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Frauds, Scams & Cons (General; Miscellaneous)

£100,000 painting stolen from Kensington home in scam

A £100,000 painting, items of jewellery and bank cards have been stolen from the London home of an 89-year-old woman.
A telephone caller told the victim her bank cards had been used in a crime and advised her to call her bank.
But he did not hang up and she was then told someone would come on Saturday and collect her cards and valuable items.

A man came to her South Kensington home and took the painting, 'The Comet of 1858' by Samuel Palmer, and jewellery.
The victim has described the man as being in his 30s, about 5ft 10in tall, with dark hair and an English accent.

A Met spokesman said: "Neither your bank nor the police would ever ring you and state that they are coming to your home to pick up your card, so never hand it over to anyone who comes to collect it."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25802145
 
Barclays refunds grandmother's £68k following vishing scam

A grandmother who was tricked out of £68,000 by conmen has spoken of her "delight" at getting her money back.
Jenny Parkinson, 65, from Christchurch, Dorset, was duped into calling what she thought was her bank's fraud unit and moving funds to two "secure" Barclays accounts, which were then emptied.
After she appealed to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), Barclays agreed to a "goodwill" refund.
Police are investigating the "vishing" - voice phishing - scam.

Mrs Parkinson said she had received a phone call in June from a man claiming to be from Tesco Bank, who said her card could have been fraudulently used.
She said she had told the caller she also banked with Santander and he advised her to check her accounts by calling her bank.

FSO investigators said that while Mrs Parkinson had put the phone down but the caller did not hang up, so the line had remained open.
As a result, when she dialled the number for Santander, a different man was already on the other end of the line and claimed to be from the bank's fraud department.
He gave her two account numbers and sort codes and she transferred her savings online while he remained on the phone.

Checks with Santander later revealed the money had been paid into Barclays accounts and withdrawn.
A Santander spokesman said the bank would never ask a customer to transfer funds.

Mrs Parkinson appealed to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for help in September and Barclays agreed to refund her as a "gesture of goodwill".
The 65-year-old said she thought she would "have to learn to live without my life's savings".
"I now feel so much for people who are victims of crime - I am so fortunate.
"There have been very dark moments but it's absolutely incredible.
"I've got my retirement back on track."

FSO spokesman Martyn James said he could not comment on Mrs Parkinson's case but added that any complaint was dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

He said the scam had been "convincing" and called for action by both telecoms companies to remedy the flaw in hanging up phone lines and banks to enforce more checks on large money transfers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-25986699
 
'Japanese Beethoven' admits he is a fraud
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26039226

Mamoru Samuragochi

Mamoru Samuragochi, now 50, completely lost his hearing aged 35
A deaf composer who has been dubbed "Japan's Beethoven" has admitted hiring someone else to write his music for nearly two decades.

Mamoru Samuragochi shot to fame in the mid-1990s and is most famous for his Hiroshima Symphony No 1, dedicated to those killed in the 1945 atomic blast.

The 50-year-old has now confessed he has not composed his own music since 1996.

The real composer of the musician's "hits" has not been formally named.

According to his now defunct website, Samuragochi was taught how to play the piano by his mother when he was four and began playing Beethoven and Bach when he was 10.

He made his first breakthrough creating music for video games including Resident Evil and Onimusha.

He completely lost his hearing when he was 35 but continued to compose music, apparently relying on his "absolute pitch".

His Hiroshima Symphony No 1, completed in 2003, became a major classical music hit, selling more than 100,000 copies in Japan.

It went on to become an anthemic tribute known informally as the "Symphony of Hope", after Samuragochi was filmed meeting survivors in the tsunami-battered Tohoku region in 2011.

'Mentally distressed'
Apologising on his behalf, Samuragochi's solicitor said the musician was "deeply sorry as he has betrayed fans and disappointed others".

"He knows he could not possibly make any excuse for what he has done. He is mentally distressed and not in a condition to properly express his own thoughts".

Japanese broadcaster NHK quoted Samuragochi saying: "I started hiring the person to compose music for me around 1996, when I was asked to make movie music for the first time.

Daisuke Takahashi
Daisuke Takahashi is due to compete for Japan at the Sochi Games
"I had to ask the person to help me for more than half the work because the ear condition got worse."

It is believed Samuragochi paid for the commissions while giving the ideas for his work to the other composer.

"I've been told that there are certain circumstances that make it hard for the person [who composed the works] to come out in public," his lawyer said.

"Samuragochi has therefore come to describe himself as the sole composer."

Although the identity of the "ghost". composer has not been formally identified, Japanese media has named him as music teacher Aragaki Takashi.

Japanese Winter Olympics hopeful, figure skater Daisuke Takahashi, has also been caught up in the scandal as his programme includes a dance to Samuragochi's Sonatina for Violin - also not penned by the musician.

Nippon Columbia, Samuragochi's record company, said it was "flabbergasted and deeply infuriated" by his revelation.

"We had been assured by him that he himself composed the works," it said.
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A woman pretended she was a senior Chinese Communist with magical powers to dupe victims out of thousands of pounds
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 39809.html

Ms Yang adopted a 'superhuman' alter-ego to trick her lovers out of money
KASHMIRA GANDER Author Biography Wednesday 19 February 2014

A woman in China is on trial after she conned victims out of thousands of pounds by adopting the “superhuman” alter-ego of a made-up senior Communist Party member and police officer who could turn invisible.

The 54-year-old, known only as Ms Yang, persuaded her two female lovers and a pensioner that she was a “superhuman” police officer who worked for Interpol, and the Chinese Ministry of Finance, according to Beijing News.

She was found out in August last year when one of the lovers uncovered that 'Mr Li' was in fact a woman.

The scam began when Ms Yang was in need of money and allegedly faked documents to gain access to an internet forum for middle-aged singletons where she pretended to be 'Mr Li'.

Her first victim, 48-year-old Ms Zhang who was described by the newspaper as ‘superstitious’, believed ‘Mr Li’ when he said he was able to turn invisible and worked as a high-flying police officer and civil servant.

To cement her story, Ms Yang cut off her hair and adopted a deep voice. The pair soon moved in together and Ms Yang fooled Ms Zhang into believing ‘Mr Li’ used his magic powers to help Interpol.

Having gained Ms Zhang’s trust, Ms Yang persuaded her to send her alter-ego 120,000 yuan (£11,840) to “receive international friends” after ‘Mr Li’ lost his wallet.

Ms Yang then fled their home and actually vanished out of Ms Zhang’s life.

When Ms Zhang contacted the Ministry of Finance to track down ‘Mr Li’ she was told that they had never heard of him.

Meanwhile, Ms Yang had moved on to a 52-year-old named Ms Song whose laptop she stole. She also targeted a pensioner who lost £400.

The story fell apart when Ms Zhang approached the police looking for 'Mr Li' only to be told that he was, in fact, a 54-year-old woman who had previously spent 11 years in jail for fraud.

Ms Yang will now go on trial for the second time, according to prosecutors from Shijingshan in western Beijing.
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Fraudster Lisa Marie Burch jailed for three-and-a-half years over $65,000 con
AAP FEBRUARY 28, 2014 3:23PM
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western ... 6841125920

A fraudster who conned people out of more than $65,000 by claiming to be a lawyer for a justice organisation and a family court lawyer has been jailed for three-and-a-half years. Picture: File image Source: News Limited

Lisa Marie Burch — dubbed 'Lisa the Liar' by local media — was sentenced in the Perth District Court today for 29 dishonesty charges including fraud causing a detriment, fraudulent falsification of records and fabricating evidence with intent to mislead.

In one case from December 2012, she pretended to be involved with John Button's Innocence Project WA, convincing people to deposit money into her bank account under the guise that it was covering legal fees in a bid to prove the innocence of family or friends.

Burch created fraudulent documents in the name of the project and falsely signed legal documents, receiving almost $29,000 from the scheme.

In another case from November 2012, Burch purported to be a lawyer acting for people in family court matters using a falsified law firm document and pocketed more than $34,000.

In a third case from last June, Burch pretended to be a family court lawyer for a victim who had moved from Sydney to Perth and received $2700 from the woman.

Burch has a long history of fraud, which includes faking vaginal cancer, even going to the extent of shaving her head and telling her own children she was dying.

Under the name Lisa Marie Mackay, she forged hospital reports to raise funds for special cancer treatment and received donations after publicising her fake plight in the media.

She was sentenced to 28 months in prison, which was when she met Mr Button, who was wrongfully convicted of the manslaughter of his girlfriend, Rosemary Anderson, in 1963.

Mr Button founded the Innocence Project WA after his 40-year fight for justice resulted in his conviction being overturned in 2002.
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A particularly nasty one:

'You have cancer' cruel hoax emails sent to people in Cornwall
7:00am Tuesday 18th March 2014 in News .

Cornish people are among thousands sent hoax emails suggesting they have cancer.
The messages that look like they are from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is suspected to be a scam.
It says the contents are likely to be distressing and has reported the hoax to the police.

Sir Andrew Dillon, the chief executive of NICE, said: "A spam email purporting to come from NICE is being sent to members of the public regarding cancer test results.
"This email is likely to cause distress to recipients since it advises that 'test results' indicate they may have cancer.
"This malicious email is not from NICE and we are currently investigating its origin. We take this matter very seriously and have reported it to the police."

NICE adds: "Please be assured that this email is not from NICE and we are currently investigating its origin. If you have received the email, do not open the attachments."

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/11 ... ll/?ref=mr
 
This is well OTT:

Tracy Johnson given cold weather payments while globetrotting, court told

A benefits cheat living a life "hard-working taxpayers could only dream of" received cold weather payments on her travels overseas, a court has heard.
Tracy Johnson, 52, said she suffered from agoraphobia, was "afraid of other people" and had not left the UK.
But Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard her travel diary described Buenos Aires as "so magical - like a new lover".

She is accused of changing her address to her mother's home in Powys to claim benefits. She denies fraud.
The court heard Ms Johnson, of Frome, Somerset, had claimed that she had not left the UK for years and that her fears and illnesses left her a "prisoner at home".

But the prosecution claims she travelled the world writing travel guides, cookbooks and steamy novels while falsely claiming benefits of almost £50,000.
The defendant travelled to India, Spain and New York and in Argentina she set up her own tour company, Northwest Nomads.

The jury was told when in Goa, one of her postings on Facebook read: "I am one spoilt girl. Early lunch in the Himalaya Spa. Lunch here would be two weeks' wages in India."
Another diary entry reads: "1st thought. So relaxing, palm trees swaying. 2nd thought. People who come here and think it's India have made a big mistake - it's not like India it's like Miami with Saris."

Joanna James, prosecuting, read the defendant's profile from the LinkedIn business networking site to the jury in which she claimed to be an "author, photographer and tour director of Northwest Nomads from 2002 to the present time".
Another Facebook posting said: "If you are in Argentina get your hands on my favourite champagne bar none - it's pink and brut."

Ms James said: "Tracy Johnson was living the life that honest, decent, hard-working taxpayers could only dream of.
"It was absolute, blatant dishonesty,"

The court heard that Ms Johnson had claimed she needed physical and emotional support for agoraphobia, depression, hallucinations, anxiety, blackouts and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

She wrote on a form: "I have severe agoraphobia and am entirely housebound. I am too afraid to go out, I can't go into a shop or office, I am afraid of other people.
"I have panic attacks, can't breath, I hallucinate, my legs give way in panic.

etc...

The trial continues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26858062
 
Man jailed after lying on 1,000 NHS job applications

A man who made 1,000 applications using false details to get a job as a doctor has been jailed for 15 months.

Bai Bai Ahmed Kabia, 46, of Hathersage Gardens, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, was found guilty of 12 counts of fraud.

An investigation was launched when it was found a sample of applications contained misrepresentations over qualifications and employment history.

The judge at Newcastle Crown Court said his behaviour showed "breathtaking arrogance".

Kabia claimed to be registered as a doctor with the General Medical Council, to have been awarded an MSc from University College London and to be a member of the Royal College of Physicians - all of which was untrue.

'Powerful deterrent'
Kabia, who is stateless, had studied as a doctor in Russia and moved to the UK in 1994.

The court was told he trained as a podiatrist and worked for some time on a self-employed basis.

Last year, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust contacted NHS Protect after interviewing him for a role.

NHS Protect then issued an alert to trusts across England and Wales, requesting any information on job applications he submitted.

Dave Horsley, anti-fraud specialist with NHS Protect, said: "Dr Kabia submitted job applications that he knew to be false, trying to deceive his potential employers.

"Had he been successful, Dr Kabia's appointment would have given him direct access to treat patients.

"The custodial sentence reflects the seriousness of these offences and will serve as a powerful deterrent to others."
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-27350106
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Cambodian anti-trafficking campaigner Somaly Mam exposed as fraud

A Cambodian woman who for many years was the face of the country’s campaign against sex trafficking has resigned from the foundation that carries her name after allegations were made that parts of her often-told story were untrue.

Somaly Mam, whose foundation’s work was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s television shows and who shared platforms with the likes of Angelina Jolie, resigned from the Somaly Mam Foundation after the latest in a series of articles accusing her of inconsistencies appeared.

Among the claims she had made that were alleged to be untrue was that she was an orphan and had been abducted as a child. Doubts were also cast on an account about women being killed in a 2004 attack on her organisation’s offices in Phnom Penh. Questions have also been raised about claims that her teenage daughter was kidnapped and gang-raped in “revenge” for her anti-trafficking work.

Ms Mam is known around the world and her story was cited as a inspirational tale by everyone from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to Hillary Clinton. Her 2005 autobiography, The Road of Lost Innocence, became an international hit.

Ms Mam’s resignation came after her NGO, which has raised millions of pounds to fight sex-trafficking in South East Asia, hired lawyers to investigate her story following questions being raised by the media. The lawyers, Goodwin Procter LLP spent two months going through the NGO’s records and files. ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 54475.html
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‘Witch doctor’ faces jail for £1m con tricks

A “witch doctor” who conned vulnerable people into giving her £1m to pay for spiritual cures for their serious health problems is facing a substantial jail term, a judge said on Thursday.

Juliette D’Souza, 59, claimed the money would be hung from a magic tree in the Amazon rainforest, but actually spent it on antiques, jewellery, Louis Vuitton handbags, holidays, flights and renting flats in Hampstead, London.

She was found guilty yesterday of 23 counts of obtaining property by deception and fraud and is due to be sentenced today.

Judge Ian Karsten told her lawyer: “I am concerned with your client’s record of dishonesty, with the fact that she faces a substantial prison sentence.

“With this history of confidence trickery I really can’t rely on your client turning up tomorrow. She will have to be remanded in custody straight away.”

D’Souza claimed she had known Princess Diana and that she had cured John Cleese’s daughter of cancer. She also said she could introduce a young singer to Simon Cowell. However, in reality she was a convicted fraudster who had served time in prison.

In one case, a 41-year-old woman paid D’Souza £176,000 to help her conceive. When the woman did become pregnant, D’Souza told her to abort the baby, saying it was deformed.

In another, Sunday Times photographer Jocelyn Bain Hogg paid her £43,000 to help his mother, who was undergoing heart surgery. She told him that “his mother would die if he didn’t pay”.

A retired solicitor, Richard Collier-Wright, paid D’Souza £7,000 to try to cure him of leukaemia, while the mother of a 10-year-old boy with Down’s syndrome handed over £42,000 to deal with his behavioural problems.

The jury at Blackfriars Crown Court took just an hour on Thursday to find D’Souza guilty.

She showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 56722.html
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About a week back I got an email at work from a conference centre that we deal with in Newcastle warning us that they have not changed their bank details and that we should ignore any letter or emails claiming they had as it was part of a scam.

Yesterday I got a snail mail letter from a business in Middlesbrough saying more or less the same thing.

It must be the current 'in' scam.
 
Surrogate mother who claimed she miscarried Osama bin Laden's grandchild has been jailed

Woman jailed after faking pregnancies to rake in almost €19,000 from desperate couples

A surrogate mother from Bristol who claimed she miscarried the grandchild of Osama bin Laden has been jailed for three years and four months after faking pregnancies to rake in £15,000 from desperate couples.

Louise Pollard, 28, agreed to carry babies for two couples and pretended to inseminate herself before sharing the joyful news that she was expecting on three occasions.

Pollard then began "milking" the couples for thousands of pounds, claiming she required money after suffering a car crash, was behind on her rent and had been forced to move house.

Within days of the couples demanding proof that Pollard was pregnant, the mother-of-two pretended she had suffered a miscarriage - leaving them "heartbroken".

Bristol Crown Court heard Pollard's deception was uncovered when a pregnancy confirmation letter she sent one of her victims was found to be a forgery.

Blonde Pollard later admitted three charges of fraud by false representation relating to the faked pregnancies in March 2012, May 2012 and November 2012.

Judge Graham Cottle jailed Pollard, who sobbed in the dock, for three years and four months for her "brutal and heartless" actions.

"In about 2010, you achieved notoriety when agreeing to act as a surrogate mother for the son of Osama bin Laden," the judge said.

"Be those facts as they may, what this case is about is how you agreed firstly to be a surrogate mother for Mr and Mrs Barnett, a childless couple who had been trying unsuccessfully for many years to have a child."

Judge Cottle said Pollard's actions were "deliberate, sustained, callous acts" that had left both families devastated.

In 2010, Pollard appeared in national newspapers following her arrangement to carry a child for Omar bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, and his wife.

She had already completed two successful surrogacies but miscarried the Bin Laden pregnancy, the court heard.

In late 2011, Josephine and Keith Barnett contacted Pollard, who was registered as a potential surrogate mother, online, prosecutor Rosaleen Collins said.

On January 26 2012, Mr and Mrs Barnett met Pollard and agreed to pay her £20,000 to carry their child.

Pollard insisted she would carry out the artificial insemination herself as she did not want to undergo the procedure at a clinic.

"She did say that it was her ambition to be the most prolific surrogate mother in the country," Ms Collins added.

On February 22, the Barnetts travelled to Pollard's home in Bristol and she disappeared into a bedroom to carry out the artificial insemination before being paid £1,000.

She announced she was pregnant on March 10 and the Barnetts paid a further £2,600. But weeks later, on March 31, Pollard claimed she had suffered a miscarriage. ..

- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/eu ... sZemq.dpuf
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This guy has a brass neck.

Berlin airport hired fake engineer to design fire system

The man who designed a malfunctioning smoke extraction system at Berlin Brandenburg Airport – one of the reasons for the delayed airport opening – was not a trained engineer, German journalists revealed.

It’s still unclear how a person without engineering qualifications could hold a key position at Berlin’s new airport for around eight years, being entrusted with the designing of the fire safety system there.

Alfredo di Mauro, 52, was in the job from 2006 up to May 2014, when he was fired. The airport’s leadership explained his dismissal by "serious deficiencies" in the project di Mauro was engaged in, saying trust in him was "now finally broken."

In 2012, the opening of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) was canceled because of malfunctioning of the fire safety and smoke exhaust systems. The failures have still not been rectified.

Stern magazine said in its Tuesday’s exclusive report that di Mauro was not a qualified engineer, but only an engineering draftsman. Di Mauro said allegations of fraud on his part were “completely absurd” and explained the whole situation as a misunderstanding.

"I had business cards, where it stood,” di Mauro said in a statement. “That was a mistake. They have all taken me for an engineer. Because I have not contradicted that."

In an interview to Spreeradio, cited by the Local, Di Mauro said an engineering qualification “wasn’t necessary for the work we carried out.” ...
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http://rt.com/news/168508-berlin-airport-fake-engineer/
 
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Quite a few (still-standing, still in use) structures dating from Roman times were also designed by people with no engineering qualifications. Perhaps we should stop using them because of this?
 
Mythopoeika said:
Quite a few (still-standing, still in use) structures dating from Roman times were also designed by people with no engineering qualifications. Perhaps we should stop using them because of this?
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No. They are after all subject structual tests and in most cases their use is limited by law.

But now certain standards are expected. In days of yore barbers were also surgeons; imho that would not be acceptable now.

In Ireland you cannot practice as an architect, civil engineer, lawyer, accountant, doctor etc unless you hold certain basic qualifications. I suspect a similar regime is in place in the UK.

There is at least a prima facie case that his lack of qualifications contributed to the problems.
 
ramonmercado said:
But now certain standards are expected. In days of yore barbers were also surgeons; imho that would not be acceptable now.
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You're absolutely right. I wouldn't trust my doctor to cut my hair. :)
 
Mythopoeika said:
ramonmercado said:
But now certain standards are expected. In days of yore barbers were also surgeons; imho that would not be acceptable now.
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You're absolutely right. I wouldn't trust my doctor to cut my hair. :)
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:D

Sadly they are both dead now but best advice was never to read a novel by Vidal Sassoon or get your hair cut by Gore Vidal.
 
OneWingedBird said:
About a week back I got an email at work from a conference centre that we deal with in Newcastle warning us that they have not changed their bank details and that we should ignore any letter or emails claiming they had as it was part of a scam.

Yesterday I got a snail mail letter from a business in Middlesbrough saying more or less the same thing.

It must be the current 'in' scam.
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Yes, there are many of these doing the rounds at the moment, most of them seemingly originating from the same two or three people. Where I work we get a regular fraud alert and in the past weeks we've been told to be extra-vigilant about letters purporting to be from big companies changing their bank details.
 
I thought we already had a story about this woman, but I can't find it. But all these council-cheating fraudsters follow a pattern - it's just a question of how outrageous their claims are. It's the pockets of honest Council Tax payers they're picking.

'Agoraphobic' benefit cheat caught holidaying in Goa
Karen Trant is jailed for two years for stealing £130,000 and spending it on holidays and cosmetic surgery
5:07PM BST 25 Jul 2014

An 'agoraphobic' benefits cheat who stole £130,000 by claiming she was too scared to leave her house has been jailed for two years after she was caught holidaying in Goa and spending the money on cosmetic surgery.
Karen Trant, 51, pocketed disability handouts for 13 years by claiming she could not leave her home by herself, travel alone or go to unfamiliar places.

But officials began an investigation after coming across photos of her posing on an exotic beach, riding a horse and preparing for plastic surgery.
Plymouth Crown Court heard the she spent up to five months a year in the Indian party resort of Goa where she bought her own £14,000 holiday apartment.
She was also flying into the country for a string of cosmetic procedures including a tummy tuck, liposuction, teeth whitening – and work on her 'bingo wings'.

Trant admitted three counts of unlawful representation for obtaining benefits.
Sentencing her to 27 months in prison, Judge Paul Darlow said: "You extracted from the public purse £134,000 of benefits to which you were not entitled.
"You did so by misrepresentation from the outset. You chose to describe your behaviour as stupid – I choose to describe it as fraudulent."

The court heard Trant split from her husband in 1999 and applied for income support a month later, failing to disclose the large sums she received in their divorce settlement.

After making the first of numerous trips to Goa in 2001, she made more claims for housing and council tax support.
A year later she made a further claim for disability living allowance, claiming she was suffering from anxiety, depression and mood swings.

et bloody cetera...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... n-Goa.html
 
This makes me so angry :evil:

I work with the council trying to get the right help for autistic people. Glasgow City Council has a long term record of positive support for autism and the stitch in time plans really do work.

We do a lot of peer-to-peer support and offer help to other people with neurological difference - anything from ABI to all forms of dementia to certain forms of mental illness etc etc etc. After all, as a group of people there is bound to be someone who has a special interest in X, even if they can't reliably boil an egg (me!)

At the moment everyone is struggling and we realy do appreciate the council's efforts to have someone on call for crises. It's been cut from weekends however and we nearly missed the Common Wealth Games flotilla becuase I was on the phone with the police, trying to guide them onto one of us who had been on his normal walk and found himself in the middle of the games' crowds and noise. Then talking to him so he would accept help from the officers to be taken to a friend's house.

Brilliant stuff from the community support officers and he's now safe and recovering.

Pre financial crisis there was a duty officer on who call who would have co-ordinated it all and probably just gone to get him.

So this..... words fail me. This person thinks it's ok to steal from everyone.

Just...just.... just.... :evil:

Edit to add: sorry about the rant. Still hyper from it all :(
 
No need to apologise, the cheats don't only steal money from those who need it, they steal publicity as well. It gets so that we don't hear about the disadvantaged, only those who pulled the wool over the eyes of the authorities, and that creates a very false impression.
 
The struggles facing genuine needy cases are not the result of depredations by frauds, who are properly exposed to the pillory, but the cold-blooded and systematic dismantling of the Welfare State.

We can hardly use that phrase now, without being accused of living in the past.

The "false impressions," indicated by gncxx, are part of a process, which is well-documented. Attending the small-print has never bought many votes, however, so we get the agendas set out to entrap us.

:(

edit: "by frauds" preferred to "from frauds" - not that it makes much difference!
 
Hear hear :)

Fraud is a tiny percentage of the damage to the services, and could be reduced still further if the staff were not overburdened with needless processes imposed on them by governments trying to 'do something'.
 
garrick92 said:
The real agenda can be glimpsed in the Government-demanded literature put out by local councils, with a pie-chart telling taxpayers that something north of 60 per cent (from memory) is spent on "welfare" -- without providing sufficient granularity in the data to reveal that nearly all of that is on pensions and only a tiddly bit on JSA.
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I'm not clear what you're getting at here. Local Councils don't handle JSA or state pensions. Why would they put out literature about it?

Perhaps an example would help?
 
Man who led four separate lives admits to fraud of €250,000 in land deal

Conor Brannigan (41) was married, engaged to two others and had girlfriend in Poland

Wed, Jul 30, 2014, 00:05

A man who led four separate lives was in prison last night after admitting a massive fraud. Conor Brannigan was married with three children, was engaged separately to two other partners and had a girlfriend in Poland with another child.
Brannigan (41) from Stafford Hall, Silver St, Nenagh, Co Tipperary admitted defrauding his potential brother in law of €250,000 in a land deal.

He pleaded guilty to three separate charges of defrauding vet, James Hoare originally of Rooskey, Co Roscommon but now living in England. The offences were committed on dates in 2010 and 2011.

Detective Garda David McDonnell told Roscommon Circuit Criminal Court that Brannigan met Mr Hoare through the vet’s sister who was his girlfriend. At various times Brannigan told Mr Hoare that he was an accountant used to acting in land deals and later stated that he was a forensic accountant acting for a London-based venture capital company dealing in distressed properties.

Mr Hoare engaged him to buy a substantial plot of land in Co Roscommon and paid over three sums of €6,000, €25,000 and €219,000 to facilitate the purchase. ...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-an ... -1.1882036
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A fraudster with a plan so good he carried it out twice!

West Cornwall fraud suspect sought after shower box returned to B&Q filled with bricks: CCTV
8:00am Saturday 2nd August 2014

Police in West Cornwall have issued images of a fraud suspect after showers returned to B&Q stores for refunds were empty except for bricks and water bottles.
The allegations of fraud relate to incidents at B&Q stores located at Longrock near Penzance and Pool near Redruth, on Saturday, May 24.

A police spokesman said: "At around 1.00pm on Saturday, May 24 the offender attended the B&Q store at Penzance returning a shower which he stated was faulty. He received another one in replacement and left the store.
"On checking the boxed item staff found it to contain water bottles with the shower missing.

"At around 2.50pm later the same day the same man attended a B&Q store located at Pool and again obtained a refund for a shower.
"After the offender had left staff found the boxed item to contain a number of bricks."

The suspect is described as being a white man, aged in his 30’s, approximately 5’ 7” in height, medium build, with short hair shaved on the sides, with a slight beard and moustache. He wore blue jeans and a grey hoody.

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http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/11 ... TV/?ref=mr

The CCTV pics are quite good, so if he's local he should be recognised. And with at least three showers, he should smell quite clean! :D
 
Special Report - Web of lies: How a Spanish tech star fooled the world

(Reuters) - For nearly 10 years, Spanish internet company Let’s Gowex SA said it was making money by providing public wi-fi in cities around the world. Most of the contracts, it now emerges, never existed.

Instead Gowex chief Jenaro Garcia Martin used a series of tricks to fool company employees, investors and regulators. The discovery of the deceit last month crippled the company and undermined credibility in Spain’s stock market just as the country recovers from a four-year recession.

The 46-year old entrepreneur has been charged with financial crimes, including false accounting. Spain’s judicial system does not require a formal plea and Garcia Martin has not given one. But testifying before Spain's High Court on July 14, he admitted manipulating the company’s accounts and explained how he used a network of about 20 shell companies to generate a paper trail of fake business and fake contracts that he used to raise capital.

Interviews with the former tech star, Gowex employees and regulators, as well as court documents, show how some of the dodges behind his deception were surprisingly basic.

To help cover his tracks, Garcia Martin reported fake revenues from shell companies owned by relatives and his housekeeper among others, he told the court. Former Gowex staff told Reuters that he paid taxes on profits the company never made. Once, one ex-worker said, Spanish officials wanted to check a project where Gowex claimed to have provided public wi-fi using four-wheel drive cars. Garcia Martin used the Internet in his own car to make the project seem real.

“My goal was that within two or three years, when we could make the jump to the Nasdaq, that it would all come together," Garcia Martin told the court, according to audio and video recordings reviewed by Reuters. Garcia Martin said his falsifications were initially aimed at trying to cover up for losses incurred after making overdue payments to another firm that had sued Gowex for unpaid bills.

Now Gowex, once valued at more than $2 billion, has filed for bankruptcy; an investigating judge is examining if it has moved funds abroad. ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/ ... R420140814
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Women guilty of €26m pyramid scheme

A band of "greedy" women masterminded a £21m (€26m) get-rich-quick scheme — fleecing at least 10,000 victims. The group used mass e-mails and “champagne celebration nights” to encourage women to “beg, borrow or steal” £3,000 to invest in the scam. Victims were lured by the promise they would receive a £24,000 payout when they reached the top of their pyramid chart, with organisers promising they “could not lose”.

The scheme, called Give and Take (G&T), quickly spread from Bath and Bristol to Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Wales between May 2008 and April 2009. Committee members behind the scheme pocketed up to £92,000 each, while as many as 88% of their victims lost between £3,000 and £15,000. G&T, also known as Key to a Fortune, was kept under a veil of secrecy as members were forbidden from writing about it to protect the organisers. ...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/wome ... 87556.html
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