0:00:02 > 0:00:07Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Welcome to Fake Britain.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26- Get down! - Put your hands behind your back now!
0:00:26 > 0:00:28In this series, I'm going to be investigating
0:00:28 > 0:00:31the world of the criminals who make their money at your expense.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And I'm going to be showing you how not to get ripped off.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Today on Fake Britain - the takeaway pizza restaurants
0:00:39 > 0:00:42fooling the public by faking their ingredients.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45It's not ham as in...
0:00:45 > 0:00:47- Pork.- Pork.- Pork.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50The fake letting agents cheating people
0:00:50 > 0:00:53out of thousands of pounds and leaving them on the streets.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58'I met four other people who were waiting for the same flats'
0:00:58 > 0:01:01at the same time for the same keys.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04And the fake burglar alarm company
0:01:04 > 0:01:07conning pensioners out of thousands of pounds.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09The more elderly and vulnerable the person was,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11the more money they would charge.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Mis-selling food is a criminal offence.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25It's extremely dangerous and it is happening every day across Britain.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Today, Derby Trading Standards are out tackling
0:01:28 > 0:01:31a kind of food fakery that you might not expect...
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Pizza.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37It sounds unlikely, but pizza is big business,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41with people in the UK spending £749 million a year
0:01:41 > 0:01:43at their local takeaway
0:01:43 > 0:01:47and over 90% of households eating it at least once a week.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52The pizza industry is flourishing, and everyone wants a slice.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55But for some retailers, the attraction of the pizza market
0:01:55 > 0:01:58is so great that they want to sell it
0:01:58 > 0:02:00even if it means they have to fake it.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Evidence has come to light that takeaways across the UK
0:02:06 > 0:02:09are using fake ham on the pizzas,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14and Paul and Gabrielle from Derby Trading Standards decided to investigate.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16I did a test purchase exercise
0:02:16 > 0:02:20where I visited numerous establishments throughout Derby
0:02:20 > 0:02:24and was purchasing pizzas which had toppings on described as ham.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28The pizzas were tested to check that they were using ham
0:02:28 > 0:02:32instead of a ham substitute, and the results were surprising.
0:02:33 > 0:02:39We took ten samples altogether from a number of different establishments
0:02:39 > 0:02:47and of the ten samples, nine of those came back as not ham,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50as turkey on the pizza rather than ham.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53You might think that you'd be able to tell the difference
0:02:53 > 0:02:55between ham and turkey,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59but the turkey product that takeaways across Britain are using
0:02:59 > 0:03:02looks very similar to ham and you may have eaten it yourself.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04But it's not OK to sell something
0:03:04 > 0:03:07that only LOOKS like what it's supposed to be.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10So trading standards sent out warnings
0:03:10 > 0:03:12to the takeaways in their area.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14We went out and did some revisits
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and sent some letters out to our traders
0:03:17 > 0:03:19to give advice and information
0:03:19 > 0:03:23surrounding the sale of takeaway food and menu descriptions.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26All the takeaways found to be doing this bizarre mislabelling
0:03:26 > 0:03:28said it was because they are halal
0:03:28 > 0:03:31so they don't want to handle pork products,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34but they also don't want to advertise this fact
0:03:34 > 0:03:37since six of the UK's top ten favourite pizzas
0:03:37 > 0:03:38have pork products on them.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41So a pizza restaurant that didn't sell pork
0:03:41 > 0:03:44would be at a clear commercial disadvantage.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47We don't really mind what they put on the pizza
0:03:47 > 0:03:49as long as they are describing it correctly,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52so if they are putting turkey product on the pizza,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56as long as they describe it as a turkey product then there isn't an issue,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and similarly, if they want to describe it as ham,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03as long as they put ham on the pizza then that's perfectly fine as well.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06It's four months since the takeaways received their warnings
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and now it's time to revisit the offending restaurants
0:04:09 > 0:04:13to see if they've cleaned up their act.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15It might be worth you going in first
0:04:15 > 0:04:18- and just grabbing it and then we'll walk.- Yeah, OK.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22- Hi, there.- Hello, there.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29My name is Paul King. I'm from trading standards.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32There's my identification.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Paul explains that they're here to check
0:04:34 > 0:04:36that what they're putting on their menu
0:04:36 > 0:04:39is the same as what they're putting on their pizzas.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Cos I can see that you've got the turkey next to the ham
0:04:42 > 0:04:45on the Hawaiian, but obviously you would need to make it clear as well
0:04:45 > 0:04:48that that applies to the ham on the Napoli as well.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52After their warning, this shop has made an attempt to make some changes,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55but Gabrielle thinks there's still more they need to do
0:04:55 > 0:04:57to fully comply with the law.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00The issue is purely about describing things correctly.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Gabrielle asks the manager to show her the ingredients they're using.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Halal turkey julienne, so really what you should be describing it as
0:05:09 > 0:05:13is exactly what it says there - turkey julienne.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15The guidance we would always give businesses
0:05:15 > 0:05:18is to apply the description that you've got on the product
0:05:18 > 0:05:21that you've got from the wholesaler.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Customers should never be misled
0:05:23 > 0:05:26into believing they are buying something that they are not,
0:05:26 > 0:05:28especially where food is concerned.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31What you need to be aware of
0:05:31 > 0:05:35is that some people may have an allergy or intolerance to turkey,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37and if they see ham on the menu without turkey
0:05:37 > 0:05:41and they're thinking that it's pork, they could have a reaction to that
0:05:41 > 0:05:43and that's what we're trying to avoid,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46so that is more the issue than anything else.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51They label and bag the pizzas, give one to the shop,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55keep one for themselves and one will be sent to the public analyst.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58On to the next shop. Perhaps this one will fare better.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01And is this actually ham that's on the pizza, or is it...?
0:06:01 > 0:06:04- It's Turkey.- Right, OK.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08It's not ham as in...
0:06:08 > 0:06:11- Pork.- Pork.- Pork. It's not that, it's turkey.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13The word "ham" can only be used to describe pork.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17- Because we're not allowed to eat pork.- Yeah, you're halal.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20And the reason for that is that we can't sell that here
0:06:20 > 0:06:24then it would be wrong... Everything would be just halal.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25Yeah, no, no, I understand that.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29I appreciate that, that obviously you are a halal establishment,
0:06:29 > 0:06:35but there's no problem with you having turkey and not serving ham...
0:06:35 > 0:06:38- But don't call it ham. - Exactly.- That's it.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Like all the others, this shop is halal
0:06:42 > 0:06:44so they don't want to serve pork products,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46but they still want their customers
0:06:46 > 0:06:48to believe that they have it on their menu,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52so they continue to label their pizzas as ham.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55They've quite clearly broken the law
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and then a decision will need to be made,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00once the pizza comes back from analysis,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03as to what action we take next.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06If there is a history of offences by that business
0:07:06 > 0:07:10then it's more likely that we'll take a harder line with them.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12The team move on to a third shop
0:07:12 > 0:07:15which has been warned in the past for serving fake ham.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19- Hello, there.- Hello. - I've got an order to collect.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24We are doing a formal sample as part of a project on pizza.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27And once again Gabrielle and Paul find them serving
0:07:27 > 0:07:29a turkey substitute instead of ham,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32but the manager thinks he's got an excuse.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35He claims the business has just changed hands
0:07:35 > 0:07:38and the new owners weren't aware of the situation.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41So when did he take over ownership of the business?
0:07:43 > 0:07:45The third week.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48And his co-worker thinks that having only been here for a few weeks
0:07:48 > 0:07:50will get them off the hook.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Yeah, OK.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Yeah. Yeah.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03OK.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07OK, yeah.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Yeah, yeah. OK.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Unfortunately, that's exactly what's happened.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22- We were here in the summer and we bought pizzas.- In summer?
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Yeah, and then we came back in October and advised the business.
0:08:27 > 0:08:34And unfortunately now that is why this is a formal sample.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37But Gabrielle has noticed that there is a hole in this story.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40The reality is, the name of the person on the wall,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42on the public liability insurance,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44has at least been there since October last year
0:08:44 > 0:08:47and that is when we were out advising businesses,
0:08:47 > 0:08:48so it's a difficult situation
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and obviously we will be able to confirm who owns the business
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and how long they've owned the business,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56and it may well be that although that individual,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58the manager there tonight, hasn't had advice,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02the business itself, the business entity, has been advised.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Out of the three pizza shops visited,
0:09:04 > 0:09:06only one has shown any signs of improvement
0:09:06 > 0:09:11and the other two have completely ignored trading standards' warnings.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13Yeah, I am disappointed,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16because when you go to speak to people you really, kind of,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19hope that they're going to take on board what you are saying
0:09:19 > 0:09:21and there were some businesses that we visited,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23because we both visited last time,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25there were some businesses that I thought,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27"They're not listening to us,"
0:09:27 > 0:09:29but there were some businesses that we thought,
0:09:29 > 0:09:30"They are listening to us,"
0:09:30 > 0:09:34when actually it looks as if we may have been proved wrong
0:09:34 > 0:09:37in relation to the businesses we visited tonight.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41In the battle to stamp out fake ingredients being used on pizza,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44all of the shops are now facing legal action.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Thank you.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Burglar alarms are usually what we use
0:09:54 > 0:09:56to protect our homes and keep us safe.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58But when the fakers get hold of them,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01not only do they not do their job properly,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05but they also cause a whole load more problems.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08When Dennis Heath was contacted by Pentagon Security
0:10:08 > 0:10:10about having a burglar alarm installed,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12he'd already heard of the company.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16The Pentagon company I have known for a number of years,
0:10:16 > 0:10:21because I used to work in security for a number of years
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and I had come across them.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Graham Carling was contacted by Pentagon Security
0:10:25 > 0:10:28when they told him that they had taken over the contract
0:10:28 > 0:10:33of his current alarm system and that they would need to reinstall it.
0:10:33 > 0:10:40I first heard of Pentagon Security when they arrived out of the blue
0:10:40 > 0:10:46to say that they were taking over from 24/7 Security.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Apparently, Pentagon had taken them over about 12 months before
0:10:51 > 0:10:55and they said they would be running the monitoring and so on.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00But Pentagon Security were not who they said they were.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03They were trading on the reputation of this legitimate company -
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Pentagon Fire & Security of Birmingham -
0:11:06 > 0:11:10by unlawfully using their name and logo.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Attracted by what seemed like a bargain,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Dennis was tricked into using the fake Pentagon company
0:11:16 > 0:11:18for his home alarm system.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21The original contract price was just over £2,000.
0:11:21 > 0:11:28With the deductions and discounts, we came down to a figure of £1,131,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33which, for what was supposed to have been installed,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36was an excellent figure, an excellent quote.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39And Graham was cheated into buying what
0:11:39 > 0:11:42he thought was a top-of-the-range system.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48I eventually estimate that I paid the best part of £3,000 to them
0:11:48 > 0:11:52for various bits and pieces.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57But it wasn't long before the fake Pentagon's shoddy work practices began to show up.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03About three months after the system was installed,
0:12:03 > 0:12:08I noticed that my monthly telephone bill
0:12:08 > 0:12:12had moved from £30 a month
0:12:12 > 0:12:15to between £200 and £300 a month.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22It got to a stage that the supplier would allow me
0:12:22 > 0:12:27to receive calls but I couldn't make calls till I'd paid the bill.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31But the problem with Graham's phone line turned out to be actually
0:12:31 > 0:12:34a problem with his burglar alarm, which was faulty
0:12:34 > 0:12:38and had been phoning the monitoring station every three minutes.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44But fake alarms that didn't work wasn't the only way the fake company deceived their customers.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Dennis decided he wasn't happy with the pressure being put on him to pay
0:12:48 > 0:12:52by direct debit, so he decided he wanted to cancel his contract
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and get a refund, but when he contacted the fake company,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57he, too, hit problems.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00I rang his office.
0:13:00 > 0:13:06He wasn't there...so I said, "Right, will you please tell him
0:13:06 > 0:13:12"that as from now, that contract is cancelled, with immediate effect."
0:13:13 > 0:13:21I gave him...I think it was seven days in which to respond. Nothing.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Sandwell Trading Standards had started receiving complaints
0:13:25 > 0:13:29and it seemed like the complainants had one thing in common.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32The victims were all of a similar sort of age.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Our average age was about 71.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38It became quite apparent that the more elderly
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and vulnerable the person was, the more money they were charged.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45We found out from our investigations that these alarms
0:13:45 > 0:13:47cost between £200 and £300 off the shelf.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49They're being marketed as a tailor-made system
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and to some people, they're being sold for anything up to £3,000.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56And when the genuine Pentagon company got in touch with
0:13:56 > 0:13:59trading standards to let them know that people were contacting them
0:13:59 > 0:14:05with complaints, it was clear how widespread the problem had become.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08There is a genuine company called Pentagon Security Systems,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10which are based in Birmingham
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and who have got no connection whatsoever with this case.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Unfortunately, some of our victims,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17when they were trying to get an engineer
0:14:17 > 0:14:21or some sort of recompense actually contacted this company,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24and they were good enough on occasion to tell us
0:14:24 > 0:14:27that they'd received calls and there was another company
0:14:27 > 0:14:31operating in the same area using their name.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36And the fake company weren't only trading on the real Pentagon's reputation to sell their alarms.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38They also produced newspaper articles to
0:14:38 > 0:14:43terrify their elderly and vulnerable victims into buying their products.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46More than one victim said that they'd been shown press cuttings
0:14:46 > 0:14:49relating to elderly people who'd been attacked in their homes.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52When we executed warrants at the business premises,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56we found a number of press cuttings that we believe were used on these occasions to scare people.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00And trading standards also found that several key elements
0:15:00 > 0:15:03of the security system that the fake company had been selling
0:15:03 > 0:15:05were promised but never delivered.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09We recovered a large number of contracts which people
0:15:09 > 0:15:12signed in relation to these systems, and there are a number
0:15:12 > 0:15:16of disturbing features that we discovered when we looked at them.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18One of the first things was that they claimed it was
0:15:18 > 0:15:21a tailor-made intruder alarm system when we know for a fact
0:15:21 > 0:15:25that it was bought off the shelf for between £200 and £300.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Also, they claimed it was installed to British Standard
0:15:28 > 0:15:30when, again, it wasn't.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Graham's problem with his phone bill was soon resolved once
0:15:33 > 0:15:36the matter was in the hands of the trading standards.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42The trading standards officer severed the link from the alarm
0:15:42 > 0:15:50to the telephone and that was the end of the problem with the distorted bills.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54When it became clear that their attempts to resolve the complaints amicably
0:15:54 > 0:16:00weren't working, trading standards began to gather statements and prepare a criminal case.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03When we went to court, we had approximately 30-odd victims
0:16:03 > 0:16:06who were prepared to go to court and give evidence.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09There were many more victims that were too elderly,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12too confused or unable to make a statement of complaint
0:16:12 > 0:16:14in these cases that we couldn't use.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18We know the company sold over 100 systems to people
0:16:18 > 0:16:20in the time they were in business,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and every one of those, potentially, could have been a victim.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Harjit Kalian and his partner Ajay Chopra
0:16:27 > 0:16:30earned around £100,000 from their bogus security company,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34and the more that Gerry and his colleague looked into the con,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36the more disturbing they found it.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38They very soon realised that they could make
0:16:38 > 0:16:41a lot of money by targeting elderly vulnerable people
0:16:41 > 0:16:44and, to me, those sort of people are the lowest of the low,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46in terms of criminality.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50After pleading guilty to 22 counts of fraud,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Harjit Kalian received four-and-a-half years behind bars
0:16:53 > 0:16:57and his partner, Ajay Chopra, was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02Happy about the fact that he had gone down, and he wasn't going...
0:17:02 > 0:17:04for at least four-and-a-half years,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06he wasn't going to pester anybody else.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10I'm bitter about...I lost so much money...
0:17:11 > 0:17:18..and I suppose I'm angry with myself for being perhaps gullible...
0:17:19 > 0:17:24..um...and falling for their soft talk.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34When it comes to buying or renting a property,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37we put our trust in the property experts,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41but what happens when those experts are fakers who just want your money?
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Sophie Ocollier,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47a French marketing executive working in London was looking for a flat
0:17:47 > 0:17:49in Spitalfields in the East End
0:17:49 > 0:17:53and thought that she had found somewhere that was just perfect.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57I'd been looking for two months so I visited quite
0:17:57 > 0:18:03a lot of flats in the area - rubbish flats, nice flats but too expensive.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06This one was really nice because it was brand new
0:18:06 > 0:18:08and it was not that expensive.
0:18:08 > 0:18:14It was about £910 per month, without bills.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Sophie took photos while she viewed the flat
0:18:17 > 0:18:20so that she could show her friends and family.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Properties in this area of London are highly sought-after,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27so Sophie quickly decided she wanted to secure the flat.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31At the letting agent's office, everything seemed to be above board.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Everything seemed very professional.
0:18:33 > 0:18:39The business cards, the outfits, even the website was a real website.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43I checked if the agency was registered and it was,
0:18:43 > 0:18:48so everything really seemed clear to me, so that's why I gave them money.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Sophie signed on the dotted line and handed over the deposit
0:18:52 > 0:18:56and the first month's rent, totalling £2,000.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01But what Sophie didn't realise was that the letting agent she'd been dealing with were fakes.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05They'd gone to enormous lengths to construct this elaborate lie,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08including renting a temporary office in the same
0:19:08 > 0:19:12building as lots of legitimate companies, creating a website,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15registering their company and renting the flat that Sophie
0:19:15 > 0:19:19had visited from the real landlord, who runs the shop downstairs.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23I mean, we were letting out the apartment
0:19:23 > 0:19:29and he seemed like a reasonable client at the time,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33so we did the necessary checks, looked at his passport,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36bank statements, took copies and let it out to him.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Detective Sergeant Mark Simmons from the City of London Police
0:19:40 > 0:19:42took on the investigation.
0:19:44 > 0:19:50They placed an advert online over a period of around seven days.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Because they'd priced the flat also at much below market rent,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57it attracted an awful lot of interest.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01And a lot of viewings for a cheaper-than-normal property meant
0:20:01 > 0:20:03a lot of tenants for just one flat,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06all expecting to move in on the same day.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10The worst day of my life.
0:20:10 > 0:20:15I went to the agency and I met four other people who were
0:20:15 > 0:20:20waiting for the same flat at the same time
0:20:20 > 0:20:21for the same keys.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25So we were calling the estate agents, but they didn't answer.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28We asked the receptionist to open the doors of the office,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32which she did, and we discovered that everything was gone.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36It was empty. No desk, no phones, nothing. Nothing was there.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41When I saw all the people waiting for the same flat, I thought,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44"Oh, my God! That can't be happening!
0:20:44 > 0:20:48"It can't be true!" It was such a shock, really.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51I felt stressed,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54hopeless, homeless
0:20:54 > 0:20:56and, yeah, I didn't know what to do.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Sophie had arrived at the flat with a van full of her possessions,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04as had several of the other supposed tenants.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08It was now up to the police to establish who these fakers were.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12We were very fortunate in that two of the victims had almost
0:21:12 > 0:21:17inadvertently taken photographs with their phones of the interior
0:21:17 > 0:21:21of the flat and, fortunately for us,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25they'd also captured the image of a suspect.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28One of the guys who was unfortunately stung,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32he was outside, he actually showed us a photograph
0:21:32 > 0:21:35and we confirmed that that is actually our tenant.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39With the names of the fakers confirmed, Mark set about finding
0:21:39 > 0:21:43them by getting their pictures published in a national newspaper.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Through that, obviously, we were able to do our own work
0:21:46 > 0:21:50and find addresses for these people, find out where they'd been
0:21:50 > 0:21:53prior to this, what they'd been up to,
0:21:53 > 0:21:58and it sort of led to the successful arrest of one of the individuals.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04After pocketing upwards of £20,000 from all the people they'd deceived,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Tawfikur Rahman was sentenced to 14 months in prison
0:22:08 > 0:22:12but his colleague remains on the run.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Their fakery left at least ten people without somewhere to live
0:22:16 > 0:22:19and some of them thousands of pounds out of pocket.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24The situation left me with minus £2,000 on my account,
0:22:24 > 0:22:30so it was hard to recover from that, and, yeah,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34the past six months have been hard for me, yeah. Definitely.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Mark Denton is a plumber, based in Derby.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48To get from job to job he relies on his van.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53A van to us is possibly the most vital part of equipment that we use.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56It's got to start every day,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58it has got to take us to and from jobs.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03In need of a new van, Mark began scanning the trade magazines
0:23:03 > 0:23:07for a good quality, affordable, second-hand vehicle.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10He didn't realise it, but he was about to become the victim
0:23:10 > 0:23:14of a faker, one that would cost him thousands
0:23:14 > 0:23:16and drive him round the U-bend.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I found this particular vehicle,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22the price looked attractive, the mileage looked attractive.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Mark called the seller and arranged to go and view the van.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29The vehicle seemed perfect,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32so Mark and his company went ahead and bought it.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33I was really chuffed.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It was the type of vehicle I had wanted for a long while.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41But all wasn't as it seemed, and Mark started to notice problems with the van.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45After a few months, we started getting little issues with it.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Why is it using so much oil?
0:23:47 > 0:23:49It seems heavy on diesel.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Mark decided to get it checked out.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56I took it to our local mechanic, who gave it a check over
0:23:56 > 0:24:01and found that there was a lot of worn parts on the vehicle that,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04with the mileage it was showing, shouldn't theoretically be worn.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Mark couldn't understand why
0:24:07 > 0:24:12a van that had only 80,000 miles on the clock had so much wear and tear.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15But the truth was about to be revealed.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Nicola Schofield is a manager
0:24:19 > 0:24:23at Nottinghamshire County Council Trading Standards.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Around the time Mark bought his van,
0:24:25 > 0:24:31Nicola's team had been receiving complaints about other recently purchased vans breaking down.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35As the complaints came in, it was obvious they came from the same trader, from the invoices they had.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39They had all got the same trading name, from the same company.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42The company was the Premier Van Centre Nottingham,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45and the person who'd sold the vehicles was this man,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47Maxwell Alvey.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Nicola set out to put all the evidence together
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and try to solve the mystery of why all the vans bought from
0:24:53 > 0:24:55the company had problems.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00She discovered Alvey had bought most of them from the same auction house.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02'We asked the auction for a list of all the vehicles
0:25:02 > 0:25:04'that this particular trader had sold.'
0:25:04 > 0:25:06And then we got in touch with the Auto Trader,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10because we knew that some of the vehicles had been advertised through the Auto Trader.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Nicola cross-referenced the auction house's records
0:25:13 > 0:25:16with Alvey's adverts in Auto Trader.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18There was a crucial difference.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22In every case, the mileage in the adverts was a lot less than
0:25:22 > 0:25:25it had been when the vans had been bought by Alvey.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27After we contacted the auctions,
0:25:27 > 0:25:32we realised that Mr Alvey had sold 111 vehicles with a reduced mileage.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35There was only one conclusion -
0:25:35 > 0:25:40the mileage on all those 111 vans that Alvey had sold had been faked.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44And it made every one much more valuable.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47The odometer on each van, the device which registers how many miles
0:25:47 > 0:25:50each had travelled, had been tampered with.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52In other words, the vehicles had been clocked -
0:25:52 > 0:25:55and on a breathtaking scale.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Mr Alvey had knocked over a million miles off the total amount
0:25:58 > 0:26:01of vehicles that he had sold.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05It was one of the biggest fake mileage operations ever uncovered in the UK.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Nicola and her team meticulously tracked down all 111 victims of the fakery.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Mark Denton was among them.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18By now, he had spent some £1,500 on repairs to his van
0:26:18 > 0:26:22and the real condition of the vehicle had revealed itself.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26There is a lot of rust that has appeared on the bottom of the doors,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31little scabs have appeared all down the sides of the vehicle,
0:26:31 > 0:26:36the bonnet, particularly, that has appeared with tiny
0:26:36 > 0:26:39little spots, which, now I see them, obviously
0:26:39 > 0:26:43are probably stone chips from motorway mileage.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Mark was astonished to discover that his van had actually done
0:26:47 > 0:26:50an extra 200,000 miles.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53The clock had been wound back a jaw-dropping amount,
0:26:53 > 0:26:57the equivalent of travelling eight times around the world.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59I mean, we was absolutely astounded, you know.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03We couldn't believe that we had been, basically, conned.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08The actual speedo reading states 103,000 miles,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12but actually it's done 303,000.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Who would want to buy a vehicle with 303,000 on it? I certainly wouldn't.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19When Nicola and her team arrested Alvey,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22they made an astonishing discovery.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25He was running a production line of fakery.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Odometers were being rolled back and vehicles resprayed,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30to sell them on for vast profits.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35We found a lot of paperwork relating to the sales of the vehicles.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37He had 12 vans actually on the premises
0:27:37 > 0:27:39and only four of those hadn't been clocked.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43We found a lot of equipment on there for painting the vehicles,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46and we also found a computer, which did contain software
0:27:46 > 0:27:49that would be capable of clocking vehicles.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52In the past, people could do it by hand and turn the odometer back.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56But now that we've gone digital,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58a lot of it is done with computer software.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Maxwell Alvey pleaded guilty to ten counts of fraud.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09His fakery is estimated to have earned him over £100,000.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12I am happy that, you know, he has finally been brought to justice,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15and let's hope we get some compensation off this gentleman.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Who would want to buy a van with over 300,000 miles on?
0:28:18 > 0:28:23So, to us, it's scrap, basically, and it's cost us £6,500.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33That's all from Fake Britain today. Bye for now.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd