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Welcome to a world where nothing is quite as it seems. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
Welcome to Fake Britain. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
-Get down, get down! -On the floor now! | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
Put your hands behind your back now! | 0:00:22 | 0:00:24 | |
It's just an ordinary house. It could be anywhere in the country. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:29 | |
But this is the Fake Britain house, and it's filled with fakes. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
You may not know it, but your home could be too. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:37 | |
In this series, we'll be investigating the criminals | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
trying to get their hands on your cash, | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
by using fraud, | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
forgeries and fakery. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
And I'll be showing you how you can avoid being taken for a ride. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:51 | |
Today, on Fake Britain. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
The fake Facebook profiles making people's lives hell. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:58 | |
They were saying that I was an escort. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
Somebody might see me and think, "There's that girl who's an escort," | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
which is a horrible feeling to have. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
Fake washing powder and the dangers it poses to the public. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
It could be having ingredients that could cause cancer. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
Families at war, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:15 | |
how one man was nearly swindled out of his inheritance by a fake will. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:20 | |
The pain that has caused, it's just been horrendous. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:24 | |
And how a gang of fakers conned and robbed NHS staff | 0:01:24 | 0:01:29 | |
up and down the country. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
They were very serious adversaries. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:33 | |
We could not predict when they were next going to strike | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
and that made them very difficult to catch. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
We Brits love Facebook. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
The company says 24 million of us log in every day. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:50 | |
And over half the UK population has an active account. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:55 | |
Look, even Fake Britain's got one. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:57 | |
But what happens when someone creates a fake profile | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
in your name to try to defraud you and your friends? | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
Facebook estimates there are over 80 million fake profiles out there. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:14 | |
Many of these are harmless, but a significant number, | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
maybe as many as 14 million according to Facebook itself, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
are being operated by fraudsters. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
So who's being targeted by the Facebook fakers? | 0:02:25 | 0:02:29 | |
One man who knows what it's like to have your Facebook profile faked | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
is Father Peter Wilson. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
He's a priest in a London parish | 0:02:38 | 0:02:40 | |
and he uses Facebook to stay in touch with his flock. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
But one day, he got a phone call he wasn't expecting. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
A friend got in touch, and said, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
"I think your identity's been stolen | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
"because you've just approached me asking me for money, | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
"and I don't think it is you." | 0:02:55 | 0:02:56 | |
I laughed it off, but then more and more friends got in touch, | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
and it soon emerged that somebody had indeed taken my photograph | 0:03:01 | 0:03:05 | |
and set up an alternative account in my name, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
and had approached all my friends asking for money. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
They knew it wasn't me | 0:03:11 | 0:03:12 | |
because they know I wouldn't do something like that. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
And it turns out that Father Peter is not the only man of the cloth | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
to be targeted in this way. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
I know in the past few days, another priest colleague of mine | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
has had the same happen. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
Before anyone was taken in by the bogus account, | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
Father Peter managed to alert Facebook | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
and the fake profile was taken down immediately. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
But not every victim of the Facebook fakers gets away so lightly. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:42 | |
Bromley resident Jasmine Jones deactivated her Facebook account | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
a couple of years ago. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
So she was surprised to see a message from Facebook. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
I had an e-mail notification to say, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:51 | |
"Your Facebook has been reactivated," | 0:03:51 | 0:03:53 | |
which I thought, how strange. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
I didn't even know this was possible. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
I assumed my Facebook had been deleted | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
and all the pictures had gone. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:00 | |
Only did I find out that you can just type in your password again | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
with your e-mail address, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:04 | |
and that same Facebook you had years ago has never been deleted. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
Jasmine's old Facebook account had been hacked. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
The faker had somehow figured out her password | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
and now had complete access to her old account. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
Jasmine contacted Facebook immediately. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
If you actually contact Facebook, | 0:04:22 | 0:04:25 | |
it takes them two or three weeks to completely delete that account. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
And by that time, it was too late. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
The person had already taken so much information from my e-mail addresses | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
and saved so many pictures from my old Facebook, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
they'd already started becoming me. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:39 | |
They'd read all my messages, so they saw exactly how I spoke. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:43 | |
Exactly what sort of friends I have, where I'd been out, | 0:04:43 | 0:04:46 | |
they'd also saved videos of my friends and I | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
when we'd gone on trips, like to Thorpe Park. | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
So effectively, they'd just sort of taken all my identity | 0:04:50 | 0:04:54 | |
and were waiting to build on it and start a scam and make money from it. | 0:04:54 | 0:05:00 | |
And it didn't take the faker long to go to work. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
When I looked online, there were ten fake Facebooks of me. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
They were saying that I was an escort. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
And that people could pay this person money | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
to come and meet up with me. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
So I just thought, I went to the police about it and I said, | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
"This is getting outrageous. It's defamation of character. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
"I'm a law graduate, I'm not an escort." | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
Fake profiles, which used Jasmine's images | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
but different names, were appearing on Facebook. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
The faker was using the profiles to befriend other Facebook users, | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
flirting with them, and then once a relationship had been established, | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
offering them sex in exchange for money. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
Jasmine notified Facebook every time it happened, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
but hours after one profile was taken down, another would appear. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
The fake profiles that the fraudster had created | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
continued to have a very real impact on Jasmine's life. | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
Somebody might see me in the street and think, "There's that girl | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
"who's an escort," which is just a horrible feeling to have. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
And is the person who's pretending to be me, | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
am I looking them in the eye every day? | 0:06:10 | 0:06:11 | |
Like Jasmine, most victims of Facebook fakery | 0:06:13 | 0:06:16 | |
have no idea who the faker is. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
But what happens when you discover that the person | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
who's hacked your Facebook account is someone you know? | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
Later, we'll meet a young woman still coming to terms | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
with having her Facebook profile faked by someone she trusted. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:32 | |
Getting our whites whiter is big business. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
Millions of packs of washing powder are sold every year in the UK, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:46 | |
and you can bet when there's big money on offer, | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
the fakers want to get involved. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
We've seen a lot of counterfeits in the Fake Britain house. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:55 | |
But are you prepared to take the challenge? | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
Can you tell which one of these is fake, and which one is real? | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
Well, as our story shows, the packs may look very similar, | 0:07:01 | 0:07:07 | |
but what's inside can be very different. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
Today we're with Mark Rolfe from Kent Trading Standards. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
He's just found out that the authorities have seized | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
a suspicious shipment of washing powder at the port of Dover. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:24 | |
We're on our way to the docks. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
We've had a call from our colleagues in the Borders Agency, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
who tell us that they've got a lorry load | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
of what they think is fake washing powder. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
So we're going to go down to the port, see what they've got, | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
and if they're right, as they usually are, it's fair to say, | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
then we'll take possession of it and deal with it from there. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
And Mark needs to act quickly. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
It's really important for us to get to the docks as soon as we can, | 0:07:48 | 0:07:53 | |
to assess what's there, what's going on and to take the right action | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
and get hold of the product. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:57 | |
And stop it going any further into the consumer chain. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
It's a massive haul. The largest seen in the UK for four years. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:10 | |
There's 33 pallets here, which is just over 2,500 packets. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:15 | |
Or 21 tonnes of fake washing powder. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
We estimate that will be worth about £50,000. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
Mark goes to work. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:24 | |
He's looking for telltale signs that the powder is fake. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
And the smell of the product is a useful indicator of fakery. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
I was having a sniff, because our experience is that quite often | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
these fake washing powders contain chlorides, which is kind of bleach. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:43 | |
Often, you can smell that when you open the box. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
This one certainly doesn't smell like a premium brand washing powder. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
So, what's in fake washing powder? | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
And does using it pose a risk for you and your family? | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
Ian Niven is a chemist. He's spent the last 30 years | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
formulating and testing washing powders | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
for major detergent brands. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:09 | |
He believes fake washing powder | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
poses a number of serious health risks to the public. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
When you buy a fake product, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
do you really think that somebody who's cheating the consumer in | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
that sort of way is going to be that bothered what goes into his product? | 0:09:20 | 0:09:24 | |
So, you could, at the worst, | 0:09:26 | 0:09:27 | |
be having ingredients that could cause cancer. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
You can certainly have ingredients that would cause irritation. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
Because the formulation will be very carefully specified. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
So, babies, for instance, with sensitive skin, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
you could have real problems using a fake product. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:43 | |
And what will a fake product like this do to your clothes? | 0:09:43 | 0:09:48 | |
You'll get clothes going yellow, perhaps, | 0:09:48 | 0:09:50 | |
because it doesn't remove the fats. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
You could have clothes losing their colour and fading, | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
because the bleach is too aggressive. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
Or maybe it won't remove the stains at all | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
because there's no bleach in there. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:00 | |
We asked Ian to compare the fake and the real products. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:04 | |
My first impression is that this looks a very good product. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
You can see all the granules in there, | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
and they're not clumped together at all. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:13 | |
If we move to the other product, you can see lots of lumps. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:17 | |
And all that powder stuck to the sides of the box, | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
it's not the sign of a quality product. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
A quality detergent product | 0:10:22 | 0:10:23 | |
will never stick to the insides of the pack. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:25 | |
So if you bring one home and find it stuck like that, | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
it may be you've got a fake. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:30 | |
So, what is actually in this box of fake washing powder | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
and could it be harmful to you and me? | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
We asked Dr Daniel Driscoll at Surrey University to analyse | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
the fake powder and find out exactly what it consists of. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
These fake washing powders consist mostly of a compound called | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
sodium carbonate, which you can buy in a supermarket, | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
usually labelled as soda crystals. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
And there's also some cheap fragrance thrown in | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
to try and make it at least smell of something. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:02 | |
And then it's all mixed together and put in a cheap cardboard box. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
The washing powder manufactured by the big brands is closely regulated. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:10 | |
And hundreds of tests are carried out | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
before the product hits the shelves. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
One key test is for pH, which measures acidity. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:20 | |
We asked Dr Driscoll to test the pH of the fake product | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
and the real thing. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
No washing powder sold in the UK will have a pH of over 11. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:34 | |
The real product measured 10.7, | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
well within safe levels for a product like washing powder. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:42 | |
What about the fake? | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
And we see the fake sample has a pH of 11.5. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:49 | |
It's a shocking finding. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
The fake powder is as corrosive as some household bleaches | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
or oven cleaners. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
The fake washing powder has a high pH. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
This could be a problem if you have wet hands | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
and touch the powder, as it could start causing skin irritation | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
or possibly even minor burns. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
And given how corrosive this product is, | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
Dr Driscoll is also concerned about the risks | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
the fake washing powder poses to young children. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
If a child were to swallow this fake washing powder, | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
there's every chance it could do some real damage. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:25 | |
There is unlikely to be any safety controls as there would be | 0:12:25 | 0:12:28 | |
presumably with the genuine powders, | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
such as other compounds included to minimise the damage. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
This fake washing powder is very unlikely | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
to have such things in place. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
Making sure that YOU make decisions | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
about what happens to everything you own when you die, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
and not have someone else doing it, isn't that difficult. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
You just write one of these, a will. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
It's an important legal document, but even a will can be faked. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:59 | |
And when it is, like this one, it can devastate the families involved. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:04 | |
Stephen Crisp recently lost his grandfather, Bob. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
A man who helped to bring him up. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:13 | |
He was a good grandfather. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
And I went to live with them, my grandad and my nan, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
when I was younger. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
Bob had owned a house and had over £10,000 in savings. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:29 | |
Several months before his death, he wrote his will, | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
dividing his estate between his grandson Stephen and Stephen's aunt. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
Bob took the further precaution of providing each of them with a copy | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
of his will, and asked them both not to disclose the contents to anyone. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
Bob was close to Stephen, | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
but had had a difficult relationship with his own son, Nigel, | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
Stephen's father. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:53 | |
Just before he died, Bob asked Stephen to look after his affairs. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:58 | |
My grandfather, a few weeks before he passed away, | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
gave me all his bank account details and everything for me to look after. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:08 | |
Immediately after Bob's death, Stephen's father, Nigel, | 0:14:10 | 0:14:14 | |
began insisting there was no need to invite anyone to the funeral. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:18 | |
Which Stephen found strange. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
Soon after the funeral, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
Stephen needed to access his grandfather's account | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
to cover maintenance bills on his grandfather's house. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
But he was in for a nasty surprise. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
When I went down to the bank, | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
and I see the lady, and said to her, | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
"I'm trying to get some money out of my grandfather's account." | 0:14:37 | 0:14:41 | |
Took all his details. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
And she was like, "Yeah, I'm afraid that account has been closed." | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
I asked, "How could that have been closed?" | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
And she said, "Well, somebody has come down here, | 0:14:51 | 0:14:55 | |
"they have used a death certificate and a will." | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
Bob's bank account had been emptied. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
His life savings, over £10,000, gone. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
When Stephen asked why the bank had paid out the money, | 0:15:07 | 0:15:10 | |
he was told that someone claiming to be both the executor | 0:15:10 | 0:15:14 | |
and beneficiary and possessing a will confirming those facts | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
had withdrawn the money and closed the account. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
Stephen was furious. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
He immediately applied to have | 0:15:23 | 0:15:24 | |
his grandfather's estate placed in probate. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:27 | |
This put the process on pause, | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
and dispersal of his grandfather's estate | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
would have to be reviewed by a legal authority. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
But Stephen was in for a further shock. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:38 | |
I was driving past one day, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:41 | |
and I noticed two "For Sale" boards outside my grandfather's house. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:47 | |
So I rang up one of the estate agents, who I know very well, | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
and he said that, "Your father's put it on." | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
I said, "He can't, it's in probate." | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
And that was when I decided then that, you know, enough's enough. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
Seeing that his father was only weeks away | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
from selling the property, valued at £135,000, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
Stephen contacted the police. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
His case was dealt with by DC Jill Lacey. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
I went and met Stephen myself, | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
spent quite a lengthy time talking to him | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
and other members of the family. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
After which it became fairly apparent that indeed, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
a fraud had taken place, | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
and there ensued the criminal investigation. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
DC Lacey conducted a search of Nigel and Jenny Crisp's house. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
She recovered what she suspected was the fake will. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
The case would hinge on being able to prove the will Stephen had | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
was real, and the one recovered from his parents' house was fake. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:55 | |
This is a copy of the will that was written by the offenders. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
These documents can be downloaded from the internet for a small fee, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
they can purchased in supermarkets. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:05 | |
All that's needed is for the document to be witnessed, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
taken along to a financial institution, | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
as was in this case, and the money is accessed and it's gone. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:17 | |
Conveniently, the two witnesses who'd signed the fake will | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
were both dead. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:23 | |
If DC Lacey was to prove the will was indeed a fake, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:26 | |
she'd need conclusive evidence. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
She decided to have a handwriting expert examine the will. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
Handwriting samples were taken from both suspects | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
and those samples, along with the suspected fake will, | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
were sent to be analysed. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:42 | |
These are some handwriting specimens written by one of the suspects, | 0:17:43 | 0:17:46 | |
they were written for the police. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:48 | |
And they contain several lines of the text | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
that is present within the will. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
It was clear to the analyst that Nigel Crisp's handwriting | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
and the handwriting used in the suspect fake will | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
were remarkably similar. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
It wasn't particularly sophisticated, | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
it was simply a document that was written out | 0:18:06 | 0:18:08 | |
in more or less the person's normal handwriting. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
It wasn't particularly disguised, | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
it was maybe a little bit carefully written, | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
but I've seen many documents that are much more disguised than this one. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
The handwriting proved to be Nigel's, Stephen's father. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:24 | |
This gave DC Lacey the conclusive piece of evidence she needed. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:29 | |
Nigel and Jenny Crisp maintained their innocence | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
throughout the investigation, but once the case came to court, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:36 | |
they admitted their guilt. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:38 | |
Nigel admitted the offence of making a false instrument, | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
while Jenny admitted to using a false instrument with intent. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
Both received suspended sentences, | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
and have been ordered to repay Stephen Crisp and his aunt £16,000. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:53 | |
Criminal cases which set members of a single family | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
against each other are particularly difficult | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
for both the family members involved | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
and the police officers investigating. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
The pain that has caused, it's just been horrendous. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:09 | |
You're asking people to provide information | 0:19:09 | 0:19:14 | |
to an investigation against a father, a mother, | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
any other relative, and it's really quite difficult. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
But I think there's always going to have to be a good reason | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
for doing that, and I feel in this case there was. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
Over the last few years, an increasing number of fake wills | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
have been used to steal inheritances. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
Nigel and Jenny Crisp used a will template | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
downloaded from the internet to create their fake will. | 0:19:36 | 0:19:40 | |
So, has the availability of do-it-yourself wills | 0:19:40 | 0:19:44 | |
made making a fake one all too easy? | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
And what can you do to protect YOUR will? | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
Richard Roberts is one of the UK's leading experts on wills | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
and he currently chairs the Law Society's wills committee. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
Fake wills are certainly on the increase. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
Part of that is down to the fact that it's now easier to create | 0:20:03 | 0:20:08 | |
a fake will, primarily because you can use the internet to create | 0:20:08 | 0:20:13 | |
a will and therefore, unscrupulous relatives are using that as a means. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:18 | |
And Richard has some advice for anyone planning to make a will. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
In Stephen's case, I think | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
the real key point there was that the will was made by a solicitor. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:32 | |
Now, of course, as a lawyer, | 0:20:32 | 0:20:33 | |
I'm bound to say that it's the right thing to have a solicitor | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
make your will, but in this case, it really was helpful | 0:20:36 | 0:20:40 | |
because that solicitor had a valid will with a proper signature on. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:45 | |
It was therefore very much easier for the police to uncover that | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
sort of fraud. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:50 | |
HE GIGGLES | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
Six months after seeing his parents' fakery exposed, Stephen has been | 0:20:55 | 0:21:00 | |
able to sell his grandfather's house and he's moving on with his life. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:04 | |
But repairing family ties is going to take some time. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
My mother, she will come over and see me still. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:15 | |
Even after what she has done, | 0:21:15 | 0:21:18 | |
I still try my hardest to keep a relationship with her. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:23 | |
And for Stephen's oldest son, Thomas, who used to | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
visit his grandparents, the family discord has been unsettling. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:33 | |
We just have to try and work through it as a family with him | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
and, you know, help him get over it and also, you know, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
to help Stephen as well cos he's got no contact with his dad any more. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
Stephen still muses on what his grandfather would make | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
of the sequence of events that followed his death. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
I know he wouldn't be surprised of what has happened. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:54 | |
He did warn us, before he passed away, that we need to | 0:21:54 | 0:21:59 | |
watch Nigel as he knew what he was capable of. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:05 | |
When you work for one of the world's biggest employers, | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
not to mention a much-loved and trusted British institution, | 0:22:13 | 0:22:18 | |
you might assume that you're free from the clutches of fakers | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
while you're at work. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
But as many NHS employees, | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
from consultants through to cleaners discovered, | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
they were being targeted by criminal gangs | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
while they were working in hospitals across the country. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
In 2009, a gang calling themselves the Coventry Falcons began | 0:22:39 | 0:22:44 | |
faking their way into NHS hospitals up and down the country. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
The gang were expert con artists. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
They'd pose as NHS staff in order to steal bank cards | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
from off-limits areas. | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
They'd then go on to commit multiple frauds on the stolen cards... | 0:22:58 | 0:23:03 | |
and they'd often return to the same hospital as many as six times. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:07 | |
The gang's crime spree was the largest | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
and longest-running series of frauds ever carried out against NHS staff. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:16 | |
Dave Cockburn is the security supervisor at | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
Northampton General Hospital, one of the hospitals targeted by the gang. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:24 | |
They were very serious adversaries. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:27 | |
We could not predict when they were next going to strike | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
and that made them very difficult to catch. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:32 | |
But it wasn't just Dave's patch. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
Northampton was one of over 20 NHS hospitals targeted by the gang. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:40 | |
Chris MacDonald works for NHS Protect, | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
the government agency tasked with protecting NHS staff. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
From 2010 onwards, | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
he was deluged with reports of theft from staff-only areas. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
I think they saw hospitals as being a relatively easy target | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
because they're big, open places with lots | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
and lots of people milling around all the time, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:04 | |
so they don't stand out as being anything other than somebody | 0:24:04 | 0:24:06 | |
who perhaps should be there. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
And they dressed as if they should be there. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:10 | |
The fraudsters would dress smartly, | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
hoping to pass themselves off as NHS staff. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
Some of the gang used fake NHS IDs. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:23 | |
Others would just walk around confidently, | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
with a piece of paper in their hand | 0:24:26 | 0:24:28 | |
or a mobile phone pressed to their ear. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:30 | |
They were trying to blend in and go unnoticed. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:33 | |
They were confident enough that if they were approached, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
they would be able to say, "I'm simply here to do X, Y or Z," | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
whether it be a survey, whether they try and pass | 0:24:40 | 0:24:42 | |
themselves off as a clinician or something along those lines. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
They were coming into the NHS in order to make use | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
of a weakness that they've perceived, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
and they were very specific in the areas they would target. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
They'll arrive at a hospital by car, | 0:24:57 | 0:24:59 | |
they'll drop off the person who's going to be doing the theft. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:03 | |
Areas that contain the offices of the staff have got access control. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:09 | |
In other words, a member of the public can't get in because they've | 0:25:09 | 0:25:13 | |
either got to use a swipe card or put in a code into a digital lock. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
So to get into those offices, what the group do | 0:25:17 | 0:25:19 | |
is they hang around outside, quite literally, | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
often with a telephone to their ear, and then, | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
when a member of staff comes to go through the door, | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
they either, as they release the door lock, | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
hold the door open for them then follow them through | 0:25:29 | 0:25:31 | |
or just straightforward, | 0:25:31 | 0:25:32 | |
catch the door after the person's walked through and walk in. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
It's as simple as that. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:36 | |
They will gain access to that access control corridor area. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
They'll go into an empty office. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:42 | |
They'll steal a wallet or purse and they're out. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
And they're in there for less than a minute, usually. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
About half an hour later or so, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:50 | |
the staff member that's lost the wallet will receive a phone call | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
purporting to come from the fraud department of their bank. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:56 | |
And they're very convincing. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
They'll convince that person that they are from the bank. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
And they'll do that simply by giving them their name, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
their date of birth. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:06 | |
They'll do that cos they've got the driving licence. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
And they'll even tell them what they used their credit card for last. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
They'll do that because nine times out of 10, | 0:26:13 | 0:26:15 | |
people put the receipts in their wallet. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:17 | |
The fake bank call was at the very heart of the scam. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
The gang's ability to convince their targets | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
they were being contacted by real bank staff | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
allowed the Coventry Falcons to steal | 0:26:28 | 0:26:30 | |
an estimated £500,000 from the accounts of hard-working NHS staff. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:37 | |
One of those who received a fake call was Kelly. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
She works as a sister on a busy ward. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
I came into work on the ward, as I usually do, | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
and then got an urgent phone call. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:49 | |
His name was Michael | 0:26:51 | 0:26:52 | |
and he was calling from the Royal Bank of Scotland. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
He knew everything about me. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
He asked me to confirm my last transaction on one of my cards. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:01 | |
I couldn't remember because I was just so upset and I said, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
"Yes, I think that's a transaction I've made," | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
and he named a shop and the total amount of what the bill was | 0:27:07 | 0:27:12 | |
on what I know now to be the receipt. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
This fake call had only one purpose - | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
to persuade the victim to hand over their PIN. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
To do this, the faker needed to make Kelly panic. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
In reality, your bank will NEVER ask for your PIN, | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
either on the phone or via mail or e-mail. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:32 | |
He said that there was a lady in the Royal Bank of Scotland who | 0:27:32 | 0:27:36 | |
had gone to the cash desk and had asked to withdraw £1,000 in cash. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:42 | |
Completely convinced by the caller and anxious to prevent money | 0:27:42 | 0:27:46 | |
being stolen from her account, Kelly revealed her PIN number. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
Within minutes, the gang were inside an RBS branch, | 0:27:50 | 0:27:54 | |
emptying her account of just over £2,000. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:57 | |
Such thefts have left many NHS workers deeply concerned. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:02 | |
No-one expects to be a victim of fraud in their workplace. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
I felt very alone, like I was the only person in the world that | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
something like this had ever happened to. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:12 | |
Yeah, just really silly that that one time | 0:28:12 | 0:28:16 | |
I didn't lock the door behind me was the one time that someone came in | 0:28:16 | 0:28:21 | |
and took my possessions from me and just knew everything about me. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:26 | |
Like Kelly, many staff also lost possessions they can never replace. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:31 | |
I lost valuables that day as well. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:33 | |
I lost valuable photos and just stuff that meant something. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:39 | |
In total, the gang targeted over 25 hospitals, sometimes returning | 0:28:42 | 0:28:47 | |
to the same one months later and revisiting on several occasions. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:52 | |
Later, we'll see how NHS Protect | 0:28:56 | 0:28:58 | |
and the police caught up with these fakers and put them behind bars. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
You'll see a nurse going through that door, and here he comes now. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
Earlier, we met Jasmine Jones. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
Her Facebook profile had been hacked | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
and pictures of her were being used on fake Facebook profiles. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:22 | |
Some of these profiles were stating that Jasmine was an escort. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:26 | |
Somebody might see me in the street and think, | 0:29:26 | 0:29:28 | |
"There's that girl who's an escort," which is | 0:29:28 | 0:29:30 | |
just a horrible feeling to have, and is the person who's pretending | 0:29:30 | 0:29:33 | |
to be me, am I looking them in the eye every day? | 0:29:33 | 0:29:35 | |
Jasmine is still trying to find out WHO created these fake | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
Facebook accounts. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:40 | |
But what's it like when someone close to you fakes your profile? | 0:29:40 | 0:29:44 | |
There we go. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
Abbie Brown is a single mum from Burnley. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
She's always loved using Facebook. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:51 | |
I talk to my friends on it every day, socialise through it, | 0:29:51 | 0:29:56 | |
contact my family through it. | 0:29:56 | 0:29:58 | |
But last year, | 0:29:58 | 0:29:59 | |
something strange happened to Abbie's Facebook profile. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
One day, I went to go on it and I couldn't get on it, | 0:30:03 | 0:30:06 | |
so I reported it and left it as that. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
Abbie didn't hear back from Facebook, | 0:30:10 | 0:30:12 | |
so she decided to open a new account. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:14 | |
Shortly afterwards, one of her closest friends since childhood | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
asked a favour - could Abbie take delivery of some parcels | 0:30:18 | 0:30:22 | |
she'd ordered from catalogue companies? | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
She told me they were for her partner at the time, for Christmas, | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
so I took them in. | 0:30:27 | 0:30:28 | |
Being a friend, didn't want him to see them, | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
and then I took them down to her. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:32 | |
But the parcels kept on arriving and Abbie started to grow suspicious. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:39 | |
Then one time, her actual partner picked them up from my house, | 0:30:39 | 0:30:42 | |
but she told me they were for him, which I thought was a bit strange. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
That's when I started clicking on that something weren't right. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
And Abbie's suspicions grew following a visit from | 0:30:48 | 0:30:52 | |
a very angry stranger. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:54 | |
I answered it, "Hiya, you all right?" And then she were like, | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
"No, have you got my money?" "What?" "Have you got my money? | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
"You know I were turning up to your door." | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
And I went, "No, I don't." | 0:31:02 | 0:31:03 | |
She went, "Well, it's you on Facebook." | 0:31:03 | 0:31:05 | |
The woman was insistent that she'd purchased goods from Abbie | 0:31:06 | 0:31:09 | |
through Facebook. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:10 | |
In fact, Abbie's old Facebook profile, which she | 0:31:10 | 0:31:13 | |
assumed had been deleted, | 0:31:13 | 0:31:15 | |
was being used by her friend to advertise products for sale. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:19 | |
These included clothes, shoes and perfumes. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:23 | |
Anyone buying these products would, of course, | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
think that Abbie was the seller, so when goods weren't delivered, | 0:31:25 | 0:31:29 | |
customers, like the one who'd just paid Abbie a visit, | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
believed that she'd cheated them. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
It was after this visit that Abbie put two and two together | 0:31:35 | 0:31:39 | |
and realised that her friend was, in fact, the Facebook faker. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:44 | |
And there was more bad news in the post for Abbie. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:48 | |
The faker hadn't simply used a fake Facebook profile to advertise | 0:31:49 | 0:31:53 | |
the goods. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:54 | |
She'd also purchased those goods by setting up catalogue accounts | 0:31:54 | 0:31:58 | |
in Abbie's name. | 0:31:58 | 0:31:59 | |
I had just been getting letters saying I owed, | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
like, £300 here and £70 here. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
Especially before Christmas, it's not nice, and I thought, | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
"It's going to affect my credit", which it has gone on to my credit. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:12 | |
And I need to get that lifted. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
Abbie believes part of the reason the faker targeted her is | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
because they knew each other so well. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
Now I know that she'd got into my Facebook, used my password, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:26 | |
cos she knew me that well, she guessed my password. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:29 | |
She knew everything because I'd talk to her on a daily basis, so | 0:32:29 | 0:32:33 | |
she knew what I were doing that day and she could put it on Facebook. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:37 | |
Understandably, Abbie's still coming to terms with what happened. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:42 | |
I trusted her with all my heart | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
and I feel like she had a bit of a kick out of doing it, in a sick way. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:48 | |
Abbie reported the fraud, only to discover that there was already | 0:32:48 | 0:32:52 | |
an ongoing police investigation into her former friend's activities. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:57 | |
Two other targets of the faker had come forward. | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
When these two cases came to court, | 0:33:00 | 0:33:02 | |
the faker pleaded guilty to two charges of false representation. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:06 | |
Sadly, Abbie's case wasn't reported in time to be | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
included in the prosecution. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
However, she did, at least, have the satisfaction of seeing her | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
former friend fined and sentenced to 200 hours community service. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:19 | |
Meanwhile, Abbie's still waiting to find out what happened to her | 0:33:19 | 0:33:23 | |
old account. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:24 | |
I don't actually know if it was them that took the Facebook account down | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
or she deactivated it cos they've never contacted me through it. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:32 | |
They've never actually e-mailed me, saying, | 0:33:32 | 0:33:34 | |
"We have took the Facebook down. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:37 | |
"We've seen it's been hacked." They never contacted me through anything. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
Abbie's experience reveals the lengths a determined | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
Facebook faker will go to in order to get their hands on a fake | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
Facebook account. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
So, what can you do to protect your profile? | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
Professor Dave Harte lectures on social media | 0:33:54 | 0:33:57 | |
at Birmingham City University. | 0:33:57 | 0:33:59 | |
He believes that as Facebook expands its services, | 0:33:59 | 0:34:02 | |
opportunities for fraudsters will increase. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:05 | |
Facebook invites you to give it lots of information, beyond the books | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
and films you like, down to the cafes where you drink | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
and have your lunch, the pubs you go to, | 0:34:12 | 0:34:17 | |
that geo-tagged location check-in in the street you live in, | 0:34:17 | 0:34:21 | |
the link to your information from your running watch that tells you | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
where you started when you entered your running route, | 0:34:24 | 0:34:27 | |
which happens to be at your front door - this constant invitation to give information. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:31 | |
All of that, of course, is brilliant for Facebook, | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
but it is also brilliant for a fraudster. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
And Professor Harte has some advice to help you stay safe online | 0:34:38 | 0:34:42 | |
when using social media like Facebook. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:45 | |
There are a few things you can do to think about what you're doing on | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
Facebook and the extent to which that makes you a target for fraudsters. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
The first of it is, what kind of information | 0:34:53 | 0:34:56 | |
are you letting Facebook know about you? | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
Have you told it where you live? | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
How many of your interests are on there? | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
How often do you talk about the detail of your family life | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
and your relatives? | 0:35:05 | 0:35:07 | |
If you are telling Facebook and your followers what your dog's name is | 0:35:07 | 0:35:11 | |
then maybe your dog's name shouldn't be your password. | 0:35:11 | 0:35:14 | |
Be mindful of the security settings on Facebook, because actually, | 0:35:14 | 0:35:18 | |
you have a degree of control there, which perhaps you don't realise. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:22 | |
You can actually stop your profile being public whatsoever. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:26 | |
Just your updates and information about you, | 0:35:26 | 0:35:29 | |
just goes to those friends you have chosen. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:31 | |
Not friends of friends, just friends. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:33 | |
Facebook told us that while they couldn't comment on individual | 0:35:35 | 0:35:38 | |
cases, they had actioned reports into the cases we feature. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:43 | |
They stressed Facebook was a safe | 0:35:43 | 0:35:45 | |
and secure place with extra security features, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
comprehensive tools for reporting fraud and a team of safety experts. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:52 | |
They said they encourage people not to share their password with | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
others and to protect their accounts using two-factor authentication. | 0:35:55 | 0:36:01 | |
They added that if you think your account has been compromised, visit | 0:36:01 | 0:36:04 | |
facebook.com/hacked to secure it as quickly as possible. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:08 | |
Earlier, we saw how a criminal gang robbed hospital staff | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
across the UK, using fake bank calls to get access | 0:36:19 | 0:36:23 | |
to their accounts and steal their money. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
The gang's combined offences, stretching over four years, | 0:36:25 | 0:36:29 | |
amount to the largest fraud ever attempted on NHS staff. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:34 | |
But unbeknown to the gang, their activities were being monitored by | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
NHS Protect, the agency responsible for the security of NHS staff. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:46 | |
Chris MacDonald led the investigation. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:50 | |
By closely analysing CCTV from hospitals where the gang had struck, | 0:36:50 | 0:36:54 | |
he believed he had identified the ringleader. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:58 | |
Adrian Garrick. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
We see a nurse going through to that door. | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
She is at the door, she is in and here he comes now, look. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:07 | |
Very confident, straight in, not bothering to look at anybody. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:12 | |
He is going to be in there now for less than 50 seconds, | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
and he's going to take those three purses in that 50 seconds. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
You notice that the receptionist didn't even look up. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
Here he comes. Again, opens the door, doesn't look at anybody, | 0:37:20 | 0:37:24 | |
confidently walks off. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:25 | |
Notice, left hand is in his pocket. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:27 | |
There will be a car waiting for him right outside. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:30 | |
He'll jump in and the car will go. | 0:37:30 | 0:37:32 | |
And it will be about half an hour, | 0:37:32 | 0:37:33 | |
and the victims of the crime will receive a phone call | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
purporting to be from their bank, to get their PIN numbers. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
As Chris was pulling together the CCTV evidence against the Falcons, | 0:37:41 | 0:37:45 | |
Detective Emma Landucci was just beginning HER investigation into the gang. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:50 | |
I first heard about the Coventry Falcons from the NHS Protect, | 0:37:51 | 0:37:55 | |
who contacted me shortly after the offence | 0:37:55 | 0:38:00 | |
I was investigating at the Lister Hospital took place. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:03 | |
Detective Landucci had been assigned to look into a break-in at the Lister Hospital. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:08 | |
It was classic Coventry Falcons. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
The gang had faked their way into off-limits areas, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
posing as staff, and stolen a purse. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
They had then purchased high-value items at a nearby high street | 0:38:17 | 0:38:21 | |
before heading to the victim's bank, | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
but the CCTV filmed in the high street left Detective Landucci | 0:38:23 | 0:38:27 | |
in no doubt as to who she was looking for. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
It wasn't until I closely examined the CCTV on the offence committed | 0:38:31 | 0:38:36 | |
at the Lister Hospital, | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
and I was able to see that very tiny, grainy image of a black man, | 0:38:38 | 0:38:44 | |
who I believed to be Adrian Garrick, | 0:38:44 | 0:38:46 | |
that I was able to start focusing on him. | 0:38:46 | 0:38:50 | |
And the more Detective Landucci learned, the clearer it became that Garrick was | 0:38:51 | 0:38:56 | |
the driving force behind the frauds being carried out on NHS staff. | 0:38:56 | 0:39:01 | |
The gang operated in two or three-man teams. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
One member would play the fake NHS worker, gaining entry to the | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
staff-only areas and stealing the wallets or purses. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:13 | |
The other member of the gang would then go into the bank, | 0:39:13 | 0:39:16 | |
posing as the real owner of the card. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
Garrick always insisted on being the front man, | 0:39:19 | 0:39:22 | |
carrying out the actual thefts, and DC Landucci quickly realised why. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:27 | |
I think he chose this role, because it minimised the risk to himself | 0:39:29 | 0:39:33 | |
of being caught, and heightened the risk for other gang members. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:38 | |
Rather than simply building the prosecution around the Lister Hospital case, | 0:39:38 | 0:39:43 | |
Emma began building a broader national case, which would | 0:39:43 | 0:39:46 | |
hold Garrick and the gang to account for their fakery at hospitals across the entire country. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:52 | |
Fortunately, Garrick's preference for being the gang's front man | 0:39:53 | 0:39:56 | |
made sightings by hospital security teams far more likely. | 0:39:56 | 0:40:00 | |
His image and that of four other offenders | 0:40:00 | 0:40:04 | |
had been circulated to all NHS security teams. | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
Once Garrick had been identified as a suspect, we became obsessed, | 0:40:07 | 0:40:12 | |
really, with a description that fitted him. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
On the day in question, Garrick was in one of our administration areas. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:20 | |
This is where we picked him up on CCTV, walking through corridors, | 0:40:20 | 0:40:23 | |
trying doors to see whether there was anybody inside or whether there | 0:40:23 | 0:40:27 | |
was any opportunity for items he found desirable. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:31 | |
And Dave's team came close to apprehending the fakers. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
We caught up with the Coventry Falcons when they were coming through our south entrance. | 0:40:35 | 0:40:40 | |
We were probably about 25 or 30 feet behind him at this stage. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
We gave chase through our South Road, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
where there was a car waiting in a lay-by. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
But Garrick's choice of getaway vehicle, a black Golf, gave Emma a vital lead. | 0:40:51 | 0:40:57 | |
Soon, other NHS security teams had confirmed sightings of both the black Golf and Garrick. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:04 | |
Garrick was a very clever criminal, | 0:41:06 | 0:41:08 | |
and he knew that CCTV evidence alone wouldn't be sufficient. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:13 | |
Then another break in the case. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:15 | |
West Midlands CID called Detective Landucci. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:18 | |
They had picked up Garrick and got hold of his phone. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:22 | |
Now Garrick's actual movements could be mapped to the crimes. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:25 | |
I did some investigative work on the telephone and I was then able | 0:41:25 | 0:41:30 | |
to place him travelling from | 0:41:30 | 0:41:32 | |
Coventry to Stevenage on the day of my offence. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
With this final piece of evidence, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
he was charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:43 | |
Faced with all of the evidence, he admitted to an additional | 0:41:43 | 0:41:46 | |
26 offences. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:48 | |
All of these crimes were committed at NHS hospitals. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
He was sentenced to 3½ years. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:55 | |
Unusually, Garrick was also served with a court order | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
preventing him from entering any hospital, doctor's surgery | 0:41:59 | 0:42:03 | |
or other health care facility, unless in the case of an emergency. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:08 | |
Also sentenced with Garrick was Kevin Deacon, who was given | 0:42:08 | 0:42:12 | |
a 24-month prison sentence for the Lister Hospital offence. | 0:42:12 | 0:42:17 | |
These convictions immediately made the NHS a safer place to work. | 0:42:17 | 0:42:21 | |
For the following four months after his arrest, | 0:42:21 | 0:42:24 | |
we didn't see a single attack on any hospital. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
But the NHS will need to remain vigilant | 0:42:28 | 0:42:30 | |
if it is to stop these fakers targeting NHS staff in the future. | 0:42:30 | 0:42:35 | |
While Garrick was clearly a prominent player | 0:42:35 | 0:42:37 | |
within the Coventry Falcons, | 0:42:37 | 0:42:39 | |
police believe there are others ready to take his place. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
The gang is believed to number around 100 members. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:47 | |
While pleased to have secured convictions against Garrick | 0:42:47 | 0:42:50 | |
and his co-defendants, | 0:42:50 | 0:42:52 | |
DC Landucci believes the gang remains an ongoing threat to the public. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:56 | |
I think it will always be a challenge to investigate, | 0:42:56 | 0:43:00 | |
and that these offences will continue, unfortunately. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:04 | |
That's all from Fake Britain. Goodbye. | 0:43:10 | 0:43:12 |