Category: The Authorities

The Banks Secret Blacklist of Fraudsters

Banks and financial institutions build up lists of fraudsters and dodgy businesses and try to varying degrees to protect their clients from those companies.

They identify dodgy companies largely through customer queries, complaints and disputes over card payments.

These blacklists are secret because if made public, the institution would have to provide evidence in each case where the company challenged them. Where they have such evidence it is passed to the Police,

but having proof of a scam is very different from warning people of a company that may have dodgy practices.

The lists may include so called ‘legal scams’ such as copycat firms which charge excessive fees for official services such as passports, driving licences and European Health Insurance Cards. This is not illegal, but it is morally wrong.

They may also include photographic and modelling agencies, timeshare sellers, firms selling computer software and security packages and investment companies.

Websites that offer free trials for beauty products but fail to make it clear shoppers will automatically be signed up for expensive subscriptions can be included.

Some may push unnecessary insurance such as cover for products.

Nationwide also blocks payments to illegal companies such as investment firms identified as scammers by the financial watchdog.

When a customer tries to make a card payment to one of these black-listed companies the bank will block it.

Each bank has its own blacklist. Britain’s biggest building society, Nationwide, says it blocks payments to more than 1,000 companies.

Lloyds Banking Group says about 1 per cent of payments are registered as high-risk.

If you see these sorts of dodgy company dealings, do tell your bank.

Stay safe.

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Santander Forced to Pay Scam Victim

When someone has money stolen from their bank account by scammers the banks can usually get away with blaming the individual  and not pay compensation.

In some cases that is reasonable – if people make no attempt to check who they are transferring money to or why then it’s not the bank’s fault.

But scammers are increasingly sophisticated in these attacks and many people are caught out even after taking what they think are the right precautions.

In a recent case ‘Victor’ believed he was talking to Santander’s  fraud department and gave the fraudsters the information they needed to access his account. The Financial Ombudsman believed he had acted reasonably and ordered Santander to repay the amount stolen – nearly £12,000.

If the bank refuses to pay after such a fraud – the victim has 6 months in which to complain to the Financial Ombudsman and there may be more such cases as people fight harder to make the banks pay up.

Of course, it is still the individual’s responsibility to act sensibly at all times and do their best to avoid fraud.

If you transfer money away without adequate consideration – that’s your fault and no-one else’s.

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

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International Grand Committee

Facebook came under fire from lawmakers from nine countries at the inaugural hearing of the “International Grand Committee on Disinformation” held in London.

The landmark event saw 24 representatives from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore, and the UK meet to debate issues including data protection, online disinformation and fake news.

The social network’s founder Mark Zuckerberg was repeatedly asked to attend but refused and sent Richard Allan, the company’s vice president of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Facebook is under investigation in various countries for reasons including Russian interference in the American elections, data privacy issues, unfair treatment of companies competing with Facebook, secret deals and more.

Referring to a report from a Facebook engineer that Russian IP addresses were accessing three billion data points a day on the network, committee chair Damien Collins, asked Allen: “If Russian IP addresses were pulling down a huge amount of data from the platform was that reported or was that just kept, as so often seems to be the case, within the family and not talked about?”

Allen said that the claim was misleading and taken out of context, but Facebook later issued a statement confirming the issue was looked into and told The Guardian “the engineers who had flagged these initial concerns subsequently looked into this further and found no evidence of specific Russian activity”.

The New York Times recently published an in-depth investigation which claimed senior Facebook executives had “ignored warning signs” about the negative impacts of its social network, and in some cases even sought to suppress or deflect criticism about its practices.

A representative from each of the seven parliaments participated in a formal signing ceremony for a set of ‘International Principles for the Law Governing the Internet’.

It seems there is much to do to bring Facebook’s behaviour into the open and force it to become an honest company.

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The 118 Call Redirection Scam

Disreputable 118 directories businesses have been buying up out of use phone numbers – they chose ones that are very similar to popular numbers e.g. one digit wrong from Marks and Spencer or numbers from well-known companies that have gone out of business  e.g. Toys R Us.

Why do they buy these numbers?

So they can put what is essentially an advert for themselves but cunningly made to look as if it is instructions from the out of business company.

e.g. you call a number you think is valid but get a recorded message telling you the number is no longer valid and you should call 118 …….  You call them and you will be talking to a directory service which then charges you for calling and asking for the right number and likely charges you for every minute you talk on that new number.

This can catch people out and they can end up with hefty bills that are unexpected. In some cases more than £50.

Power Tel that run the 118 023 service has been fined £200,000 by the Phone Paid Services Authority for this scam.

Do you have an opinion on this matter? Please comment in the box below.

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Government Attacks Viagogo

Viagogo is a website that resells tickets for concerts, events, shows etc.

Viagogo has a bad reputation for hiding the true cost of the tickets and for not warning people that their tickets may not be valid (in many cases only the original purchaser can use the ticket) etc.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued court proceedings against Viagogo over concerns it is breaking consumer protection law.

Following an investigation into the secondary ticketing sector, the CMA began enforcement action against four major secondary ticketing websites in November 2018. As a result, three of those sites – StubHub, GETMEIN! and Seatwave – offered formal commitments in April 2019 to overhaul the way they do business.

However, Viagogo has not offered to make the changes the CMA considers necessary to bring it in line with the law. Legal proceedings have therefore been brought in the High Court.

Andrea Coscelli, CMA Chief Executive Officer, said that people who buy tickets on websites like Viagogo must be given all the information they are entitled to. It’s imperative they know key facts, including what seat they will get and whether there is a risk they might not actually get into the event.

This applies to Viagogo as much as it does to any other secondary ticketing website. Unfortunately, while other businesses have agreed to overhaul their sites to ensure they respect the law, Viagogo has not.

The CMA’s concerns include:-

  • Customer not being told if there is a risk that they will be turned away at the door
  • Customers are not being informed which seat in the venue they will get
  • Customers are not being told who is selling the ticket, which means that they can benefit from enhanced legal rights when buying from a business
  • Customers are given misleading information about the availability and popularity of tickets – which can lead to them being rushed into making a buying decision or making the wrong choice
  • Customers experience difficulties in getting their money back under Viagogo’s guarantee when things go wrong
  • Customers are being offered tickets that a seller does not own and may not be able to supply

Under the circumstances, it would seem foolhardy to trust Viagogo with your money.

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Confirmation of Payee

When you make a bank transfer, you provide the name, sort code and account code to send the money to.  You might reasonably expect that the bank pays attention to all three of those pieces of information and if they don’t match then warn you.

However, banks do not do this – they ignore the name and send the money to the sort code and account code regardless of who they belong to.

If you make a mistake and put the wrong sort code or account code then your money is likely to be gone – and that’s your responsibility.

Scammers know this and use various ploys to get people to transfer money to them believing it is their builder or plumber or a friend or official organisation etc.   The name does not need to match the account as no-one checks it.

Under plans from the UK’s payments operator, the name of someone receiving a payment will be as important as their banking details for the first time from mid 2019, in an attempt to combat fraud and the sender will be alerted if the name does not match the account.

This change is designed to combat cases when fraudsters mimic a genuine business and attempt to trick people into sending money to an account controlled by the fraudster.

How Confirmation of Payee Will Work

  1. When setting up a new payment, or amending an existing one, banks will be able to check the name on the account of the person or organisation you are paying.
    1. If you use the correct account name, you will receive confirmation that the details match, and can proceed with the payment
    2. If you use a similar name to the account holder, you will be provided with the actual name of the account holder to check. You can update the details and try again, or contact the intended recipient to check the details
    3. If you enter the wrong name for the account holder you will be told the details do not match and advised to contact the person or organisation you are trying to pay

“This is an important step and we would like to see the banks implement this new protection as quickly as possible, giving everyone greater protection against fraud,” said a spokeswoman for payments watchdog, the Payment Systems Regulator.

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