Browse content similar to Episode 10. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:07 | |
Welcome to Fake Britain. | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
Police! Police officer, stand where you are! | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
You're under arrest. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:23 | |
In this series, I'm going to be investigating | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
the world of the criminals who make their money at your expense, | 0:00:28 | 0:00:32 | |
and I'm going to show you how not to get ripped off. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
Coming up... | 0:00:35 | 0:00:37 | |
Who's in charge? Put your knives down. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:39 | |
We follow the UK Border Agency as they track down the fakers | 0:00:39 | 0:00:42 | |
hidden in Britain's workforce. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
He's told me he entered the United Kingdom by lorry. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:48 | |
The bottle of wine that left a nasty taste in the mouth. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
It was bought in Tesco... and it's a fake. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
Heartbreak for young ballet dancers - | 0:00:53 | 0:00:57 | |
how a fraudster left their dreams in tatters. | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
There were children as young as three years old involved in this. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
And the extraordinary scams of the fake benefit claimants - | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
they're costing the country millions. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
This man is a target for the police, the Border Agency | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
and counter fraud squad from the local authority. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
He's a suspected fraudster, who they believe has used fake ID | 0:01:21 | 0:01:26 | |
to claim tens of thousands in benefits he's not entitled to. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
We are looking at closer to ?50,000 of housing, Council Tax | 0:01:30 | 0:01:36 | |
and benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
The man's ID says his name is Mehdi Zerga, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
but the council's fraud team think that's a fake French identity | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
he's using so he can claim benefits. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
The team know where he lives, | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
and early in the morning they are on their way to arrest him for fraud. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:57 | |
Can you open the door, please? | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
The police are in, but there's a whole family inside. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:04 | |
The suspect has been handcuffed. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:06 | |
Police and the council team are confident this is the man in the ID. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
What they need to find now are any identity documents linking him | 0:02:10 | 0:02:15 | |
to the name on the fake claims - Mehdi Zerga. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
Two for the children. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:19 | |
So far, all they can find are what seem to be genuine documents | 0:02:19 | 0:02:23 | |
for him, his wife and their children. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
I'm a British citizen. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:26 | |
You've got a British passport, or a travel document? No, I've got a British passport. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
But finally, they've found suspect bank documents in the name | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
they've been looking for. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
Mr Mehdi Zerga... do you know who he is? | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
Basically, that man is not here at the moment. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
He lives in France. He used to live here for ages, and he went. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
All right. Do you open his mail for him? | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
Yeah, because sometimes he said to me, | 0:02:47 | 0:02:49 | |
"If there is any letter, pay it for me." | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
Because I'm paying his rent. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
He comes maybe once a month or two months to take his rent. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
I've got a letter from the Halifax. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
That's his credit card. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:00 | |
I used to do like a payment for him. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
That's his credit card? | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
They don't believe him. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:06 | |
They think he opened the letter because it was addressed | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
to the fake name he's been using to claim ?50,000 in benefits. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:13 | |
We're going to seize these documents. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
The team believe they have got the fraudster. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
They've found the suspect at the address the benefits were claimed from, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:22 | |
and found bank documents in the name of the fake claimant. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
And they were right. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
The man later admitted setting up a fake identity in the name | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
Mehdi Zerga and conning ?50,000. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
He was sentenced to a year's jail | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
and all payments to him were stopped, saving thousands of pounds. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
We're very happy with the results. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:42 | |
Every case we prosecute, we are saving a lot of money. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
And what you've got to appreciate, we're stopping the benefit, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
so we're stopping that fraud increasing. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
We buy a bottle of wine. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
It could be an old favourite or something we've not tried before. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:03 | |
But whatever it is, and whether we like the wine or not, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
we have a right to expect it to be exactly what it says it is on the label, don't we? | 0:04:07 | 0:04:12 | |
But believe it or not, this is a bottle of fake wine, | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
and it was purchased from a major supermarket in an ordinary high street. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:21 | |
Clacton-on-Sea, on the windy coast of Essex. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
With its pier and beach, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
it was once a top holiday destination for tens of thousands. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
It's perhaps the last place you'd think of for fake wine. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
Daniel McGowan likes his wine and knows a bit about it. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:45 | |
He went into his local Tesco in Clacton | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
and bought a couple of bottles of the classy French wine Pouilly-Fuisse. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:52 | |
But when he got it home and drank it, he was in for a surprise. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
I opened it up expecting it to be a dry French wine. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:59 | |
I'm no expert, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
but I can tell a decent French dry wine to a cheap and sweet wine. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:07 | |
Daniel was convinced that what was on the label was not the wine | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
in the bottle. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:11 | |
Purchasing it from Tesco, | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
couldn't have thought that a counterfeit wine could have been sold. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:17 | |
Next day he took the bottle back to the supermarket to complain... | 0:05:17 | 0:05:21 | |
he was offered a refund. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
I declined, | 0:05:24 | 0:05:24 | |
and I just really asked for someone from Tesco to speak to me, | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
because I felt that, obviously, that wasn't right, | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
Tesco really shouldn't be... | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
Someone needed to explain the reasons why what was in the bottle | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
wasn't what it was actually supposed to be. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
I received a letter from Tesco saying that it was nothing to do with them, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
and it was in the hands of their wine distribution company. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
I've had a conversation with the wine distribution company, | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
who reimbursed me with two bottles of the actual wine | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
that it should have been and a bottle of champagne. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
But apart from that, there has been nothing more from Tesco | 0:05:59 | 0:06:04 | |
on this matter or anything else. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
Tesco point out that this is the only time this has ever happened | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
in one of their stores. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:11 | |
But two questions remain... | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
just what was in the bottle, and how did it get there? | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
Daniel's brought it along to a top wine expert in London | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
for some answers. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:22 | |
I thought we'd start off by tasting something I know to be real | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
Pouilly-Fuisse. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
And we'll see what it's like. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:28 | |
This is classic southern Burgundian wine. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
It's a chardonnay, it's 100%, so we should be getting some really | 0:06:31 | 0:06:35 | |
nice aromas of things like minerals from the soil. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
Let's have a taste. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:40 | |
Mmm. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:49 | |
Can you feel that creaminess coming from the oak contact? | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
Yes. But there's that lovely sort of fresh, mineral note. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
That's what Pouilly-Fuisse is all about. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
Let's have a look at your bottle now. | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
I can tell straightaway that this is a wrong 'un. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
That's the only way to describe it. Look at the shape of the bottle. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
Completely different shape. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
And when you're in the know, Burgundy comes in that shape bottle, | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
other wines come in this shaped bottle. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:14 | |
Louis Jadot I know never use screw caps. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
And this label, it's the wrong texture, | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
the label is just cheap and nasty. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
It should be a lot better than that. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
And, well, it looks pure filth... | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
let's see what it tastes like! Have a try. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
You can see, it smells completely different. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
A, there's hardly any nose on that... | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
Mmm. Mmm! Mmm! And it's sweet. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:43 | |
It's probably German, and it's probably not very good German. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
So it's German, cheap and definitely not Pouilly-Fuisse. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
But how did it get on Tesco's shelves? | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
Tom thinks the distributors were conned by the fakers. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
It's the most common fraud around at the moment - | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
people buy a batch of really cheap wine, | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
get some labels printed off, stick it on, and then just try and sneak | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
it into the supply chain of a big company, like they've tried here. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:10 | |
Having said that, again, | 0:08:10 | 0:08:12 | |
the people who've bought it probably didn't taste this wine. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
The way it normally works, from what I can work out, is that | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
if you ask for samples of wine, you get the genuine article, | 0:08:18 | 0:08:23 | |
but the fake stuff then gets slipped into the supply chain, | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
and hopefully gets lost in there. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
So it's really hard to trace it back. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
For Daniel, it's a relief to have the experts agree | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
that his suspicions were correct. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
It's the reason why I wrote in and went to see Tesco. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
It's proved it's true. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
Tesco believe that only nine bottles of the fake wine were ever in their stores, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
but Tom thinks there's a reason why we don't hear more about wine frauds. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
An awful lot of times I think people just taste it and they go, | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
"Well, I don't like that wine, throw it away." | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
Even if it's at the top end, | 0:08:55 | 0:08:56 | |
they very rarely think they've been defrauded, they just think they don't like the wine. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
Tom, I really appreciate you coming along today. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
You've brought this bottle along, and it's got what I would call netting on it... | 0:09:09 | 0:09:14 | |
but that's not for decoration, is it? | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
Well, no, this is an 18th-century anti-tamper device. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:20 | |
The Rioja producers, they had a report that certain innkeepers | 0:09:20 | 0:09:26 | |
in Barcelona were opening the wine, serving the wine and then filling it | 0:09:26 | 0:09:30 | |
with cheap plonk, resealing it, and selling the bottle again. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
In order to try and prevent that happening, | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
they put this wire netting over the bottle as an early anti-tamper device. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
How have things moved on since then, what do they do now? | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
There was a huge Rioja scam, involving hundreds of thousands | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
of bottles of Rioja wine, some of which ended up in the UK. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:53 | |
So the Rioja producers, | 0:09:53 | 0:09:54 | |
along with a lot of the producing areas in Spain, have put a seal | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
on their bottles to prove that the wine has come from Rioja. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
There's a Rioja stamp, and a number. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
You declare you're going to produce X number of bottles, | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
you get X number of labels. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:08 | |
But the problem is labels are easy to fake, | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
especially with technology. Most people can do that at home on a PC now. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
To try and prevent that, they've now put a hologram on the label. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:18 | |
As a general rule of thumb, for the layman, like myself, | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
what should I look out for when buying wine? | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
There's a number of things to look for. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:25 | |
One is the quality of the printing of the label. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
That's going to help you to some extent. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
The bottle shape is important. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
If you're dealing with wines from Burgundy or Bordeaux, | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
they have specific shapes for the bottles. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
So if the bottle's in the wrong shape, it's obviously a wrong 'un. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
Know your wines. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
Yes, know your wines. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:43 | |
Or certainly get to know them, if they're expensive wines. Yes. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
Information has been received that there are immigration | 0:10:51 | 0:10:54 | |
offenders working illegally at the premises. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:56 | |
In Hampshire, an enforcement team from the UK Border Agency | 0:10:56 | 0:11:01 | |
are preparing for an operation. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:02 | |
They suspect that a restaurant on their patch is employing | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
fake workers who have no right to take up jobs here. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
All put down what you're doing, put any knives down. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
Some estimates say that almost a million people are in this country illegally, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
and many of them are working. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
That's why the UK Border Agency carry out thousands of operations | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
like this in a year, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:26 | |
looking for people who falsely claim to have the right to work here. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
How many of these people live upstairs? | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
No-one inside is a UK national, | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
but many could have leave to remain, working visas or be students. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:39 | |
And one man has provided a straightforward answer on how he came to be here. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
He's told me he entered the United Kingdom by lorry. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:46 | |
Can you ask him when he entered by lorry, | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
and is he in contact with the Home Office? | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
HE SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
Entered by lorry in 1998. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:58 | |
He then made an application under the Human Rights Act in 2006, | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
but he says he hasn't heard anything else. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
He says he hasn't been given any reporting restrictions, | 0:12:05 | 0:12:07 | |
but I take it he's probably absconded. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
Staff will investigate his claim that he made a human rights application, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
but he's been here for 12 years. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
You've been here since 1998, and you don't speak any English? | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
He came here first of all on holiday. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:21 | |
I think you understand what I'm saying a little bit better | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
than you're letting on. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
A check on his records revealed he had no right to live or work here, and he's been arrested. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:31 | |
What's his present status in the UK? That's what I'm trying to establish. | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
Language barriers often exist on operations like this, | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
but the team have got interpreters on the end of a phone line. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:41 | |
I will get the interpreter to explain to you in a second... | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
This man has told officers that he has the right to work here | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
in the UK, but a check on their database is revealing a different story. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:51 | |
Information I have says he's got no visa to be a domestic worker. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
Can you just check that he understands the difference | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
between a working holiday maker and a domestic worker? | 0:12:57 | 0:12:59 | |
His visa is very specific and doesn't allow him to work in restaurants. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
Go back to work, I'm afraid! | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
And although the legitimate staff have now been allowed to start | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
cooking, customers might still have a long wait for food. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:19 | |
The UK Border Agency checks have also revealed that this waiter is | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
an over-stayer who should have left the UK some time ago. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
I'm just going to hold you quietly. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
I'll be very gentle. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
As a result of the operation, | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
three workers at the restaurant are now under arrest. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
One of them's an over-stayer, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
one of them's working in breach of his conditions, | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
and one of them came into the country illegally. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
The middle chap is a worker in breach. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
He came into the country on a visa which meant he was working | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
as a domestic worker. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:50 | |
He's not allowed to work in a restaurant, | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
he's only allowed to do a specific job role, and he's not doing that. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
These three were all cheating the system to work here, and many believe | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
this has a detrimental effect on the rest of the working population. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
Illegals often work for less money, which drives down wages | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
in the poorly paid jobs that legal immigrants often end up doing. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
And for having three fake workers, | 0:14:11 | 0:14:14 | |
the restaurateur was fined a total of ?15,000. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:18 | |
Still to come, designer labels at discount prices... | 0:14:18 | 0:14:22 | |
Well, that's what you're meant to think in this store. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
But everything you see here is a fake. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
Trading Standards in London's East End are in the market for a watch... | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
or 20. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
But all of them are counterfeit. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
And we're back out with the benefit fraud team as they target the fakers | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
who con thousands of pounds every year. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
This is Rebecca Towndrow practising some of the ballet movements | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
she and her sister learned in their training | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
at the Dance Lines Academy in Croydon. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:02 | |
Rebecca hasn't danced in front of anybody | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
since she left the dance academy. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
Something that happened there really knocked the confidence out of her. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:11 | |
Rebecca and her sister Kristina | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
were both learning to dance at the academy, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
run by qualified dance teacher Amanda Brugnoli-Lines. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:20 | |
I enjoyed it, because you met new people, | 0:15:20 | 0:15:24 | |
I learnt loads more things, and you get close to the teacher | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
when you keep on going years and years and things like that. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:31 | |
The girls loved going, getting dressed up, having their hair done. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:40 | |
Hair ribbons... | 0:15:40 | 0:15:41 | |
And it was all very, very exciting for them. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:45 | |
And for Lynne's elder daughter, Kristina, | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
dancing was more than just a hobby. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
It was something that I really enjoyed doing, | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
and at that stage, I did want to follow on | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
and go to the Brit School and actually be the prima ballerina! | 0:15:55 | 0:16:00 | |
Both the girls regularly sat exams set by the Royal Academy of Dance. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
Take your places at the bar, please. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
Their marks would be sent back to them via their dance tutor. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
The syllabus sets criteria which candidates have to meet, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
and obviously the requirements get progressively more difficult | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
as you go up the grades. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:21 | |
I wanted to get the grades, you always wanted to get that | 0:16:21 | 0:16:25 | |
grade A or distinction, you didn't want to get anything less... | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
just wanted to be the best. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
And the grades she was getting seemed to suggest the hard work was paying off. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
Thanks to the teaching of their instructor, | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
Amanda Brugnoli-Lines, the girls were getting great grades. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:41 | |
They all really wanted to do the best for themselves and for Miss Amanda. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
But something was very wrong at the academy | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
where the girls had been taught. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:49 | |
Rumours had begun to circulate that there was a problem with the exam certificates, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:54 | |
and their tutor had been arrested. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
I just bumped into somebody in Sainsbury's, of all places, | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
and she asked me if I had had the certificate checked. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:05 | |
And the next thing I got a phone call from the police asking | 0:17:05 | 0:17:10 | |
if they could come to see me and examine the certificates. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:13 | |
And I was just really shocked! | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
The rumour was that their dance teacher had committed such | 0:17:15 | 0:17:19 | |
a major fraud that it affected almost all her students. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:23 | |
It seemed she had been faking the results of the children's | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
dancing exams and counterfeiting their certificates. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:31 | |
Later on, we'll find out how and why she did it. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
You might expect to find fake goods like this for sale on some | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
dodgy market stall or even a boot fair. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
But I bet you'd be surprised to discover them in what seemed | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
to be a respectable shop close to one of London's busiest shopping areas, | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
the West End. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:56 | |
But that is exactly what Trading Standards officers discovered | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
when they went checking up on luxury goods for sale. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
Just a few miles away from Marble Arch in central London | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
is the district of Queensway. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:09 | |
Today, Westminster Trading Standards team are following up reports | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
from a private investigator that a shop here is selling top-notch | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
designer gear, but all of it is fake. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:21 | |
They're used to seeing a few fake goods on sale, | 0:18:21 | 0:18:23 | |
but a whole shopful would be remarkable. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
Watches, wallets and bags... | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
The man on the left is the private investigator that called them in. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:33 | |
He works on behalf of many of the designer labels whose goods | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
have been counterfeited, and he's just made a test purchase | 0:18:36 | 0:18:40 | |
at the suspect's shop and passed it to officer Frank King. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
The test purchaser on our behalf has asked for a Louis Vuitton item, | 0:18:43 | 0:18:47 | |
and it's been supplied for the money in a box | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
bearing the trade name Gucci, | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
which leads us to believe that there must be Gucci items there as well. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
Trading Standards now have all the evidence they need to raid the shop. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:02 | |
Who's in charge? I'm from Westminster City Council, Trading Standards. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
Looks like the private investigator was spot-on. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
This place is an emporium of the nation's most popular designer brands, but how many are fake? | 0:19:09 | 0:19:16 | |
This is one of the items that were purchased earlier | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
by the brand owner, Gucci, who confirmed that it was counterfeit. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:26 | |
In addition to that, they're selling it for ?40. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
To buyers, this all looks like bargain price designer gear, | 0:19:28 | 0:19:32 | |
but they don't realise they are actually overpaying for fakes. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
A normal person coming into a shop set out such as this, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
they think the items up for sale are genuine. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
The price, the pure presentation, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
leads anybody to believe that they are buying a genuine item. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
The reports were that every last piece of clothing | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
and all the handbags and belts are expensive fakes, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
and the team want a good nose around to check that's true. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
The jewellery on sale seems to be authentic, but after examining | 0:19:58 | 0:20:02 | |
all the clothes and bags, it seems this really is a shop full of fakes. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:07 | |
The store owner isn't on the premises, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
but has had a phone call from Trading Standards to give her some bad news. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
Her entire stock is being seized. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
Any bargain hunters who'd been shopping at this store will | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
probably feel they'd been ripped off. But with all the stock seized, | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
it's definitely the store owner who's lost out today. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
A very successful operation, bearing in mind the way in which this shop | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
has displayed its goods, and the price being offered for the items. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
72 bags of evidence... | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
approximate value is ?10,000, we estimate, today. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:01 | |
Still to come... | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
cheating the benefits system costs every household in the country, | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
but we're back out with the team who put a stop to fake claims | 0:21:14 | 0:21:18 | |
and get the fraudsters behind bars. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
Yeah, it's my picture, but it's not my one. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
Why would someone have your picture in their card? It's useless, isn't it? | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
How do you make a piece of cheap tat be worth 10 times as much? | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
Stick a counterfeit designer label on it, that's how. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
The second hand is not sweeping, it's just ticking round, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
it's kind of indicative that it's probably very cheap workings in there, really. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
And blue badges on the windscreen and red faces on the pavement... | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
we catch up with the drivers faking their entitlement to park. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:50 | |
This country is losing a billion pounds a year to benefit fraud, | 0:21:56 | 0:22:00 | |
and we've been following some of the people responsible | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
for tracking down the fraudsters. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
In Hillingdon, west London, the local council benefit fraud team | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
are about to raid another benefit fraudster. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
They believe he's used false documents | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
to set up an identity in the name of Jean Singlan, | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
purely to cheat the system. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
He's had ?20,000 in housing and other benefits. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
But now it's time to wake him up. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
There are two men inside, but not who they're looking for, | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
but there's post addressed to the suspect fraudster, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
and more of his letters lying around the flat. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
What's the landlord's name? Singlan. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
What's his first name? I don't know, I know his name is Singlan. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:49 | |
Because there's post in this address for Mr Singlan. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
Who's opened the post? | 0:22:52 | 0:22:54 | |
I don't know, because he's got the keys as well. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:58 | |
Why doesn't he take the bank statements with him? I don't know. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
Straightaway, the men have revealed that the target man | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
supposedly owns this flat, but is renting it out to them, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
thus invalidating any Housing Benefit claim. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
Who does this card belong to? One of my friends. What's his name? | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
Ali. Ali what? Ali... I don't know. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:20 | |
Strange to have a friend trust you enough | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
to look after his credit card, but you don't know his surname. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
And that's not the only thing that doesn't add up. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
The man has told officers he doesn't have a key for his own flat. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:33 | |
It doesn't sound right to me, you've been here for a year | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
and you don't have a key. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:37 | |
Your friend has the key but you don't have a key. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
Yeah, but I can't make... You can cut another key very easily. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
But I can't. What do you do when he's not here? | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
All the time, I call him. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:50 | |
Do you wait outside to get into the house? Yeah, that's it. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
This investigator can't be shown on television, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
but she's not convinced by their story. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
Their stories do not add up in any way. They just don't add up. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
For him not to have a key to the address, yet be living here... | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
With such suspicious circumstances, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
the team decide to search the flat thoroughly. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
There are no antiques in the attic, but there's something | 0:24:14 | 0:24:17 | |
that reveals a lot about this man's history. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
Have you been to Italy? No, I didn't. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
You've never been to Italy? I didn't. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
So, why have you got an Italian ID card? I don't have, man. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
Who's Fateh Hareri...? No, I didn't. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
That's you, isn't it? Yes, it's my picture. It's your picture. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:40 | |
You said you're Fateh. Just show me. No, no, just show me. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
I'm telling you. No, it's not my one, man. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:48 | |
You said it's your picture. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:49 | |
Yes, it's my picture, but it's not my one. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
Why would someone have your picture in their card - | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
it's useless, isn't it? Give me your names. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:57 | |
That's definitely you. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:05 | |
Yeah... | 0:25:05 | 0:25:06 | |
Although the suspect fake document isn't in the target name of Singlan, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:11 | |
this man is still being arrested for fraud. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
I'm going to arrest you for possessing a false identification. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
Next, the team need to have the document analysed by specialists | 0:25:17 | 0:25:22 | |
at the National Document Fraud Unit. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
This Italian ID document, which we think is a false document, | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
was found at an address where we went to interrogate | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
an arrest warrant with the police. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
We now need to have this document examined by yourselves, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:37 | |
to let us know if it is false. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
Yep, that's fine. Thank you. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
It is inkjet-printed, quite a basic printing method. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
It results in lots of random dots of ink. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
All of this should be solid line print, litho printed, | 0:25:48 | 0:25:53 | |
rather than inkjet-printed. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
This dark area of print should be Intaglio print, | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
like a raised ink on the surface. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
But I can run my finger across it, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
and you can't feel any raised ink on there at all. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
This border section on the inside is extra small print, | 0:26:05 | 0:26:11 | |
but it's actually quite difficult to read. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:13 | |
You can just about make out "Italia" there. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:19 | |
I-T-A-L-I-A. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
It's very difficult to read. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
And you can see all the inkjet-printed area around it too. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
After several tests, the expert is ready to give her final verdict. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:32 | |
I can tell you it is counterfeit. It's completely made up. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
That means he can put whatever identity on here that he wants. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
I can produce a statement for you so you can prosecute this person. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
As a result of Hillingdon Council's operation, | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
this man was sentenced to three months in jail | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
for possession of a fake identity document. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
As an Algerian, he had no right to stay or work in the UK, | 0:26:51 | 0:26:56 | |
but had used the fake ID to get a job nearby. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:58 | |
The other man in the flat was later found | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
to have used a fake French passport | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
to get a job with the same employer as his friend. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:07 | |
After the raid, he disappeared. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
The original target of the raid, | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
a man using a fake identity in the name of Singlan | 0:27:11 | 0:27:14 | |
to make a benefits claim, was not found. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:17 | |
But the fake claim has been stopped. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
Up like a rocket. That was better. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
Young children across Britain are as eager as ever | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
to become the performing stars of tomorrow. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
And sisters Kristina and Rebecca Towndrow | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
dreamt of becoming ballerinas. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
They studied at the Dancing Lines Academy in Croydon, Surrey, | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
and were passing their ballet exams with excellent grades. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
When I got my certificate, I went into school and showed my teacher | 0:27:47 | 0:27:52 | |
and the head teacher, and then they said that I did very well. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:56 | |
But the family had heard that their ballet teacher, | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
Amanda Brugnoli-Lines, had been arrested. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
Her pupils were about to find out | 0:28:02 | 0:28:04 | |
they weren't the brilliant young dancers | 0:28:04 | 0:28:07 | |
their exam results suggested. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:08 | |
And even the experienced detectives at Surrey Police | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
had never seen anything like it. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
We suspected that Amanda was basically forging | 0:28:14 | 3:00:23 | |
the results of dance certificates. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
She would enter pupils into examinations, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
they would achieve a Grade C or maybe a Grade D, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and she would increase those grades to a B or an A, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to give the child a better result in the examination. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The children at the dance school | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
thought they were flying through their exams, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but in truth, their teacher was faking their results. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
After each exam, the certificates with the grades | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
were sent out to Amanda Brugnoli-Lines. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
She replaced them with fake ones she made herself, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
with much higher grades. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Where Kristina and Rebecca thought they were getting distinctions, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
their real grades had only been passes. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I couldn't imagine her doing anything like that at all. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I was actually quite shocked, more than anything, when I found out. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And with a full roster of pupils dancing at the academy, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it was in their instructor's interest that they got good marks | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and kept paying for classes. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
If the marks their candidates receive | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
are higher than they would otherwise be, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
this can increase their standing in the community, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it can help their business, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and they see it I think in many cases as a personal reflection | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
of their standards as a teacher. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And when the fraud was finally discovered, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the police were left with the task | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
of shattering all the young ballerinas' dreams. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We spoke to all the students. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Delivering that news was particularly difficult. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
There were children as young as three years old involved in this, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and particularly children of a vulnerable disposition, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
they were told they were much better than they actually were, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and the personal effect, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the human effect on that, is quite devastating. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Some of the students had actually used the certificates, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
or the grades contained within the certificates, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to support university applications. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Others, it was something they were making life decisions on - | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
"Am I good enough perhaps to take a career in dance?" | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And some thought they were, rather incorrectly. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
For the girls, the fraud was a massive shock. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The children were really let down, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
because they put so much into it, they put so much work into it, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and effort, to be proud of themselves | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and to make the teacher proud of them. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
These are some of the certificates the girls received after exams. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
They thought they had done so well, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but all of these had been doctored by Amanda Brugnoli-Lines. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
If they had known that they weren't getting the grades | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
that would let them become professional dancers, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
they would have stopped having lessons. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
If I hadn't have got the good grades that I did | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and I was repeatedly getting lower grades, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
like I had actually got, I wouldn't have carried on lessons, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I would have packed it in then. And not carried on. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And if the girls had stopped dancing, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it would have saved their mum a lot of money. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
You're looking at ?10,000, you've got to be, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
including the extra coaching for exams, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
paying for the exams, the new uniform for exams. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I really hate to think what the exact sum would be. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Amanda Brugnoli-Lines was sentenced to two years imprisonment for fraud. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
She didn't help herself by telling police | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
that she was the victim of a harassment campaign, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and others at the school were responsible for the fraud. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Her claim backfired when police proved | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
that many of the threatening texts she had claimed to have received | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
were sent from a phone she owned. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And for young pupils like Rebecca, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
who thought they might be the dancing stars of tomorrow, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the shock and betrayal was enough to put them right off dancing lessons. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I really trusted my teacher, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I thought I could let my hopes on her, and she's done this to me. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
That was the thing that hurt me more, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the fact that she'd been hurt. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And although this is the first time she's danced for a while, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
getting up and having a go again | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
has left Rebecca in a more positive frame of mind about the future. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I'd like to go again and start doing ballet again | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and try and get my hopes back up again. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
A plane lands almost every minute at London's Heathrow Airport. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
As well as passengers, most of them are carrying large amounts of cargo. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Much of what arrives here ends up for sale on Britain's high streets, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but it's also a route that counterfeiters use | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to bring in millions of pounds' worth of fake goods. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
These officers are part of the detection team at Heathrow. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It's their job to search through the 25,000 tonnes of goods | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
that pass through the airport every day. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Today, they've seized various shipments | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
that they suspect are full of counterfeit clothes. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
If the team are correct, these goods won't be leaving the airport. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
These are Ralph Lauren polo shirts. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
They are more than ?100. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Ed Hardys. More than likely that these are counterfeit goods. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Oh, crikey. Sunglasses. That's Oakley. Armani. Ray-Bans. Watches. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We've got five there... It's very suspicious. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
These watches and clothes will all now be impounded. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
But inevitably, more will make it through | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and onto the streets of Great Britain. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
When they do, it's the job of Trading Standards teams | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to stop them being sold to the public. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We're in the Brick Lane area, we've seen a market trader | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
selling what we believe to be counterfeit watches. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Alan Richards of Tower Hamlets Trading Standards | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
is out on patrol at a Sunday market in his patch. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Most counterfeit sellers at least try and hide what they're doing, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but this man is adopting the broad-daylight approach. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Tower Hamlets Trading Standards department. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We've got concerns about some of the watches you're selling here. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
They're branded, they appear to have trademarks on them. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We've got concerns they're counterfeit. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Anything that's got a trademark on it - | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
for example, Armani, Versace, Guess, Lacoste... These are just copies. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
That's why we're here. If they were genuine, we wouldn't seize them. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
If you say, I'll remove it. I'm afraid we can't let you do that. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Once we've realised that there's offences, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
these goods become subject to seizure. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Can I get your name and address, please? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
As he's selling fake goods, the police decide | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to check out his identity. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He's given a name and address, but police think he is lying | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and ask to see some formal ID. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Why did you give me the wrong details? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I give you the correct address, but I changed address now. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
No, you gave me Arjen Nehtar, that is not your name. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It doesn't say... That's your photo on there. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The seller said he didn't know it was wrong to sell fake watches, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and now he says he didn't know it was wrong | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to give police the wrong name. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He's been very evasive. Lying to us. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I don't trust you now because you've been lying to us. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I showed you the ID and can show you the visa. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
His real ID and visa status are genuine, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but the watches he's selling certainly aren't. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The way the second hand is not sweeping, it's just ticking round, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it's kind of indicative | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
that it's probably very cheap workings in there, really. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It's the quality of the product, it's very light, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it's not going to fool anyone who knows what they're looking at. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
But despite the raid, some people can't stop themselves | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
from looking for a bargain. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Show me... No, move on. Oh, sorry. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
No, we're confiscating these, we're not selling these. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I'm sorry. Walk away, please, sir. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Please, do you mind moving away? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It's the fact that we're surrounded by police, gives it away. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
My word! | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
If the goods aren't produced by the trademark holder, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it's a criminal offence under the Trade Marks Act. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It's imprisonable with up to ten years in prison. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Now, some people buy these knowing they are fakes, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but they're often not worth even the money you pay for them. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The workings inside are cheap | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and if they didn't have a counterfeit brand logo on them, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
you would only pay a couple of pounds for them. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The watches weren't priced up so it's difficult to know how much | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
he was selling each one for. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I can imagine it would be around ?20 or ?25. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
They purchase them in the Far East or India for ?2 or ?3 a time. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He was probably making five, six times | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the value of the amount he paid for those watches. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
A blue badge like this is issued to people with a disability | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
so that they can use their car to get close to where they need to be. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
With one of these, you can park for free | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
on single and double yellow lines for up to three hours | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and for as long as you like at most parking meters. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Over the course of a year, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
one of these could save you thousands of pounds in parking fees. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And that's exactly the reason why some people | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
are faking their entitlement to use it. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We've been out with a council to do some checking, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and the results are pretty surprising. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
There are 2.5 million blue badges issued to people in the UK, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and the numbers are rising. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
You can park for free or park on yellow lines with one, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but you can't lend it out to someone else to help them save a few pounds. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
But in some cities, it seems that's exactly what fraudsters are doing, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
as much as 70% of the time. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
This is Fulham, west London, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and it's match day for the local football club. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
But fans aren't the only people out in force today. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Hammersmith Fulham Council Fraud and Investigation Team | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
are out on the streets, looking for anybody misusing a blue badge. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
They spotted a man parking with a badge. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He doesn't seem to have a disability. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The driver says he dropped his mother off elsewhere, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but that doesn't mean he can carry on using the badge. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Who is your mum with at the moment? Her cousin, Jean. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Do either of them have a mobile, by any chance? No. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And where are they now, exactly? They've gone shopping to Harrods. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Right. You're not allowed to use your mother's badge to park here. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The badge is going to be seized, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it is going to go back to the council. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The driver is leaving to park elsewhere, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but he's lost his mother her blue badge, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and parking fraudsters could get a ?1,000 fine. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
As the match starts, the team spot this taxi with a blue badge | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
registered to a local woman. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Unusual. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And when the match ends and drivers head back to their vehicles, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the taxi driver pitches up. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It's a man. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Who's that? It's my mother. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Where's your mother? I just dropped her off a little while ago. OK. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Take that back. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
What time? About 20 minutes before this. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Paul and his team think otherwise. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Who's she visiting? Er, friends. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I'm afraid we observed your taxi at the beginning of the game, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
so you've not just dropped your mother off. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Have you got your... Something with your address? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
All I've got is my season ticket... | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The man is denying he's misused the badge, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
so the police take a statement from him. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
You could be arrested - potentially it is fraud. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We saw the cab before the match. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He said to us that he dropped off the badge holder | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
half-an-hour ago | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and then parked there, which quite clearly isn't true. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And it's not just the cabbie. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
What's the story? Who's this? That's my mother-in-law. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Where's your mother-in-law? She's at Wardo Avenue, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
waiting for me to pick her up. Oh, OK. When did you park here? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Just after two. OK. Was she with you? No. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
OK. You can't use her badge, do you know that? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Not even if I'm dropping her off? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Where did you drop her off? Wardo Avenue, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
but the trouble is, I couldn't park down Wardo. So you then drove here? | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I stayed here for about half-an-hour and then I went along to the game. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
You watched the match? Yeah. OK. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We're going to take the badge today, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
it's going to go back to Hammersmith on Monday. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
She needs to go into Hammersmith | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and pick up the badge herself. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Well, she's going back to Peterborough. Oh, right. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The gentleman said he dropped his mother about 500 yards from here, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and I asked if he could phone her | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
or tell me exactly where he dropped her. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He was unable to say which house he dropped her at. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
He was also unable to phone either her | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
or the people she's gone to visit. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
So what I've said to him is if he can go and pick her up | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and bring her back, then we won't see it as misuse. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
But his response was that he's unable to do that. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
So we don't know where the mother really is. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
The man never returned with his mother-in-law. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
By the end of the day, the fraud investigation team | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
have made five seizures of badges | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
they suspect were being used fraudulently. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I think the people who've parked here | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
who are using someone else's badge to park near the stadium | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
are actually depriving a disabled person from parking | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
in that space near the stadium. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
I don't think they realise how selfish they're being. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
But it's not just misuse of badges that's happening in Britain. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
A few weeks later, on a different operation, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
the team come across an increasingly common find - | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
a completely fake blue badge. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
That was being used at Chelsea football ground | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
to get free parking just outside the stadium. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
It says it expires in 2018. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
These badges are only valid for up to three years, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
they've made a colour photocopy of the badge and laminated that. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
We find probably one fake badge every week or every other week - | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
so somewhere between three and four a month. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
And if you're faking the right to use a blue badge | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
and parking in a big city like London every day, | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
you could be fraudulently saving yourself ?5,000 a year. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
That will tempt some people and keep Paul's team busy | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
seeking out the fakers. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
That's all from Fake Britain today. Bye for now. | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media | 3:00:23 | 3:00:23 |