Scams - don't get caught out
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There's something particularly nasty about the scams that catch out three million of us every year. Have you been taken in by the latest, or spotted one you'd like to warn other people about?
Fall for one and you'll be targeted by another, then another, as the people behind them find new ways to cheat you out of your cash. Each one is cynically targeted at a particular group, so anyone who says they'd never fall for that mailshot from a dodgy psychic may find themselves losing hundreds of pounds in a seemingly more sophisticated boiler room scam. No wonder the Office of Fair Trading - who has made tackling mass-marketed scams a priority - says there's a scam for everyone.
Have you been on the receiving end of a scam? Maybe you feel strongly about the companies who cheerfully print and distribute misleading mailshots. Share your scam stories here, and together we can try and stop these rogues taking money from the people who can least afford to lose it.
Read our report - where we look at the most common tried and tested scams that still swindle the most cash.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Has anyone dealt with a company called [Personal details removed by Moderator], working from Tenerife. They are pestering me to go there to reclaim some money I lost with a holiday club some years ago. They say they can reclaim the money for an upfront fee of £169. We get free accommodation but have to get our own flights. I do not want to waste more money. Has anyone been there and reclaimed money? Thanks.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I don’t like paying for hospital parking but what I really object to is that it’s pay & display.
That means two things – you have to have the right change and you have to pay for far more than you’re likely to need, because you’ve no idea whether you be 10 minutes or several hours. What’s more, the tickets are not legally transferable, so you might have two or three hours left on your ticket, but the next person has to pay all over again – two or potentially more people are paying for the same space concurrently! How can that possibly be fair?
They want it all ways, don’t they?
The charges should be nominal and paid on exit. OK, switching to pay-on-exit would take time and money, but it would take no time at all to make the tickets transferable – why not start with that?
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I'd like to make a point regarding the scandalous recruitment market we have in the U.K.
Every year millions of workers become the victims of the grey recruitment industry, which appears to be prompted by a Government who fail to provide the necessary free services via jobcentre plus.
As a result literally hundreds of large and small recruitment agencies throughout the U.K. are taking advantage of jobseekers, by posting non-existent jobs (on the net)in order that their business can;
a. receive monies through pay-per-click internet links and advertising.
b. pass themselves off as 'representatives of clients', thus creating non-existent referenced advertising.
c. allows recruiters to stockpile potential employees private information, without the possibility of ever getting a job.
Furthermore the posting of non-existent jobs gives a slanted view of how many people are unemployed and how many jobs are actually available in the market.
There appears to be no legislation in place, to stop recruiters from doing this, nor is there any in place to stop recruiters from stopping applicants from having their applications forwarded to employers, so that they not the recruiters make the decisions.
It would be nice to see the watchdog team do a story on the recruitment agencies and some of their illegal and unethical working practices.
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There has been an exposion of scam companies that make promises of being able to get any debt you have written off by challenging the agreement under the 1974 Consumer Credit Act. These companies charge anything between £300 and £1,000 up front and it is usually the desperate who are already in debt that can't resist the chance of having their debt wiped out. Unfortunately the debts are not usually wiped out but the fee is non refundable. I was fortunate in that I was able to threaten the company concerned enough to get a full refund but others are not so lucky. A classic case of greedy con men praying on vunerable poor people when they are at their weakest. This practice should be stopped.
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I have had scam leaflets through my door for unwanted clothes collections. I contacted the local bbc they they reported the scam online and on the bbc red button news. It never went hugely locally so I dont think the news spread as well I would have hoped, we need to warn people and create a 'Watchdog Black List'
Trading Standards have confirmed that the leaflets should be ignored and stated:
"Members of the public are again being targeted by commercial clothing collectors and consumers need to be aware that these companies will sell their items for profit and charities will not benefit from their generosity."
If a householder has any doubts can contact the Charity Commission's helpline on 0845 3000 218 to check whether the collection is for, or on behalf of, a registered charity."
The company that posted my leaflet is a Ltd company with no registered charity number. They used religous tactics to make people feel bad for not donating and stated of the end of their leaflet 'God will reward your good heart'
I have since found out this company targets the whole of the UK popping up here there and everywhere until their cover in blown and they move on, beware!
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trying to get out of debt is one of the hardest things to do,in the past i was offered loans well i thought they were but infact it turns out it was random companies taking advantage by promising a loan but at a cost!in one instance a company charged me just to give me the name of a company i was already with and wanted to pay off due to extremely high interest,more recently i had a telephone call offering me similar so i thought i would so gave them all my info including debit card details which they said were for identity purposes however it turned out it was the same company from before and they took £50 fee,when i realised the money had gone i looked up the company on the net and thats where i found out im not legible for a loan as im on benefits,surely they cant charge just to tell people that,never trust anyone who says they can get you out of debt and never give card details specially to brokers etc.this same company have gone after so many other people all they do is prey on vunerable people desperate to clear debt from themselves.....
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
i just wanted to give people the heads up that there is a scam going around, this is more for the elderly, this has happened to my mother, a guy comes to your door and tells you that he has done work on your house, in this case he told my mum that he done work on the roof, and that he is a Vat man we rent our place so any jobs that are done are paid for by the land lord, he told my mum that if she do not pay him the money that he is asking for, then she would get letters saying she would got to court if she did not pay him, i was not there but my mum was scared and went out and got money out of the bank, but she could not give him the amount he was asking, a week later he came back for more money, but as soon as he saw me he just asked if we needed any jobs doing, i have contacted our local police, and they are dealing with it at the moment, the guy did not have any ID, or anything at all, plus no one comes to your door for Vat, please tell your family members about this and always asked for some form of Id that may knew know if they are real of fakes
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Has anyone heard of Survey UK?
we recently got a slip through our door saying we had won a gift donated by local businesses, we phoned up the local number on the slip but could not get through. so we googled it, we couldnt find anything with survey uk, but when we typed in matters consulting ltd (the company oviously supplying the gift on the leaflet) we came to a website, people had been posting comments saying that they had won a gym memebership but had gt scammed by having to pay a certain amount of money for a limited time, Also that the code on the slip could be something to identify our postal code. This scam has been going on for atleast a decade, so be careful.
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