These criminals generally operate from outside the UK and can be based anywhere in the world. They specifically target millions of elderly and vulnerable  who often become their silent victims of fraud.

Those who reply have their details put on what the scammers call a suckers list, these lists are then sold to other criminals all over the world.

A chronic scam mail victim is someone who repeatedly falls for scams, this could be because they are over trusting, socially isolated or suffering from a mental incapacity such as confusion, memory loss or dementia.

It is not unusual for a chronic victim to receive 30/40/50 or over 100 scam letters a day and many will empty bank accounts and even sell their homes to keep up with the scammers demands.

Jessica was one of these chronic victims and the scammers had not only controlled Jessica’s life for five years, they were also responsible for destroying the relationship she had with her family including her daughter Marilyn.

Marilyn knew straight after her Mother’s death that she had to let the world know what had happened to her mother and her family to warn others of these scams and to raise the profile in the press.

Thinkjessica.com was set up by Marilyn as part of this ongoing campaign in 2010. Visit the site to read their full story and to find out how you can help the campaign.

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An increasing number of domain names are being purchased from UK ISP addresses that bear reference to the Olympics. It’s not difficult to obtain one; it’s a case of registering with a hosting company, checking the availability of your desired site name, and registering the domain! Which? computing proved just how easy it is, by registering their very own Olympic referenced site.

Although the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), are trying their best to highlight this problem, Which? Say that more needs to be done in order to wipe the web clear of fraudsters, once and for all.

It’s very easy for the sites to set up an online portal for selling fake tickets, allowing criminals to get a hold of confidential information such as credit card numbers, address information, and the personal details required for  identity fraud.

One popular UK domain company Nominet, actually told Which? computing that it’s nothing to do with them.  They do not know who is registering the sites.  The UK are the only country behind in online security, with countries like Bermuda, and Albania having stricter domain registration rules!

Fraudulent websites are becoming a big problem around the world, with over 12, 000 internet users  victims of fraudulent sales. Avid fans of the Olympics get  excited about getting a ticket, their better judgement is clouded and they become an easy victim.

The editor of Which? computing , Sarah Kidner mentioned that several sites on the web already promise tickets for events that simply don’t exist. Rules and regulations have to be enforced, to make sure that scammers get wiped out.

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A recent Which? survey confirms that even after one year, consumers are still angry with banks over the financial sector bailouts and their role in the ‘credit crunch’.

In late September 2009 Which? surveyed adults throughout Great Britain and received astounding results. More than two thirds of those surveyed still harbour resentment towards banks for their roles in causing the financial crisis of the past year. Seventy five percent of consumers surveyed believe that banks are not sorry for the roles they played in creating the crisis and three out of five consumers believe the banks have not learnt their lesson. Additionally, four out of five consumers believe that senior level and higher bank executives did not receive just punishment for the decisions they made that led to the financial crisis.

Louise Hanson, Head of Campaigns for Which? said that all consumers have an opinion on the banking crisis.

Consumers feel that banks are treating them like second class citizens and they have bad customer service along with shady tactics.

And consumer resentment doesn’t end with wanting hard justice for those responsible for the financial crisis. More than one third of those surveyed believe that should another similar financial crisis arise, banks should be allowed to go bankrupt and the government should not bail them out.

Consumers surveyed also feel that the banks aren’t keeping up their end of the bargain. Four out of five consumers believe that the banks aren’t doing enough, or anything, to prevent a future financial crisis.

Hanson said that regaining the trust of the public will not be easy and that banks should learn how to say they’re sorry and mean it.

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Which? Gardening tested the ability of 17 seed suppliers to meet the minimum germination requirements on a White Lisbon Spring Onion. Seven of the seed suppliers tested failed the test. The seven companies which failed this test were: Thompson and Morgan, Kings, Unwins, Marshalls, Edwin Tucker and Sons, Suffolk Herbs, and Simpson’s Seeds.

The vegetable trial showed that Unwins White Lisbon Spring Onion seeds were only able to germinate successfully 57 percent of the time. Another company, Simpson’s Seeds provided more than 41 percent dead White Lisbon Spring Onion seeds during the same trial. An additional test, using Hesta bean seeds, found Simpson’s seed germination successfully only 41 percent of the time. The minimum standard for germination of vegetable seeds is 80 percent.

The flower trial also saw many poor results although there is currently no required legal minimum for the germination of flower seeds. Although Johnson’s Basket Beauties Begonias seeds were dead 27 percent of the time during the trial, the company did surprisingly well in other areas and overall. Mr. Fothergill’s also did well overall, despite the fact that the company’s Illumination Mixed Begonias were found to be dead 21 percent of the time. In the flower germination trial, Unwins again produced unsuccessful plants, with only 27 percent of the company’s Glory of Seville Geraniums being successfully germinated. Additionally, Thompson and Morgan came in with a poor showing, as 39 percent of their Nonstop Begonia seeds were also dead.

A comparison between previous Which? Gardening trials and this most recent test of germination shows a significant increase in seed viability and germination rates.

Head of Research from Which? Gardening, Richard Gianfrancesco, said the company is happy to see the overall germination quality of seeds improving.

And despite the poor showing from several companies in the trial, there were ten seed companies that showed well during the trial. For instance, healthy seedlings were born from 94 percent of the seed purchased at Nicky’s Nurseries. Dobies, along with its sister company, Suttons, both did well in terms of germination, and their web sites and catalogues each received high marks as well.

Gianfrancesco said there is still much needed improvement in the industry as many consumers are still purchasing and attempting to sow seeds that are already dead.

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Unfortunately, buying a puppy is not as straightforward as many of us would think and sadly, many dog lovers fall victim to puppy traffickers.

Puppy traffickers breed puppies in mass quantities, often with little regard to the puppies welfare. As a result, many of the animals become sick or worse.

It’s very important to understand the hidden costs (e.g. veterinary bills) if you decide to buy a puppy without knowing where it has come from.

Here are some of our top tips to help you avoid becoming a victim of the puppy traffickers:

1. Make sure that you always see the mother of the puppy in the place where it was bred
2. Get as much information as possible about the breeder
3. It is very important to check vaccination records carefully and ask to see the vaccination card. Many puppy traffickers create fake versions so if the veterinary surgeon’s contact details are not visible, or has an address from outside the UK, the card may be fake.
4. Also be aware that pedigree certificates are not a guarantee for the condition of your puppy, and may not even mean you are being sold a pure-bred dog.
5. Don’t ever buy from someone who offers to deliver your puppy, or who arranges to meet you somewhere

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The Plain English Campaign recently received an assortment of energy bills sent from Which? magazine. They described the bills as riddled with unintelligible words. The language used on the bills confused most people, especially when one person noted that a minus sign actually meant a credit. Terms such as calorific value or normal primary units are examples of the sort of language used on the bills.

Nearly one quarter of those who agreed to answer the questions spoke of  difficulties trying to understand what they actually owed the energy company. For example, one Npower customer  could not explain how they arrived at the costs on his bill.  The reason the customer selected Npower in the first place was because he believed the energy company to be inexpensive but now he can’t tell if the service is cheaper or not.

Which? magazine’s contributing writers concluded that improved energy bills should include basic features such as  a simple summary. It should be easy to read and in plain language.

When Which? analyzed  the survey responses, they discovered that all of the big six electricity and gas utilities achieved some of the lowest customer satisfaction rates the magazine had ever seen. Npower trailed in the ratings for a third consecutive year with 28%. British Gas fared not much better at 38%.

The energy companies with the highest satisfaction ratings included Utility Warehouse with 75%, and Ebico with a 66% customer satisfaction rating. Even banks rated higher than this group of energy industry leaders!

Which? magazine’s editor Martyn Hocking said that it would make sense that some energy customers might think of food when they read ‘calorific value,’ which could lead to an understandable confusion.   He also questioned the ability of consumers to proactively cut their monthly usage of energy if they cannot possibly understand the language used on their monthly energy bills. He concluded that better customer-oriented services and clearer language printed on the monthly energy bills would go a long way to helping the overall success of the energy companies.

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Customer satisfaction is currently 62%  compared to last year’s rate of 58%, which is a 4% increase. Many lenders have performed better in all areas of service.

The smaller lenders and building societies are still leading the field in terms of customer satisfaction. First Direct scored the highest with a customer satisfaction rating of 91%. One Account scored next highest with 77%, followed by Coventry Building Society with 75%, then Britannia Building Society with 74%.

The big lenders generally scored below the average  with Halifax only scoring 45%, followed by Northern Rock at 47%, Abbey at 50%,  Barclays at 52%  and the Royal Bank of Scotland at 53%.  The four worst lenders in 2009 were also among the worst  in 2008.

Consumers reported they are more satisfied with the clarity of their bank statements as well as how they are informed of the dates of any rate changes. Yet one is four consumers are totally dissatisfied with the information provided by lenders as to the best deals available .

Which? Money’s five top mortgage tips:

1. Always search the market for the best deals available at price comparison websites.
2. Select a fixed interest rate when you want to have a specific mortgage payment instead of a flexible rate that will make the monthly payments vary.
3. If you do decide to select a flexible interest rate, make sure you can afford the payments when the rates increase in amounts up to 3%.
4. Remember to take the mortgage fees into consideration as well as the interest rate when selecting a mortgage loan.
5. Before selecting a mortgage, seek the advice of an independent advisor or broker for additional information and suggestions.

Editor of Which? Money, James Daily believes that the cost of the mortgage deal is the top priority for most when selecting a mortgage lender and reiterates the importance of shopping around  for the best mortgage and to always consider all the fees associated with the mortgage loan to avoid paying more for the loan over the years.

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The Which? Groups has struck a deal with the supermarket, after a successful trial in February. The very first week that the magazine hit the shelves in Sainsbury’s, it sold more copies than the  popular Economist magazine.

The autumn money magazine is already on the shelves. The publication contains a plethora of useful money saving ideas and tips that consumers in the UK can follow to help them to save cash when it comes to personal finance.

James Caan is also featured in an exclusive interview. He talks about how he struck it lucky with a  £30, 000 investment – the one that bagged him, his wife!

One of the unique features of Which?  is that they don’t have any adverts for products or companies  and the revenue raised from the sales of their magazines, is injected back into campaigns to help UK consumers.

The company is only out to help the nation’s public, and are strongly against using adverts in their publications. They choose to do so as a means to avoid linking their good name with any advertiser or company.

The editor of Which? Mr James Daley is excited about the new deal with Sainsbury’s, and thinks that the magazine will be very popular.  Sainsbury’s newspaper and magazine buyer Mr Keith Black is also excited by the new business venture which is mutually beneficial to both companies.

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The Pizza Hut pizza  had the highest fat content, equivalent to nearly 70% of what any woman should consume in a day. The prize for highest levels of saturated fat went to Prezzo pizzas and the Zizzi pizza was crowned the sodium king for the highest salt content.

Which?  sent its army of taste testers to restaurants from each chain. Pizza Hut and Frankie and Benny’s  tied  in  last place – each  achieved only 11 out of 45 possible points for overall quality and taste. To add insult to injury, Pizza Hut also has a “best avoided” rating from the Which? Good Food Guide.

The most popular pizza was from Pizza Express scoring 30.5 out of 45 possible points. Testers commented that it balanced the right ingredients with quality. In second place was the pizza from Ask, scoring 27 out of 45. Closely followed by the Zizzi pizza scoring  a more modest 26.5 out of 45 points.

It is interesting to note that the Pizza Express pizza which had the lowest fat content  turned out to be the pizza the testers liked the most.  Fat and salt is not required to make great tasting pizzas.

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In the UK consumers have statutory rights that give them six years from the date of purchase to make a claim (five years Scotland) and these are in addition to any warranty provided by Sony. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 is fundamental and says that goods including the Sony PS3 must be:

Of Satisfactory Quality
This includes fitness for purpose and life expectancy taking into account the price paid and the nature of the item purchased.  We believe that it is reasonable to expect a high-end consoles such as the Playstation 3  to last 5 – 8 years when used in the home environment with reasonable usage.

Get your faulty Playstation 3 fixed for free

If you have just got it then you could reasonably expect your money back or a replacement rather than a repair.

If the PS3 was bought less than six months ago it is assumed to have been faulty when it was delivered and the shop has to prove otherwise.

However, when it is more than six months since you made the purchase then you have to prove that the console  is actually faulty and the retailer may ask for an engineers report. In practice, this is only likely to happen once the Sony warranty has expired.

After the warranty has expired it seems to be normal practice for retailers to simply shrug their shoulders and say they cannot do anything. There is no mention of your statutory rights! In these circumstances you need to stand firm and state that the PS3 is not of satisfactory quality and you are making a claim for a repair under the Sale of Goods Act and this is nothing to do with the warranty.  Here is a letter that you can use:

In response to this they are likely to ask for an engineers report to prove that the item is faulty, which is reasonably and to be expected. All you need to do is find a local reputable computer repair shop and ask them for a report. If the engineer concludes that the fault was caused during manufacturing, the retailer should reimburse you for the cost of the report and should agree to a repair. If it is not economical for them  to repair the console they can offer a replacement or a cash refund taking into account your usage.

Without an engineers report this is the type of response you will get:

If the retailer won’t agree to repair or replace your PS3 and it is less than six years since purchase (five years in Scotland) then you will have to take them to the Small Claims Court.

It is worth bearing in mind that if you have paid by credit card, the credit card company is equally liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.    This is especially useful if the retailer is being unresponsive or has gone out of business.

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