UK Property Rental Internet Scam.

July 2nd, 2009

Prospective tenants are being conned out of thousands of pounds in an elaborate internet scam, a BBC London investigation has found.

Fraudsters pose as landlords and advertise exclusive properties at low rents on advertising websites such as  Gumtree and Craigslist. They then claim that they are out of the country and need to see proof that the prospective tenants can afford the rent before they show them the flat. They ask the potential tenant to transfer a payment to a trusted friend or relative through a money transfer agency such as Western Union or Moneygram as proof that they have the funds. The fraudster requests a photocopy of the transaction as proof but than “poses” as the friend or relative and makes off with all of the money.

Gumtree said it was working with the money transfer agency Western Union to prevent the fraud but a spokesperson for Western Union said that their service should only be used to send money to family and friends and not to pay for goods or services.

“Don’t give the receipt or details for a money transfer to any person other than the person who is going to pick it up,” she said. The fraudster would have to provide the control number as well as ID to receive the cash. However, if they managed to create fake ID they might slip the net. “Our staff are trained to recognise ID, but they are not the police,” said the spokesperson. Western Union said it could not offer refunds to the people who have been defrauded by it.

Sisters Alexandra, 19, and Zaire Sheppard, 18, from Holloway in north London, have been victims of the scam.

They saw an advert on Gumtree for a two-bedroom apartment in Belgrove Street in Camden advertised for  £650 a month, plus a deposit of £700.

They e-mailed the owner, who called himself “Lin Dong”.

He claimed he had had trouble with tenants before and wanted proof the sisters could afford the rent and deposit.

Lin Dong asked Alexandra to send a payment of £1,350 through Western Union, not to him, but to a trusted friend or relative of her choice.

He then requested a scanned copy of the transfer payment receipt so that he could verify that she had the available funds.

Some time afterwards, a fraudster using fake identification, pretending to be Zaire Sheppard, walked into a Western Union office with the scanned receipt and took the money.

Alexendra said: “I was put off my guard because I was not asked to send the money directly to Lin Dong - I sent the money to my sister.”

Similar scams have been reported in various areas of London

BBC London checked the origin of the e-mails and found they were all sent from Lagos, Nigeria.

Trading Standards is worried about the increasing number of such online scams, and has warned online listing and money transfer sites to be more vigilant in checking for potential fake listings before they are published.

Worlds best job awarded to Brit Ben Southall

May 6th, 2009

Described as “The best job in the World”, a six month position as caretaker of an Australian tropical island with a A$150,000 (£73,500) salary has been awarded to Britain Ben Southall, 34, a charity fundraiser from Petersfield, Hampshire.

Ben beat 34,000 other applicants to land the dream position. His new job requires him to live and report from Hamilton Island, on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. As well as the salary, the post of caretaker at Hamilton Island comes with a three bedroom beach home, a swimming pool and golf cart.

The job description requires the successful candidate to “to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel, make friends with the locals and generally enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and lifestyle”. As a thoroughly modern caretaker, Mr Southall will also be expected to report back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews.

The 34,000 applicants were whittled down to 16 finalists who all spent four days on Hamilton Island undergoing a rigorous selection process involving snorkelling, barbecues and time at a spa. The finalists also had to demonstrate their blogging abilities and take swimming lessons.

After being awarded the position Ben commented, “I hope I can fill the boots as much as everybody is expecting. My swimming is hopefully up to standard and I look forward to all the new roles and responsibilities that the task involves.”

The campaign was launched by Tourism Queensland in a bid to boost the areas declining tourism industry

Recession beating job - Become an MP!

April 21st, 2009

MPs’ take 12 week holidays during a recession

If you have ever wondered where to find a job with security, excellent pay, lucrative expense accounts and plenty of time off, why not become an MP?

Whilst the country battles recession and rising unemployment, those fortunate enough to still have a job are either working longer hours for the same money or the same hours for less pay. Yet MPs, fresh from the ‘expenses’ scandal, have now revealed that they will only be sitting in the House of Commons for 143 days this year, seven days fewer than last year. The last day in the Commons, before the proposed 82 day mammoth break, will be July 21st.

Commons leader, Harriet Harman was last night under pressure to review the situation and cut the extended holiday by at least a week.  MPs have already enjoyed a 24 day holiday over the Christmas period and a fortnight over Easter.

Shadow Commons leader Alan Duncan said MPs should work an extra week in July before disappearing on holiday. He said: “Gordon Brown’s Government is clearly running out of steam. Rather than ministers packing their bags early and heading off to the beach, MPs should be staying here to scrutinise this failing team.”

Last night Ms Harman defended the holiday decision saying that the dates were decided months ago, but TaxPayers Alliance boss Matthew Elliot fumed: “MPs have far too much holiday. Taxpayers who elect them and fund their salaries get nowhere near this amount of holiday.”

Another example of how the Palace of Westminster has become detached from the rest of the country.

Squat a disgrace!!! Ravens Ait turned into a dump

April 21st, 2009

Squatters turn a private island into a dump!

It’s fair to say that we all have a certain amount of sympathy for the homeless at the moment. After all, through no fault of their own, thousands of decent, hardworking families are losing their homes each month, victims of the recession and redundancy. They have paid their taxes, they deserve help, not to be housed in lavish mansions but to be provided with ’suitable’ accommodation until they get back on their feet again.

Squatters, however are a different thing altogether. These are not people who have necessarily fallen on hard times, they are, it seems groups of people who feel it is their right to take and abuse what doesn’t belong to them, in an almost arrogant like gesture of defiance to the rest of us. A group of squatters have ‘taken over’ a £4.5m private ‘island’ in Surrey and turned it into a dump. The former hotel and wedding venue went bust and squatters ‘moved in’ in February. Not content with taking over someone else’s property, they then proceeded to wreck the property, urinate in the corridors and turn a marquee area into a rave venue.

Now the council is ‘trying’ to evict them, no doubt at the taxpayers expense.

Bank of England hold interest rates at 0.5%

April 9th, 2009

The Bank of England have today announced, as widely predicted, that interest rates will remain at 0.5%, ending 6 months of consecutive interest rate cuts. April is now the first month since September 2008 that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has decided not to drop the Base Rate. But what does it mean for us?

Are we seeing signs that the worst is behind us? 

It really is too early to say, but many believe that we are certainly at or nearing the bottom of the current ‘dip’. On the other hand, there are those who believe that further reductions in rates would actually harm the economy, rather than improve it. Whilst the initial interest rate cuts were welcomed by most, the latest cuts appear to have done little more than spread panic and fear amongst the financial markets. The Bank of England’s decision to leave interest rates on hold, is simply a message to say ‘we have now done our job, and things are now getting back on track’. Whether this is true remains to be seen but any move that even begins to restore the countries shattered confidence will be welcomed. 

Mortgage holders and savers will see no change following the latest decision, unless individual lenders and banks decide to alter their rates, but on the whole, it will be a sigh of relief that we are entering a more ‘normal‘ phase following months of turbulence.

What next for interest rates?

Again, opinion varies but we can certainly expect to see a period of stability, with economists agreeing that rates are unlikely to get any lower. The question is when, and it is a question of when and not if, will rates start to rise again?

“Looking further forward, we continue to anticipate rates remaining at 0.5% for an extended period of time - in our forecasts that means until early 2011,” said Malcolm Barr, an economist at JP Morgan.

“Rates are at the absolute bottom here,” David Page, economist at Investec Securities told MSN. “The next move is bound to be up and that could come in the first quarter of 2010,” he added.

There are signs that the economy might be improving again, with an increase in mortgage activity and house sales, certainly contributory factors in the Bank of England’s decision. And recent news that HSBC are allocating £1 billion to lend to homeowners and RBS/Natwest stating that they will make £10 billion available to small businesses are all signs of a growing confidence within the financial sectors.

Life Insurance - Necessity or Luxury

April 9th, 2009

Britons cancelling Life Insurance cover as credit crunch bites

Worrying stastics have revealed that over half a million Brits have cancelled their life insurance cover altogether in an attempt to save money as the credit crunch bites

The report by Sainsbury’s Finance has revealed that an estimated 500,000+ Britons have cancelled their life insurance cover in the last 12 months and  four percent of all life insurance holders have switched providers in the last year to obtain cheaper cover.

“Given the financial state we’re in it’s inevitable that people are going to be looking to make cut-backs, but it’s a real concern when those cut-backs leave them vulnerable to far greater expense down the line,” said Sainsbury’s home insurance manager Neil Laird.

However, life insurance premiums can vary greatly and in recent times premiums have actually fallen so it is always worth speaking with an Independent Financial Advisor to make sure that you are paying the correct premium for the cover you have.

For a free and impartial review of your life insurance cover CLICK HERE

American woman finds $357,959 cheque and hands it in!

April 9th, 2009

Imagine walking along the street, glancing down you see a cheque lying on the ground with an amount of $357,959.55 in big bold letters written on it. Surely, you would assume it was a fake, a joke or something similar and walk by, or would the curiosity take over and you bend down and ever so discretely pick it up.

As she walked from the post office, Talon Curtis from Los Angeles thought she had found a gimmicky sweepstake offer on the ground with the numbers $357,959.55 written across it, and like a good citizen she was just about to pick it up and bin it, when she noticed that it was actually a real cheque with a real signature.

What she did next was quite amazing. Read the full story here

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_fe_st/odd_big_check

What would you do????

Changes to Healthcare rules in Channel Islands

April 3rd, 2009

Healthcare agreement scrapped

If you are considering taking your holidays in the Channel Islands this year (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark or Herm) then you would possibly assume that travel insurance would be one thing you DIDN’T need to worry about. After all, the islands are all ‘crown dependencies’. Well, you would have been right, but a change to the law this week, relating to healthcare for UK visitors means that you could be faced with a medical bill if you fall ill or are injured. 

An agreement which has been in place since the mid-70’s, providing UK travellers to the Channel Islands with some free medical treatment, is now being scrapped, in what can only be seen as a cost-cutting exercise by the UK government.

The current system means that anyone who falls in whilst on holiday in Jersey would receive free in-patient and outpatient treatment and free ambulance travel, but would would be required to pay for prescription medicine or to see a GP. Under the new rules, from April 1st 2009, services that were previously free would have to be paid for, although if the person has travel cover, the insurer would pay the bill.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health said that they had always recommended that visitors to the Channel Islands should take out separate insurance cover, as there have always been elements of treatment that were not covered under the previous agreement.

For further details refer to the DOH website

Aviva announce 1100 job losses

April 3rd, 2009

Aviva have announced that 1,100 jobs will be lost in the next 12 months

The UK’s largest Insurance company, Aviva(formerly Norwich Union) announced that it would be axing 1,100 jobs throughout the year. The bulk of the losses will be at the firms Norwich and York branches, with 590 positions being lost over the coming months.

The news is the latest blow to the finance industry, which has suffered over recent months. 

Derek Simpson, of financial services union, Unite, said: “The announcement by Aviva to cut 1,100 staff will cause alarm across the insurance industry.” He believes that Aviva are repeating what appears to be an annual exercise of cutting jobs.

He added: “Today we see a scenario where a company that is continuing to deliver positive results is slashing the staff that have enabled them to weather the current financial storm. It is unacceptable that once again shareholders received their full dividends, while the workers who brought the company this success are rewarded with job losses.”

“The Aviva workforce is continuing to live under constant uncertainty about their future. Unite has been told that these job losses are unrelated to the economic downturn.”

Aviva recently announced that it had experienced a £885 million-dent to its profits.

Further insurance industry job losses were also announced by reinsurance group Swiss Re, who said they planned to cut 10% of their workforce - equivalent to around 1,150 jobs - as part of an efficiency drive.

Alternative mortgage product launched by IBB

April 2nd, 2009

Fixed rate Mortgage launched by Islamic Bank of Britain

The Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) has launched the UK’s first Islamic fixed rate mortgage in a direct bid to win a bigger share of the UK’s mainstream mortgage market, the bank confirmed.

‘We are throwing down the gauntlet to conventional banks with this new fixed rate Home Purchase Plan,’ said Sultan Choudhury, Commercial Director at Islamic Bank of Britain.

‘The mortgage will be available to customers of all faiths, so my call to UK homebuyers and homeowners is to put any misapprehensions to one side and come and find out how a Home Purchase Plan from IBB can really make a difference to your pocket,’ he declared

Mr Choudhury explained how an Islamic mortgage differs from a conventional mortgage. ‘Interest is forbidden in Islamic banking, so the bank will take a share in the property and each monthly payment will consist of a rental portion and an aqquisitian portion which will, over a defined period purchase the banks share in the property’

The bank is offering a rate of 3.99% with an arrangement fee of £299 and claims it is one of the most competitive offers currently available in the UK home finance market. The new product is fixed until June 2010, there is a minimum of £70,000 and a maximum finance of £750,000 as well as a minimum property value £150,000.

‘Not only is our Home Purchase Plan extremely competitive, Islamic Banking is also considered by many as an ethical and stable alternative to conventional banking,’ Choudhury added.