Investigations

eBay pair in court for selling fakes

2009-11-06T09:02:20Z

A huband and wife team have been sentenced for flogging counterfeit printer cartridges on eBay and Amazon.

Andrew Budgen and his wife Ying pleaded guilty at Guildford Magistrates Court in Surrey to selling the fakes but sentencing took place at Guildford Crown Court so the prosecution could pursue them under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The pair had for more than two years been buying "Epson" and "Hewlett Packard" ink cartridges and "Braun" electric toothbrush heads from China, which they then advertised online.

All the goods were cheap copies of genuine products. When their house in Cranleigh, Surrey, was searched more than 900 ink cartridges and 17 boxes of toothbrush heads were seized.

Surrey Trading Standards described the operation "large and well-organised", adding that the defendants knew they were selling fakes because they were sourced so cheaply and because of the number of customer complaints.

They were each sentenced to four months in prison suspended for two years and given Community Orders to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.

The judge Mr Recorder Oliver ruled that Andrew Budgen had benefited from the crime in the sum of £111,364 and had £4837 of realisable assets, which he ordered confiscated. Ying Budgen was judged to have benefited from her criminal lifestyle in the sum of £108,700 and had £16,338 of realisable assets, which was ordered to be confiscated.

They've got three months to pay or face a year in jail.

The judge ordered the destruction of all the seized goods.

Those Beckham micro-pigs - what will bacon of them?

2009-11-05T11:06:44Z

The Mirror ran a story this week about David and Victoria Beckham buying so-called micro-pigs, which apparently will only be 14 inches tall when fully grown.

Now we've heard from pig breeder Tony York. Before you rush out and buy some of the pigs for Christmas, it might be worth reading what he says:

Having been involved in the breeding of pigs for nearly 40 years, having run specialist courses on 'Rare Breed Pigkeeping' since 1991 and having written many books on the subject I think that you should be aware of the current situation as far as the trend towards 'Micro - Tea-cup and miniature pigs' are concerned.

Currently some breeders are sell pigs that they claim are going to remain around 12" tall with many demanding hundreds of pounds for these incredibly small pigs. They accompany their claims with pictures of piglets taken when they are only a few weeks old and we think that the public should know the truth.

We have heard from many people who have bought these pigs expecting them to remain small as their names suggest only to find that they grow far bigger than they could ever have imagined. Some growing well above knee high and some even growing to waist high!! Not only are they taller than expected but they are also bigger and fatter in every way than they were led to believe. Why is this?

1. There is no such genuine 'breed' as a 'tea-cup' pig, a 'micro' pig or a 'handbag' pig..... these are just names invented by breeders to cash in on the demand for very small pigs.
2. The pigs being sold as remaining very small for life are cross breeds often using the 'runt' of a litter in the hope that they will remain small but genetics does not allow this to happen.
3. Some breeders are claiming to have crossed genuine 'pet' pigs with 'Tamworths' and 'Gloucestershire Old Spots' - just look at how big they grow!! Anyone thinking of falling into the 'pay a fortune for a 12" pig' should seriously follow the advice given to be by my father when I once took home an extremely beautiful girlfriend. When I asked for his opinion he looked at her and said quite simply....."Go and take a look at her mother!".....How right he was!!
4. It is no good buying pigs just from seeing pictures of piglets or from just seeing them when they are a few weeks old. People should always ask to see the mother and if possible the father. If they are 3' tall or more and equally long then they will know how big their 'cute little 6 week old piglet' is going to be in a few months or years time.
5. Some breeders will not even be able to show mother and father because they do not have them!!! They buy in small piglets or runts of a litter and then claim to have bred them even if they haven't - they have no provenance at all.
6. Why are they charging such exorbitant prices well into hundreds of pound and very often in excess of £700? Quite simply because they know that they have to 'make hay while the sun shines' ....in a year or two their '12" piglets' will have grown to a size much larger than expected and the 'Cat will be out of the bag'. An expression that comes from the days when traders would sell 'a pig in a poke' . They would put piglets in a sack ('poke') and hang it on the side of their stalls. Buyers would feel the piglets through the bag and then weigh them before buying but unscrupulous dealers would include a couple of kittens in the sack and it wasn't until they got their purchase home that they realised they had been mislead because 'The cat was out of the bag'!!! These current day breeders are being just as unscrupulous.
7. We understand that some breeders are now injecting the piglets to stop their pituitary gland working correctly so the poor purchaser is buying a big that will never be 100% ....cruel to the piglet and again misleading the buyer

We understand that David and Victoria Beckham have just bought one for £700 or more ......how are they going to feel when the piglets really start growing possibly ending up taller than their children?

If you have any doubts at all just take a look at our website www.pigparadise.com and look at the pictures and read some of the comments that ex course members have made because our reputation as pig experts goes before us. If you still have any doubts at all about what I am saying then come and visit us with a photographer and take some real pictures of a 'Micro' pig. One that has grown properly and is now well above the knee, approaching the waist and is so big four people couldn't pick it up let alone one! We have this pig so that we can show everyone who comes on our 'One Day Pigkeeping Course' the truth about so called 'Micro' pigs.

A pig is not a 'house pet' and as we approach Christmas a pig is certainly 'not just for Christmas' although from everything that appears to be happening lately there are going to be a lot of piglets that will become 'Miniature Christmas Presents'........but not for long!!

A pig is a wonderfully intelligent animals and we should do everything to encourage people to recognise this and do something to save our endangered Rare Breed pigs but they need to know what they are doing and how they should keep them.

We have many people from all walks of life (Doctors, Judges, TV personalities, Clergymen, Nurses, Shopkeepers, Acccountants plus 'Uncle Tom Cobley and all') who attend our courses and since the 'Credit Crunch' many are rearing a very pigs for their own consumption whilst also ensuring they know what they have been fed and how they have been treated - very good. Some have a desire to enjoy the 'Good Life' and want to breed Rare Breed pigs in order to help save the endangered breed lines - equally good. Some even keep pigs as a form of relaxation because of the day to day pressures of their day job thus becoming 'part time' Rare breed pigkeepers - An excellent way of relaxing...BUT if anyone is selling piglets to the unsuspecting public claiming they will remain 12" tall and able to live happily on the sofa with them - they are wrong in the extreme!!

Attached is a picture of Carron holding a cute 'pet' pig in the same manner that unscrupulous breeders display their piglets but the second picture portraits the truth...just look how big mother is! (pictures are our copywrite)

Tony York

PS - there's absolutely no suggestion that the breeder who sold the pigs to the Beckhams has done anything wrong, but if there's any doubt about the future of so-called micro-pigs in general it seems in the public interest and the interests of fair debate to air those doubts.

Prize scammer UK Incentives & Promotions told: stop or face jail

2009-11-05T07:32:42Z

This smug charlatan is living proof that if a letter begins with the word "Congratulations", bin it.

Julian Mills was behind UK Incentives & Promotions, which we exposed in 2007 for using mass mailshots to con victims into handing over £20 for a promised £500,000 jackpot.

This lot is a close relative of European Vacations, also exposed by us for touting holidays for, strangely, £20.

Now Mills has been warned he faces jail if he sends any more dodgy letters like the one saying you were the "sole recipient" of the prize fund "guaranteed to receive cheques totalling £500,000" but first you had to send a delivery fee of £20.

Around 136,000 of these letters were churned out last year. The "official notice" also stated that you were entitled to a genuine diamond watch.

This rubbish produced dozens of complaints to us. John Dakin wrote: "£20 lighter: no prize. My wife said I would be an idiot to send the £20 but I live in hope!"

Rob Northcott didn't fall for it, saying: "I'm going to send back the envelope with no stamp and a few choice words scrawled over the form."

Trading Standards in East Sussex investigated after a complaint from one victim, and found that around 700 complaints had been made to Consumer Direct.

Solicitor Richard Grout told Eastbourne County Court this week that the council took legal action after Mills refused to sign undertakings to end the scam.

Judge Simon Coltart slapped Mills with a 12-month order not to send misleading mail, warning: "If you breach the order you could be punished, including being sent to prison."

After the case an unrepentant Mills, 39, from Stockport, Cheshire, still didn't accept any wrongdoing.

Indeed his lawyer Philip Circus said: "We did not believe that if this had gone to a contested trial, the council would have been successful.

"However Mr Mills is now in a totally different field of activity and is no longer involved in sweepstake mailings or prize funds therefore it was not worth contesting."

UK Incentives and Promotions, which was based in Twyford Berks, went bust earlier this year with debts of £277,000.

Canadian director Allan Diamond, who was not in court, is also the sole director of European Vacations.

Last year, we revealed that this lot was offering a holiday to Turkey for £20, but customers had to pay for extras.

One commenter on our blog, Myra Johnson, was a victim of both operations, getting a £25 voucher to use on an internet jewellery site in return for her £20 UK Incentives fee.

As for the "bargain" holiday, she warned that after paying for extras including food: "It cost me quite a bit."

How shares conman Julian Silver fleeced £1.9million from investors

2009-11-05T07:21:27Z

Ruthless Julian Silver targeted victims' life savings with a boiler-room scam flogging shares in worthless companies.

We first came across him two years ago when we heard from one investor who had paid £11,400 for shares in Silver's Art-IT plc on the back of assurances that it would float on the stock market.

When we asked why this never happened, Silver mumbled: "It's a case of one step forward and two steps backwards."

Art-IT raked in £750,000 when 800,000 shares were sold - despite the company only having 50,000 shares.

Now the horror of Silver's similar World Aqua Tech International plc scam has been laid bare in an Insolvency Service report explaining why he's been banned from being a company director for 14 years - just one year less than the maximum.

World Aqua netted £1.9million and Silver, says the report, "knew, or should have known, that the shares had no real value".

So what made investors buy into a company that had no assets and had never traded?

In a word: lies.

"The shares were marketed on the basis of false representations and in breach of United Kingdom law," says the Insolvency Service.

The brokers who flogged them were not authorised by the Financial Services Authority, so victims have no recourse to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

There's no hope of finding where their money is now because around £565,000 was paid into an overseas bank account and another £343,000 went into a different account before being withdrawn in cash.

The biggest chunk - £823,000 - simply disappeared from World Aqua's accounts "for unrecorded purposes".

* If you think you may have been the victim of a boiler room shares fraud, you can contact a dedicated City of London unit called Operation Archway here.

Another franchise disaster - Wok2Go - for Martin Reilly

2009-11-05T07:19:49Z

Boss Martin Reilly definitely wasn't in, they assured us, when we visited the offices of a spectacularly dreadful franchise operation.

So whose Porsche was that outside the office - with the number plate 69 MR?

Reilly's of course. He was hiding inside, running 24 Self Video which promised automated outlets for customers to rent films 24 hours a day.

It collapsed leaving franchisees high and dry and prompted questions in Parliament. Labour's Brian Donohoe said victims lost £2 million.

Now another franchise operation, this time fast-food outlets, has collapsed and another load of victims are hugely out of pocket.

Wok2Go Products Ltd was run by 50-year-old Reilly of Knutsford, Cheshire and George Leung, 53.

The report by the administrator, John Sallabank of Manchester accountants Harrisons, shows the firm's debts approaching £500,000.

Wok2Go predicted a weekly turnover of £10,000 per outlet and franchisees paid £10k deposits for a site.

But "income generated fell below expectations".

What a surprise.

Here's what one victim, who has asked to remain anonymous, says:

I initially entered into an Intent To Proceed Agreement with Wok 2 Go and parted with the first payment of £10,000 plus vat.

Some months later I was shown premises that the partner in the business, Mr Tony Sacco, had identified as being ideal for opening a branch of the takeaway. Subsequent to this I was told the first 25% stage payment was due in order to move things forward and I duly parted with a further £44,000.

To cut a long story short I continued to be shown further potential premises and nothing became of the original location.

At this point I was both concerned and deeply suspicious and asked for the return of my first stage payment. This was refused on the grounds that I had signed the main franchise agreement and no entitlement was due.

I immediately instructed my solicitor to take the matter up on my behalf and the case came to a head in May of this year when I took Wok2Go to court.

The two day trial resulted in the judge concluding that I had been a victim of misrepresentation and I was awarded all my money back plus full costs.

I have seen nothing of the best part of £80,000, my life savings and Wok2Go are now, as you know in administration.

I am desperate for justice and feel the whole area of insolvency law needs immediate review as. From my recent research it seems all is progressing as if nothing has happened for Reilly, Leung & co under the new banner of www.wok2gobusiness.com ???

roomsnet.com took my money but never booked the hotel

2009-11-05T07:15:39Z

Online travel firm roomsnet.com took one holidaymaker's money but when she reached her destination no hotel not been booked.

"I had to pay for the room again," said Katie Lehane-Aston of Newcastle, Staffs.

She had booked accommodation in Salou, Spain, and begged us: "This has been going on since June - is there any chance of me seeing my money again?"

Yes.

We asked roomsnet what was going on and were told: "We had some issues with our systems."

They have sent Katie sent a full refund.

"I would just like to say a big thank you," said Katie.

Our pleasure.

Beware bonjoviboxoffice.com

2009-11-05T07:00:03Z

Bon Jovi fans might want to steer clear of bonjoviboxoffice.com, selling tickets it doesn't yet have for £58.

Punters will have trouble tracing them if things go wrong.

There's no limited company name, no address and no phone number.

The site is hosted on the same machine in Slovakia as www.U2boxoffice.com, www.takethattour.net and www.ukticketfactory.com, three sites we've warned about before.

£10.5million in fines and refunds for GMAC-RFC

2009-10-29T10:41:11Z

Mortgage lender GMAC-RFC has been fined £2.8 million and must pay customer refunds of £7.7 million.

The penalties follow action by the Financial Services Authority which found that the company was guilty of "serious failings" over four years, including "excessive and unfair charges for customers that did not reflect administration costs".

More detail from the FSA here.

A statement and apology from the company is here.

Advanced Bankruptcy Recovery shut down

2009-10-29T09:54:58Z

Like a vulture preying on wounded businesses, Nicholas Buchanan has ruthlessly exploited the recession.

The Sheffield-based "insolvency specialist" first ran Abercrombie & Co Ltd, which was wound-up in the High Court for posing a "serious risk" to around 530 clients in financial hardship, milking them of around £2million in fees.

While the winding-up case was pending, Buchanan, 35, gave undertakings to the court not to take on any new clients.

But just days later he set up Advanced Bankruptcy Recovery Ltd to continue the same business. This raked in another £139,000 in fees, which were paid into the account of another company, OPINW Ltd.

Now Advanced Bankruptcy and OPINW have been shut down by the High Court for operating against the public interest.

Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service, Stephen Speed, said: "The previous company controlled by this director operated with a complete lack of financial transparency, charging up to £44,000 for its financial services and receiving more than £2 million in fees from its 530 clients. Once action was taken to wind up this company, the director ignored his own undertakings to the High Court and continued the same business under another name.

"The Insolvency Service will take firm action against companies when we find that undertakings given to protect the public and the business community have been breached."

Undercover proof of Bob Trotta's sales reps breaking timeshare code

2009-10-29T00:10:26Z

After we warned about timeshare tycoon Bob Trotta's (pictured left) sales swine, his wife went to quite extraordinary lengths to bury the bad news.

We can reveal that Ragni Trotta (below) approached a business security firm - whose advisory board is chaired by former Tory leader Michael Howard - in a bid to hide our story and limit the damage.

We understand Diligence International LLC offered to "dereference" our article about Trotta's Resort Properties Group by knocking it off the first 10 pages of results from search engines like Google.

Meanwhile in an undercover sting, we have discovered that Trotta's sales staff in Malta are still exposing holidaymakers to the risk of losing thousands of pounds.

Last year we reported that buyers were lured into purchasing blocks of weeks at Trotta's resorts in Tenerife on the promise of selling them on for a profit.

But owners complained they were left with hefty maintenance bills on weeks they didn't want and could only sell for a loss. Others posted complaints on our website.

Some new buyers said they cancelled the deal after spotting our story.

We guessed the Trottas, who split their time between their townhouse in Chelsea and villa in Tuscany, weren't very happy.

But we're pleased to report that Ragni's attempt to "dereference" our story fell flat.
Internet traffic to it has steadily increased this year.

Google the words "Resort Properties" and our story is the second result, after the company's own website.

And if you search for "Bob Trotta" we are the top result on Google. Ahead of some pretty bizarre sites such as reorts on Bob Trotta's Institute of Crop Circle Investigation, which doesn't appear to exist.

There's also an aimless blog about Bob Trotta: "If this blog appears to be utter nonsense that is because it is."

Oddly, bobtrotta.com, now offline, was devoted to Trotta's office furniture.

We asked Diligence to comment on Ragni's effort to hide our report and were told they "never discuss clients".

Trotta's lawyers told us that "some clients may have complaints" but Resort Properties "takes all client concerns very seriously and makes every attempt to deal with them fairly."

It is a member of the Resort Development Organisation which states clearly in its code of ethics that: "A Timeshare Interest must not be marketed or sold as an investment."

Yet, when our colleague Ryan Parry went undercover at Trotta's Maltese
resort Golden Sands, that's exactly what happened. He was urged to buy two timeshare weeks on a buy-to-let basis.

Salesman Sean told him that a week costing £15,000 could be rented for two years for £2,000 and later sold for a profit of "three or four grand".

Manager Kevin told our reporter that the returns are "high" - though there are no "guarantees" - and confirmed Sean's prediction of 20% profit per year.

Sean admitted that some owners couldn't currently sell until the resort sold out - but he insisted they were offered rental cheques in the meantime.

Yet reader Les Simpson claims he was persuaded to spend £28,000 on two weeks at Golden Sands in 2007 after being promised £4,000 in rent and the chance to sell them two years later.

The two-year deadline passed this summer and the sales team now say they can't sell the weeks.

Meanwhile, Les has found similar weeks to his selling for just £5,000.

He's been offered a break from the £930 maintenance fees next year but no rent unless he spends up to £40,000 more on better weeks using finance provided by Barclays.

Salesman Justin admitted there had been "a bit of a detour" but told Les the "only way forward here is to hold tight with your weeks until the resales are open".

You won't read that on bobtrotta.com.

Sorted: Christopher Edmondson of Phoenix Mobility jailed

2009-10-29T00:08:26Z

Here's a result to celebrate. In 2006 we came across numerous elderly victims of a mobility scooter company.

Run by deluded conman Christopher Edmondson (pictured above), Phoenix Mobility took deposits from customers - sometimes for the full amount - and then the crooked accountant did a bunk.

He might still be sunning himself in Spain if we hadn't tracked him down to a town overlooking Malaga, where he insisted he had nothing to hide.

We gave his details to the police and on his return to the UK the 41-year-old was arrested. Now he's starting a nine-month sentence after admitting fraudulent trading.

Luton Crown Court heard how 148 customers never received the equipment they'd bought from the Stevenage, Herts, company.

"This was desperately needed equipment which was often very expensive for customers," said Alan Landsbury, prosecuting.

"Ultimately money was taken from vulnerable customers in the knowledge that orders would not be met."

Edmondson ordered staff to tell angry callers that he wasn't in and to tear up complaint letters.

The firm's debts came to £515,000, including the unpaid wages of 29 staff.

Defence barrister Brian Lett said Edmondson was "remorseful" and had sunk £129,323 of his own money into the venture, and lost both his houses and now suffers from severe depression.

Before you start feeling sorry for him, it's worth hearing what was said by Judge Barbara Mensah when saying that he had to go to jail because the offence involved a "large sum of money and many customers and traders."

"It was particularly aggravated because you continued to take money when you could not supply goods. You continued to be take money from elderly and vulnerable people and that was particularly cruel.

"The victims were the elderly and vulnerable or people trying to manage their own businesses."

Edmondson was also banned from being a company director for five years. A hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act is due to be heard in February.

Peter Benstead's Man U money deal flops

2009-10-29T00:01:26Z

Looks like bad news for foreign currency trader, former conservatory salesman and wannabe tv producer Peter Benstead.

We first came across him when his Dream Island TV Productions was touting for reality show contestants - for a £29.75 fee.

Still no sign of the show being made - Benstead said yesterday that a backer had pulled out.

Meanwhile, the foreign exchange deals he ran through the official Manchester United website have disappeared.

Manchester United Travel Money service offered "0% commission and great rates of exchange on all major currencies".

Behind this was Travel Money Services, part of Crown Holdings (London) Ltd, run by 66-year-old Benstead.

He told us his relationship with the club's sponsors AIG ended because the link on the Man United website generated only seven customers in almost four months.

"It wasn't bloody worth it," he bleats.

AIG haven't commented.

Refunds for Swinton insurance victims

2009-10-28T12:22:29Z

More than 350,000 customers of High Street insurance broker Swinton are in line for refunds.

This follows action by the Financial Services Authority over the way that Swinton sold payment protection insurance.

Swinton has also been fined £770,000.

Adult Sex Exchange phonelines suspended after complaints

2009-10-23T09:18:34Z

The watchdog for premium rate phonelines, PhonepayPlus, has used emergency powers to suspend a virtual chat services called Adult Sex Exchange.

It act after receiving evidence suggesting that, amongst other issues, the service continues to charge users without the positive interaction required by its code of practice, which can result in high charges being incurred.

Antiphony Limited has been named as the company behind the service, using phonelines provided by WIN (Wireless Information Network) Ltd.

A tribunal will decide whether the service is in breach of the code approximately 10 days after PhonepayPlus has received a response from the service provider to its emergency procedure notice. In the meantime, the service will be suspended and revenue withheld pending conclusion of the investigation.

Other phoneline providers have been reminded that enabling Adult Sex Exchange, or any other services that operate in a similar way, may result in breaches being raised against them.

Wi-fi and mobile phone radiation scare tactics hit schools

2009-10-21T23:00:18Z

Scaremongering is not the nicest way to flog dodgy products, but that doesn't stop it happening.

There's a small industry producing gizmos that claim to protect you from harmful electro-magnetic radiation allegedly emitted by mobile phones and computer Wi-Fi.

One company, First Class Ltd, even targeted schools with leaflets touting "quartz crystal radiation protectors".

The leaflets, falsely suggesting the firm had Government support, warned: "Today's technology requires Schools to observe their Statutory Duty of Care for Students and Staff."

To give a bit of scientific welly, it stated that a 610-page "Bio-initiative" report "unequivocally concludes" that radiation from phones and mobiles can be harmful and children are particularly at risk.

There was indeed a report backing these fears and last year the European Parliament said it was "concerned" by its findings. If you've got the time you can find it at www.bioinitiative.org.

But before chucking out your mobile or computer, it's worth knowing what the European Commission was told by its scientists.

They said the report lacked balance and ignored all the recent global studies that came to "very different" conclusions.

Here the Health Protection Agency is studying the effects of Wi-Fi but says there is "no consistent evidence of health effects".

None of which was mentioned by First Class, based in Markyate, Herts.

When challenged by the Advertising Standards Authority after a primary school teacher objected to the leaflet, First Class said it only distributed the "radiation protectors" and passed the buck to the suppliers, Natural Health & Leisure Products Ltd.

Its website sells phone shields for £9.99 and Wi-Fi shields for £14.99 and is endorsed by Radio 2's Janey Lee Grace, whose degree is in, er, knitwear technology.

Natural Health insisted the European Parliament would not have adopted the Bio-initiative report if it had been written by scaremongerers. You don't have to look far to find people who disagree.

A website specialising in electro-magnetic fields and "dedicated to real science" is scathing.

"The Bio-Initiative report was written by a small group of scientists, lobbyists, and promoters, whose work is not recognised according to established scientific standards," says EMFandHealth.com. "It is the source most widely quoted by alarmists."

The advertising watchdog upheld seven complaints against the First Class schools leaflets on the grounds that they broke rules on substantiation, truthfulness and causing fear and distress.

Meanwhile, the Health Protection Agency issued a report last month on laptops commonly used in schools.

It found that radio signals from Wi-Fi were "low power and exposures are well within safety guidelines."

The waves produced by Wi-Fi are the same kind as those used by radio and TV sets for decades.

If you fancy a giggle have a look at Janey Lee Grace getting all weird about this subject on The Wright Stuff below.

"That's what it's doing to you," she squeals as an "electrosmog detector" squawks when put near a mobile. What? Radiation is making your body produce strange honking noises?