Author: comptroller

You Have a Car Problem Scam

This is a well known scam that targets single women in cars – either arriving back home or just parked in a quiet area or about to leave a multi storey car park.

The target is approached by a man with an East European accent who warns her of a problem with her car.

He points out something wrong at the back of the car – could be trailing wires, something that looks like it’s fallen off underneath the car etc. Anything the scammers can easily add to the car unseen.

While the first scammer keeps the woman occupied worrying about car problems, a second man appears and his job is to rifle the handbag on the passenger seat for credit and debit cards and notes. If there’s nothing valuable in the car or she is carrying her handbag – they either give up or snatch the bag.

Either way they typically get away with payment cards and cash.

A Surrey woman recently suffered this scam where she had just driven into her driveway and a man pointed out loose wires at the back of the car. The accomplice got her payment cards and stole £500. Luckily for her they also tried to take out £2,000 from her account but the bank blocked it.

Stay safe.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

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The Romance Fraud Crusader

One year ago, Anna Rowe was a mother-of-two living in Rough Common working as a teaching assistant in a primary school.

Anna, was the victim of an online romance fraud known as a catfish scam and she lost her job at the primary school.

She had been duped by a high-flying London lawyer who misrepresented himself on dating app Tinder to engage with her and then start a passionate 14-month relationship.

Anna, who had been looking for love, thought she had met the man of her dreams. He turned out to be married and still living with his wife but had nevertheless managed to weave a complex web of lies and deceptions.

She decided she had to warn others and launched a campaign to outlaw catfishing, which is the name for someone who creates a fake persona to trap someone.

She believes It’s really important to do so because the effect on people can be devastating.

After Anna found out the truth of her lover’s identity, she wound up in counselling and her decision to go public cost her the job in Faversham.

The man who deceived her had initially used an image of Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan as his profile picture before sending real ones to her. He called himself by a fake name, Antony Ray.

But when he stopped coming to see her, Anna needed to know why. With the help of a friend she discovered the awful truth and that she was not Antony’s only victim.

“He took advantage of my trust and took away my right to choose. Had I known, I would never have consented to a relationship with a married man, let alone a man who was actively having relations with multiple women simultaneously”.

“His behaviour was premeditated, yet the current law will not find his actions a criminal offence. That’s why I’m calling for creating fake profiles for the intent to use people for sex to be a crime.”

Anna has since spoken to politicians and police officers.

Her petition has received 43,500 signatures so far and has prompted a government Green Paper into catfish scams.

Anna’s story has been told around the globe. She has made TV and radio appearances and is determined to keep pressing on with the campaign.

Anna’s website is at https://catchthecatfish.com/

Good luck with your campaign, Anna

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

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Fake Event Tickets

Festivals, sports events and other big events attract a lot of attention and a lot of people wanting to visit and usually find accommodation as well Scammers can see these people as easy targets and target them with specific adverts for a popular event of any kind. .

This is most common with the huge events such as World Cup football but also applies to smaller events such as niche music festivals.

The scammers sometimes go to the trouble of creating realistic looking websites, advertising campaigns etc.

Action Fraud estimate that  people are losing more than £1.6 million per year to the perpetrators of these scams. The fraudsters may sell fake tickets, fake travel arrangements, fake accommodation or all of these things.

If you’re travelling to a big sports event or festival etc. make very sure that the tickets you buy are valid. It would be sad to arrive at the event only to discover your bargain price tickets were fake and you’d wasted your time and money.

If you have been caught out by this scam – do let me know, by email.

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Good Reviews for Lousy Products

Which? has warned that user review ratings of products often do not match their own professional reviews.

15 products on the Which? Do Not Buy list have user ratings of at least 4.2 out of 5.

That seems too much of a mismatch.

Now, with reviews of very subjective things such as movies it’s very common for professional critics to have different views to those of the public.

But with everyday products such as hair driers or head phones you wouldn’t expect such a gap unless something a little odd is going on.

In a small number of cases, it has been shown that unscrupulous sellers create fake reviews to promote their products and there have been Facebook groups where people are paid to “review”  products. The reviews are supposed to be impartial but the reviewers know that continuing access to payments is contingent on positive reviews.

However, there are other factors to consider.

Have you ever bought a product and got the email asking for a review before it was delivered or a day or two after delivery. This may be too soon to have even opened the package let alone formed a reliable opinion on it. The easiest answer can be to just say 3 or 4 out of 5 without thinking.

Also, it may be that people are responding positively to a product because it was delivered quickly or good customer service etc. rather than rating the actual quality of the product and its capabilities.

Plus it is the case that many products will take months of usage to really determine their value and many products seem designed to impress but not to last.

The moral is don’t always take user reviews at face value – do read the details and if there aren’t sufficient details to impress you, then consider buying a different product.

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