Episode 1 Rip Off Britain

We asked you to tell us who has left you feeling ripped off,

and you contacted us in your thousands, by post, e-mail,

even stopping us on the streets. And the message could not be clearer.

They are in it for what they can get, not to provide a service.

I didn't sleep! It upset me so much that I didn't sleep.

You've told us, with money tighter than ever,

you need to be sure that every pound you spend is worth it.

How do I get my money back? Because I just think I'm entitled to it.

So, whether it's a deliberate rip-off,

a simple mistake or a catch in the small print,

we'll find out why you are out of pocket and what you can do about it.

Keep asking the questions, you know, go to the top if you have to.

We do get results, that's the interesting thing.

Your stories, your money - this is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Rip-Off Britain,

the series that battles on your behalf to find out exactly why,

after handing over your cash,

you may end up with nothing like you expected.

Or indeed, as with some of the people we'll be hearing

from today, you may end up with a big, fat zero, nothing at all.

That's because when you sign up to a deal that doesn't materialise,

it's very often because you've been persuaded to do so by either

very convincing advertisements or smooth-talking salesmen.

Now, of course,

companies depend on both of those things to boost their profits.

But in the situations you've been telling us about, too often,

those profits can mean your loss.

It's not always easy to tell

whether some things are bargains or bogus, which is why,

among our cases today, are people who have lost hundreds,

even thousands of pounds, because of promises that haven't come true.

But the good news is, we've got

some excellent advice to stop the same thing happening to you.

Coming up, some of the most memorable scams we've investigated before,

including one that has cost this family hundreds of pounds.

I'm not only having to cover the cost for the loan, I'm also having

to cover the costs that we have lost through applying for this loan.

The promise of guaranteed cash prizes

dropping through your letter box, but do they ever pay-out?

This is a cheque for £20,500. And if it is lies or deceit, it's fraud.

And our experts pop up in one of Britain's biggest shopping centres,

to solve more of your problems face-to-face.

Now, if you are someone who thinks that you are just too savvy

to be taken in by a scam, don't be so sure.

Because here is one that is not only fiendishly clever,

but is very much on the rise.

So, pay attention to how they do it, because remember,

the next person they target could very well be you.

Now, it's important to try and stay ahead of crooks and conmen,

who employ cunning tactics to come up with ways to

get their hands on your cash.

Some scams may start with a simple phone call,

as cake maker Fiona Keane discovered.

Phoned on a Sunday night, about 9pm, by someone

called Alex from the 24-hour fraud team,

who seemed to know all my details,

my name, my phone number, my address.

And he said I had been a victim of a Section 24 fraud,

my Barclaycard had been cloned and all my cards had been cloned.

Claiming to be from Barclaycard,

the man calling himself Alex told Fiona that her details were

already being used to buy things like petrol

and mobile phone credit, and to prove that it wasn't her racking up

the cash, he needed to send a courier round to collect her cards.

Immediately said, "I'm not handing my cards over to you."

He said, no, no, it was a new system.

If they put the card through the machine, it could be proved that

I hadn't used the cards

in the places where there had been activity,

then I would definitely get the money back.

The caller warned that if Fiona didn't cooperate,

it was unlikely she would ever get her money back.

But she refused to hand over her cards,

and that is when things got really sneaky.

When I was becoming suspicious, Alex asked me

to phone the customer care number on the back of my Barclaycard,

to verify that it was a genuine fraud.

I put the phone down to Alex and picked up the phone,

and I didn't listen for a dial tone, and then,

I phoned the customer care line on the back of my Barclaycard and

I got through to a person and said, you know, explained what happened.

He said, "I'm just going to put you through to the fraud team."

And immediately, I got through to this Alex.

Although the whole situation felt quite strange,

I was quite relieved to be put through

to Barclaycard from the number I had called on the back of the card.

But Fiona wasn't speaking to Barclaycard at all.

Now, unbeknown to her, when she hung up the phone to this so-called Alex,

he hadn't disconnected his end of the call and was still on the line.

So, Fiona wasn't talking to a genuine fraud department.

In fact, there is no such thing as Section 24 fraud.

And whoever he really was,

Alex certainly didn't work for Barclaycard.

But his phone trick had won Fiona over

and he kept her on the line until the courier arrived.

He asked me to wrap the cards in tissue paper

and to put it in an envelope and to write NW1 and then a code number.

30 minutes into the call, a man arrived,

ready to collect all six of Fiona's bank cards.

I have to say, it did look a little bit shifty.

When I was handing over the cards, I was shaking, because I was...

I was giving away my personal things,

and it's not something I would normally do.

The courier left, supposedly taking the cards across London,

to where they could be checked and a block put on them.

And Alex said he needed Fiona to stay on the line until they arrived.

I kept asking, "Can I put the phone down now?"

He said, "No, no, no." And he said to me,

"He's just going through security now,"

to make it sound professional, like it was a police organisation.

And he eventually got through, and that's when he asked me

to read out the PIN numbers, so he could block them.

Now eating out of the fraudsters' hands,

Fiona proceeded to give them the PIN codes for five of her cards,

and she was relieved when Alex said

they could prove that she hadn't used them,

and she would be getting all her money back

if she unplugged her phone.

He said to me,

"We need your line, in order to wire the money back to you."

And that he would tell me when to put the line back.

By this time, it was almost 11pm

and after being on the phone for two hours to Alex, whom Fiona,

by the way, still believed was from Barclaycard's fraud team,

she followed his instructions and disconnected her landline.

I felt quite suspicious. I had never been asked to undo my phone line

and I do realise now that it was so people couldn't contact me.

So, as arranged, the fraudster rang Fiona again the next day,

on her mobile,

to update her on the progress supposedly being made with her case.

He had been keeping in contact with me

on my mobile phone at various times of day, just to tell me

how things were going, and he said that they had the CCTV, they had the

pictures of the people who actually had been defrauding my card.

He was being very chatty and charming,

and even though I had doubts at the back of my mind,

I just kept saying to myself, "Oh, you're being silly," you know,

"They are sorting it out for you." And he did say to me,

"You won't need to contact your banks,

"I'm dealing with that for you as well."

The reassuring calls to Fiona's mobile continued,

but when they stopped, she reconnected her landline.

And that is when she was horrified to realise she'd been scammed.

I found all the messages on the phone,

people had been trying to contact me, the banks, M&S, to tell me.

I actually felt sick.

To have your cards actually taken from your own home is unbelievable

and it is really quite shocking, and how smooth that happened.

Fiona discovered that the fraudsters had quickly made

full use of her cards.

I can see that they were spending as soon as Sunday,

so they got straight on to it.

And for the next two days, they were spending large amounts.

£400, £500, then into the thousands.

The total amount they've spent on this particular card is £7,000,

in fact, they maxed out my card.

In total, the fraudsters spent £15,000.

Luckily, Barclaycard provide customers with a fraud guarantee,

so they won't lose out.

And as Fiona could prove that she had been the victim of fraud,

she got her money back within a week.

Barclaycard told us that they are aware of this scam,

but would never, ever call, asking for personal details

or requiring cards to be returned.

And anyone who receives a request like that should end the call.

Meanwhile, although Fiona has her money back,

she's now on a security register and will have to go through

enhanced checks when trying to get credit in the future.

I couldn't believe that had happened to me,

because I'm not the sort of person who would give my cards away.

The whole of this experience has really shaken me up,

but I'm very relieved to have all my money back,

and it is an extremely sophisticated scam.

Well, fabulous news, of course, that Fiona has got her money back.

But someone, somewhere, has still done very well out of that scam.

So, Neil Aitken from the Payments Council is here,

with advice on how to make sure, in similar situations,

that you can protect yourself, and of course, your money.

You might find that you're cold-called at home by someone posing

either as someone from your bank or from the police.

They might have a bit of personal information about you.

They might know who you bank with,

but they will reveal themselves to be fraudsters by the extra information

they ask for that your bank or the police would never request from you.

The thing to really watch out for is if they try

and persuade you to enter your PIN.

Now, that could be reading it out over the phone or that could be

entering it into the telephone keypad.

Your PIN is completely personal to you.

No-one from your bank will ever request it.

The scam develops and they tell you that they are going to send

round a courier to pick up your card.

Again, this should set alarm bells ringing immediately.

Your bank or the police will never, ever

send someone round to pick up your card.

If this does happen, it means you know you're talking to a fraudster.

They will try and win your trust by saying,

"Call us back on the number on the back of your card."

Now, what they will actually do is they will keep the phone line

open at their end.

They might even play the noise of a dial tone down the phone to

persuade you that when you call back, you're speaking to the real deal.

Take a minute. You don't need to call back immediately.

If you have a mobile phone, call back on that on the advertised number you

have and then you can be sure you're getting through to the right people.

If you think you have been a victim of this fraud,

contact the police straightaway then speak to your bank immediately.

Report your card as lost and stolen.

No-one who is an innocent victim of fraud will ever lose out financially.

Now, unfortunately, there is always someone out there who is prepared

to do absolutely anything to part you from your hard-earned cash.

And they are always on the lookout for new ways in which they can

do it, so you can bet that

whenever some bright spark comes up with an idea that is supposed

to make our lives easier, someone else is immediately

going to find a way to turn that to their advantage.

And judging from the e-mails and letters you have sent us this year,

that is exactly what seems to be happening with Ukash vouchers,

a very simple but increasingly popular way to make payments.

But, scamsters are using them to rip you off,

and here is how they are doing it.

For Louise Beard and her soldier husband Lee, every penny counts.

One step, two steps, tickles everywhere!

Lee is often posted abroad, and while he is away,

running the family finances falls on Louise's shoulders.

That meant sorting out the final repayments on their car.

They bought it on a deal where the biggest monthly payment was

saved until last.

One, two, three, up.

So, a bill for almost £6,000 was looming.

We bought a car on finance in 2009, and it was due to finish

while my husband is away in Afghan.

So I was looking online to see if I could get a loan that way.

After she entered her details on a website,

Louise was delighted to get a call offering her a £15,000 loan.

Hoping that this was the answer to her financial worries,

she checked out the credentials of the company,

who called themselves CitiFinancial.

I checked the Financial Services Authority number

and the licence number.

It all looked legit, so I went ahead with the £15,000 loan.

As well as that research,

she was sent an official-looking e-mail confirming her application.

So, Louise was happy that this company was genuine.

So when this so-called CitiFinancial got back in touch

asking for a £215 fee to process her application, she wasn't worried.

I just had to pay a small processing fee by Ukash voucher.

And they also gave me the address of a local shop to go

and collect the voucher from, which I was happy to because I did know

that other companies do ask for a processing fee.

Ukash vouchers are prepaid shopping vouchers that you can

purchase at shops across the country.

You buy a voucher for the amount that you want,

then you use the unique number printed on it to spend the money.

It's a quick and easy process, very similar to using cash

because, once you have handed over the number,

that's the money spent and there's no way of getting it back.

I went into the local shop, I purchased a voucher,

which had the voucher number on the receipt.

I then came out the shop, phoned up the company,

gave them the voucher number and the expiry date.

Little did Louise know

that the company was not who they said they were.

But now, they had her hooked... Would you like some fish food?

..and it was time to reel her in.

An hour later, they called Louise again, suddenly changing the deal.

They said my earnings weren't high enough, so I would need to purchase

another Ukash voucher to prove that I could pay the monthly instalments.

And I couldn't afford to lose the money that

I had already put down, so I went and got the next voucher.

Determined to get the loan sorted,

Louise dashed to the shop to buy a second voucher, this time

for £300, enough to cover the extra fee of £299.

She then called the company, gave them the voucher number,

but shortly afterwards, they rang her back.

I was then told they couldn't use the voucher because it had to

be for £299 only, and I would need to go and purchase one for 299.

But I could still use the £300 one to pay my bills, my gas, my electric.

So, I thought, well, that's OK, because I needed to pay them.

So, Louise went out and bought a third voucher

for the exact amount of £299.

By now, she had handed over more than £800.

And alarm bells started ringing

when someone from the company rang her back yet again asking for MORE.

He said to me that the money was all ready to go into my account

but I would need to pay a soft electronic transfer,

which I would get back soon as I had done it.

But I would need to pay another lot of money.

I then realised something wasn't right and I told him, I said

to him, "Let's just forget about the application and refund my money."

He then told me he couldn't do that and hung up the phone.

I was gutted, I didn't know how to tell my husband. It was awful.

I was devastated with it.

And that devastation only got worse,

because although the company had led Louise to believe that they would

not be cashing in the second voucher for £300, they already had.

They ended up cashing every voucher, which worked out about £815 in total.

I don't even earn that in a month.

When she told me, obviously, I was really gutted.

I thought, like, it's quite a lot of money to lose in one go.

You can only check everything that you know about and, obviously,

these guys are working around that and doing a really good

job at what they do, which is to con money out of normal people.

Desperate to get their money back,

Louise has tried calling the company on the number they gave her.

There's no reply.

It's just ringing like it always does.

There is a genuine company with a similar name to the one the scamsters used.

It is based in the city of London and called CitiFinancial Europe plc, part of Citigroup.

But they no longer offer loans to new customers and now have a

warning on their website about companies using names or reference

numbers that are similar to theirs to scam you out of money.

They advise anyone offered a loan in this way to contact the police.

And whoever the scamsters really were,

they were able to exploit the simplicity of Ukash vouchers

to trick Louise out of over £800, money she could not afford to lose.

I'm angry with it,

because I was hoping to have it a bit easier when he is in Afghan.

But it hasn't. It has put a lot more pressure on me

because I'm not only having to cover costs for the loan, but I'm having

to cover the costs that we have lost through applying for this loan.

Well, later in the programme, we're going to be hearing more about

situations where Ukash payments have been targeted by scamsters.

And we're also going to be talking to the company behind the scheme

to see what they have done to make it safe.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain,

the mailshots that promise a life-changing sum of money.

So what's the catch,

and how likely is it that your money will ever arrive?

My advice to anybody that gets this is, don't even look at it.

Just stick it in the bin.

Rip-Off Britain has come to the Northeast of England.

Overnight, we've created a shop where anyone can pop in to receive

instant advice from our team of consumer experts.

The marvellous thing about you being quite early in the day, John,

is the fact I can take you straight to the expert.

Come on. Let's go for it! I know.

First up to see our travel expert, Simon Calder, is John.

He feels badly let down by his travel insurance company

after his partner had an accident on holiday in Scotland.

We got to Bute, went out walking, she fell and broke her wrist.

It involved us in taxis, trips to the mainland for X-rays.

In total, the costs came to about £135.

So, we put the insurance claim in,

we got a letter back to say that this insurance policy does not

cover us for the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

Here we are, here we are.

In the section the Emergency, Medical and Treatment Expenses,

it very specifically says this section does not apply to

trips within the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man if you live there.

What should they have done?

The advice is, unless there is a very particular reason that

you would want to get insurance for a UK trip, don't bother.

Will you take this issue up on behalf of John? I most certainly am.

I want to find out, first of all, how they can possibly be

selling insurance at that price - £55 for five days in Scotland.

I don't know if we have, legally, a leg to stand on,

but morally, I'm afraid this is an almighty rip-off.

Are you a happy man, John? Very much so.

Brilliant. Thank you very much indeed.

Our pop-up shop has certainly drawn the crowds, and our experts

are being kept busy with an extraordinary range of problems.

Good heavens above! Sarah, what is the legal position here?

If nobody is offering you any financial recompense,

then you may have to consider going through the courts.

Michael has been left with an expensive repair bill

after his car was damaged by a pothole,

and wants some advice on what to do next with his claim

after his local authority's insurer refused to pay out.

They wouldn't accept a claim for damage

against a third party's insurer.

I didn't know where to turn next.

The difficulty here is you're not a client of the local

authority's insurer, so you don't have that same protection that you

do, you know, if it was your own insurance policy.

So, there are a couple of other options open to you.

One of them, you probably considered, which is

to make a claim on your own car insurance policy.

But, of course, you've then got your own excess to pay,

that damages your own claims record.

The only other option open to you now is to

think about complaining to the Local Government Ombudsman.

At least you will get an independent set of eyes looking over your case.

Well, I have records from the insurance company which

show that the last time the road was surveyed was in February.

And no survey exists for March. The accident was in April.

Well, that sounds like that could be a key piece of evidence

and, you know, that evidence is all stuff that should be

put in your claim to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Best of luck with it, let's hope you get that insurer to pay out.

I will certainly do that, and thanks very much for your advice.

Now, if you're really being honest, which one of us hasn't at some

stage dreamt of what we would do if we won that small fortune in cash.

So imagine how you would feel if you suddenly received

a letter in the post saying that you had won thousands of pounds.

Not that you stood a chance of winning it,

but that already the money was definitely yours.

Now, you would probably think it was all too good to be true,

but then again, when it is all there written in black and white, you

might also hope for the best and wait for your windfall to arrive.

Well, Alan Downing received a letter just like that.

So, was Lady Luck truly on his side, and if not,

what was really going on?

On average, every household receives 377 pieces of junk mail

through its letter box each year, and it can be very hard to

decide what is junk and what is a genuine offer or promise.

A dilemma faced by Alan Downing,

when he started getting letters saying he had won huge cash prizes.

"With the confirmation of the amount,

"we hereby confirm that the amount of this cheque is £15,500."

We go 15,500...15,500...

15,500...

and 20,500.

If all this did come to me,

I would be one of the richest men in Manchester.

The letters came from a mail order company called Star Shopping,

which has a PO address in Dublin.

They also sent Alan a catalogue of products.

I'm reading it, the products in it didn't really interest me

in the first place, but then I started thinking,

"They've told me I've won 20,500 here."

More than that, they guaranteed it.

So, with such a clear promise,

well, 72-year-old Alan just couldn't resist replying.

When I saw the documents, I thought,

"Well, we can all do with £20,500 for doing nothing."

I was quite wary that it was going to be a scam,

but I thought, I'll continue it, cos it will only cost me a stamp.

And, well, somebody might be silly enough at the other end to

actually make a cheque out for me.

Star Shopping quickly wrote back, not with a cheque,

but with an assurance that if he ordered something

from the catalogue, the money would be sent right away.

The catalogue said I didn't have to buy anything,

but if I did, it would speed it up.

So, Alan placed an order.

I got the goods.

I got this plastic squeegee thing on a piece of plastic, but no cheque.

And, funnily enough, there still hasn't been.

Although, over the next six months, Alan received

a further 25 letters insisting that the money was still waiting for him

at Star Shopping's headquarters,

and all he had to do to get it was order more.

20,500, this one!

"Mr Downing, this is the best day of your life."

I thought that was my wedding day.

"You are the one and only lucky winning beneficiary of the big

"bank cheque for 20,500."

They don't give up with this.

I'm afraid Alan has given up on ever receiving his prize.

Still, at least he didn't waste too much money.

Unlike John Cooper from Bournemouth.

He received the same letters from Star Shopping

and indeed from other mail-order companies, some of which appear to be connected.

He was also told that as soon as he ordered from the catalogues,

his five-figure prize would be on its way.

I've probably placed about 16 to 18 orders with Star,

and with the other mail-order firms, probably about another ten.

Generally speaking,

I suppose the orders would come to about £15 to £20 each time.

Mainly small, domestic items, bottles of fluid for cleaning

plastic, windows and chairs,

some crystals for putting down drains to unblock them.

Nothing very exciting.

When John contacted Star Shopping to see where his winner's cheque

was, three of the company directors assured him

in writing that it would he sent to him shortly.

All three of them had signed a document confirming that

I had won that money.

So I was just waiting for the cheque to come through the post,

but, of course, I'm still waiting.

Now, believing that his winnings were on their way,

John spent £350 on Star Shopping products alone.

He also spent almost £200 on goods from the other catalogues

because they, too, promised that he had won big cash prizes.

There's probably about 300 different pamphlets,

envelopes and letters, all of which are clearly pointing

out that a massive prize has been won by myself.

This is a cheque for £20,500.

"It is not a discount voucher but a real first-prize bank cheque."

That is just one indication.

I was the only person getting the prize.

I mean, I wouldn't have expected that to be true,

but when somebody makes a statement like that in business,

under contract, and firms make that contract, they must stand by it.

If it is lies or deceit, it's fraud.

Now, you may also have received catalogues like these.

Many of them have addresses in either the Netherlands or Belgium,

and several of them

have links to a Belgian mail order company, D Duchesne SA,

a business that the Office of Fair Trading

has taken action against in the past,

all as part of an ongoing battle about these kinds of prize draws.

But I'm afraid that hasn't stopped the same sort

of misleading letters being sent to countless households across the UK.

We contacted all the companies who had written to John to ask

why neither he nor anyone else we have heard from has ever

received the prize they were supposedly guaranteed.

Not one of them replied.

John still can't believe that they're able to make such

big claims without delivering on their promises.

Perhaps a person listening to this might say "He was naive,

"I would never fall for that." Well, my view is that firms

should not be able to make these sort of offers.

They should be heavily penalised.

They made these false promises and kept on repeating the promises

when they were complete lies.

And Alan has some words of wisdom for anyone who receives

a letter like this, suggesting they have won a cash prize.

My advice to anyone who gets these is don't even look at.

Just stick it in the bin. Or return to sender.

Cos you're not going to get it.

If you have ever been tempted by a deal or a promise that is not what

it seems, or is just too good to be true, here's how to resist it.

The first thing is that if someone calls your house to try to

sell you something, don't feel under pressure.

It is quite likely that the sales man or woman will be under

pressure themselves because they will have sales targets to meet.

That is their problem and not yours.

Take your time and only buy something if you want to buy it

and you want to buy it there and then.

If not, just say no.

If you buy something at home or at your office, basically,

away from the normal place where the company does its business

you have some fairly good rights.

You have the right to cancel within seven days

and that seven days starts from when you were given the information

about your cancellation rights which may not be when you actually sign up.

If you're getting plagued by lots of doorstep sellers you might

want to consider setting up a no-cold-calling zone.

It is something that your local trading standards

and the police can organise for you.

It is not an automatic right, normally there has to be a certain

amount of either old or vulnerable people living in your area.

If you are fed up with junk mail coming shooting through your

letter box, I suggest that you sign up with a Mailing Preference Scheme.

That means that companies that you do not have any business with

will not be able to send you junk mail.

You will still get some marketing information from companies

like your bank or your energy supplier.

Signing up for the Mailing Preference Scheme won't necessarily mean

that you stop getting those dodgy letters saying that you

have won a lottery that you have never entered or that you have

won a prize competition. Generally, these offers are dodgy.

Don't even open the envelope. Shred it or get rid of it.

If you reply to one of these companies,

you could find your name is put on what is called a "suckers list."

That means that your details will be traded

with other would-be fraudsters.

Earlier in the programme we heard how an increasingly popular

form of payment can be exploited by companies determined to rip you off.

Ukash vouchers as they are called are a perfectly legitimate

and apparently easy way of paying for things.

In some parts of the country, Trading Standards officers

are warning of scams, which mean you could end up out of pocket.

So, could it be that Ukash vouchers are just too simple to use?

Karen McCracken from Nottinghamshire was thrilled

when she received a call from a withheld number claiming

she had won some money.

'They phoned up at 10.30 in the morning, saying that'

I had won this £10,000, and it was from Royal Mail.

'It was quite exciting, to be fair, I must admit.'

But to claim it, they asked her for a £50 admin fee, which she

would have to pay using a Ukash voucher.

Well, I said that I would have to speak to my husband about it,

and they turned around and said,

"You don't need your husband's permission for this.

I says, "Well, I think I do,

"cos I haven't got that kind of money to give you anyway."

And he says, "Oh," he says, "I'll phone you back on Monday."

He did call back on Monday morning,

still falsely claiming to be from Royal Mail,

but when Karen declined the offer, he became aggressive, insisting

they must have that admin fee whether she wanted her prize or not.

'They just kept saying that I would need a solicitor, and he went,'

"I'm going to send the police round to your door

"to get this money, because you're breaking the law not giving me it."

'And it got me really scared, to be honest.'

Then, when I come off the phone, I cried.

Karen didn't fall for what the man was saying but only

because the previous year, she had been targeted in a similar way.

She had again been told that to claim a £10,000 cash prize,

she would have to pay an admin fee, and that time, she had done it.

They told me I needed a Ukash voucher and they then told me

where the shop was, what street it was on and stuff like...

And I had never heard of them before.

The woman on the phone said that she would call back

once Karen had bought the Ukash voucher,

to get the unique code number printed on it.

So, I went and got the £50 voucher,

and then they said that that would be it, I would get the cheque.

Karen had just unwittingly handed over £50 she would never see again.

The woman who called her

was using the simplicity of Ukash vouchers to scam her.

Karen only realised that when her winnings failed to arrive.

'The cheque never come after Christmas, cos we thought,'

"Oh, Christmas time, it'll be lovely.

"We'll get the kids something nice." But it never come.

Ukash is a convenient way of paying online at websites

if you don't have a bank account or debit or credit cards,

but once you have handed over the serial number,

the payment is completely untraceable.

It is as if you had used cash, and, unlike using a credit or debit card,

you have absolutely no protection...

as Karen learned the hard way.

Then I went, "Oh, we've lost 50 quid."

And it was my last 50 quid out of my bank, to be fair.

Cos we didn't get paid till the week after.

After the second incident, she reported the calls to the police

and to Nottinghamshire Trading Standards,

who issued a warning about the scam.

These particular kind of cold calls are particularly difficult

because of the aggression that is used.

'They are possibly targeting people who haven't got the facility

'to use credit cards and debit cards so readily.'

Ukash vouchers are a brilliant idea.

They work in a lot of circumstances, but you do need to remember that

when you give that number over, it is effectively handing the cash over.

Across the UK, whether it is on the phone or online,

Ukash vouchers are being exploited by crooks in all sorts of ways.

In London, conmen have claimed to be police,

needing a fee paid with Ukash to remove illegal content from PCs.

In Dunbartonshire, targets have been told

they are entitled to money from unclaimed insurance policies.

And in Gloucestershire, a scam was more elaborate still.

A woman reported handing £600 worth of Ukash vouchers to a man

who had first rung to say she was entitled

to £4,000 worth of mis-sold PPI, then turned up at her house

with very convincing forms for her to sign.

So, it looks as if the only way to avoid being stung like Karen is to

make sure you only give

a Ukash code to someone you're sure is legitimate.

Otherwise, whatever yarn you're being spun, chances are it's a con.

I think they're actually picking on people that need the money

and they're vulnerable anyway, so they're going to take the money.

Very nasty people.

So, are Ukash doing enough to keep consumers safe?

'Let's see what the company's chief executive David Hunter has to say

'about the way that the system is being abused.'

David I have to confess that I had never heard of Ukash,

so shall we start by you explaining exactly what Ukash is.

Ukash is designed to be a safe and simple way for people to spend

cash on the internet via our voucher system.

People can go to the corner shop or anywhere they might get

a mobile top up, present your cash

and ask for a Ukash voucher in return.

With a unique 19-digit code on it which represents that value.

It is a bit like an electronic banknote.

You're swapping a physical banknote for an electronic banknote.

So, if you take the case like the one that we're dealing with here,

what went wrong with that because I am sure

you are going to tell me that your system is

meant to be watertight with this code number and so on.

Well, of course, in fact we know of not one single breach of,

or somebody guessing a number and spending it as their own

because there are so many billions of permutations. Each number is unique.

What happened in this case was that she was contacted by a cold caller

who was literally trying to scam or extract money from her and

other people and they asked her to go to a local shop to get Ukash for

them and she was asked to tell them the unique number over the telephone.

Which, I must say,

is just the same as giving real cash away at your front door.

You use the word "scam" and obviously this is one case,

but I presume there are others.

What other means do you know of where people are getting round your

system or rather using Ukash as a way of getting money out of people?

Scams exist and always have done and always will do.

Often they will move to other means of executing their scam.

I think what has happened here is that as Ukash has become

more popular and available and convenient for people to buy.

These criminals are exploiting the fact that people can be

convinced to use the product in a way it's not designed to be used,

against our strict terms of use, against the alerts we have

put on the vouchers saying, "Please do not give details away to anybody.

"Only use at participating Ukash websites." This has been exploited.

So, David, what it is the key advice you would give people to make sure

they don't get taken for a ride and don't have their money taken?

I think it is really important that people recognise this is like cash.

That number, that is the security of their value.

Please don't give that to anybody, over the phone or by e-mail,

unless you want them to have the value.

It is the same as you giving them a bank note of that value.

Please only use our participating websites, you can

see a full list of those websites on the Ukash.com

and please only take the warnings that you see on the voucher.

Treat like cash. Don't give it to anybody else.

If you do feel that you might have been compromised or if you have given

the voucher to somebody, contact us immediately because if you contact us

immediately and the voucher is not spent, we can block it for you.

David, thank you. Thank you.

Here at Rip-off Britain we are always ready to investigate

more of your stories. Confused over your bills?

Trying to wade through never-ending small print?

People should read it but it is not in plain English,

it should be simple, you know, ABC, basic stuff.

Unsure what to do when you discover you have lost out

and that great deal has ended up costing you money?

You go home and get your bill and it is like £70

when it is meant to be £35.

And you basically get ripped off, don't you?

You might have a cautionary tale of your own and want to share

the mistakes you have made with us so that others do not do the same.

We paid them good money to act in our best interest. They did not.

You can write to us at:

Or send us an e-mail:

The rip-off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.

Well, fortunately, most businesses, thank goodness,

don't actually set out to deliberately fleece you

but there will always be a minority determined to do exactly that.

So, while it seems unfortunately unlikely that everyone that we

have met today is ever going to get their money back,

we do hope that at least by sharing their stories with you we have given

you an idea of some of the things that you need to watch out for.

In particular, be extra careful before agreeing to any promise

that comes right out of the blue.

Whether it is in the post online or on the phone.

Don't be rushed or pressurised into making a decision straightaway.

Do take the time to do some research just in case someone is trying

to rip you off.

Well, with that excellent advice that is all

we have got time for today.

Thank you for joining us and please do keep sending us your stories.

We will be back to investigate more of them soon

but in the meantime, from all of us here, bye-bye.

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