, said: “I am appealing for anyone with information about who this man might be to contact police. I would also urge people to only purchase goods from genuine companies and make sure they know exactly who they’re buying from.”

INFORMATION: Anyone with information should contact PC Owen or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
Click to expand...
 
Since there's time date and location, I don't think this one's an urban legend. However, I don't think it happened quite the way the mugs told it. They either thought they were getting bent gear and the meeting was pre-arranged, or it was a drugs deal and they got burned...neither story is one you could go to the police with.

However, they could just be incredibly stupid.
 
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