Episode 1 Rip Off Britain

We asked you to tell us what's left you feeling ripped off

and you've contacted us in your thousands.

You've told us about the companies that you think get it wrong

and the customer service that simply is not up to scratch.

People should expect more when they pay for something these days.

Everything you buy, I just think we are getting ripped off.

You've asked us to track down the scammers who stole your money

and investigate the extra charges you say are unfair.

You have to rely on them giving you a fair price for something, you can't always rely on that.

You don't want more hassle.

You want them to honour their agreement with you.

And when you have lost out but no-one else is to blame,

you've come to us to stop others falling into the same trap.

That is disgusting!

So whether it's a blatant rip-off or a genuine mistake...

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

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

Hello, and welcome to Rip-Off Britain - the programme

that's here to arm you with all the information

you need to keep your hard-earned money SAFE.

So that when you spend it, it's going exactly where you think it is,

rather than straight into the pockets of a person or

company that ISN'T what they seem.

But I'm afraid we'll be hearing plenty of examples of how

your money has gone astray, just simply disappeared -

because today we're looking into some of the latest scams

you've been telling us about.

And they're scams that are all very, very different

but with one thing in common - whoever was behind them had gone

to great lengths to come up with all too plausible scenarios that may

have sounded convincing, but in fact, were an absolute tissue of lies.

And, sadly, that's only come to light too late.

Because the scammers really do make sure that the stuff they

come out with - either in person, or online - seems to be genuine.

Which is why the people who've ended up losing money didn't always

question what they were being told.

But the situations that they've found themselves in could very easily happen to you.

So, do listen out for everything that you're going to need to know about how to avoid being taken in!

Coming up - stolen identities and broken hearts.

We track down the men conning women like this out of a fortune.

You are part of a scam and you are now trying to extort another £550 from her.

What do you say to that, US Army man in Malaysia?

And one of the most brazen scams you'll ever hear -

the delivery men who look the part, but steal your stuff.

In the line of work that we're in, it might be naivety

but you just don't expect something like this to happen.

If I was to tell you that there's an elaborate scam in operation

that has so far has taken in an estimated quarter of a million victims

who've sometimes lost thousands of pounds.

They're all ages, they're male, they're female,

they're from all walks of life, and all parts of the UK.

Now you'd probably think I was talking about bank fraud or ID theft.

Well, I'm afraid you'd be wrong.

Online dating is booming.

In fact, it's estimated that one in five relationships worldwide now start online.

But how can you be sure the person you're getting to know is telling the truth?

Now, you might be able to forgive the odd little fib here and there,

but when the new love in your life is lying about their name,

where they live - indeed, lying about their entire identity -

instead of falling head over heels in love, you could actually be falling

headlong into a very sophisticated and expensive scam.

'Ann is worried that she might be doing just that.

'Like a fifth of all online daters,

'her new love interest asked to borrow money.'

Ann met "Scott" in December 2013 on an online dating site.

He told her he was an American serviceman on a top-secret mission in Korea.

All we did was just talk, generally talk.

-That appealed to you, did it?

-It did. It did.

It just appealed to me that...just to have a general chat to somebody.

Basically, I have no confidence in myself so it was

so nice to let somebody see my personality

and to find that their personality seemed compatible.

Over the next few weeks the relationship blossomed.

Have you actually spoken to him or is this all on e-mail?

No, all on e-mail. It's all through Facebook and e-mails.

And then my daughter said to me, "They're all scammers, Mum."

"They're all... They're not who they are."

Worried that her daughter might be right,

Ann asked Scott for proof that he was genuine.

She told him to send her a photo of him

holding a piece of paper with her name written on it.

The following day, sure enough, Ann received an e-mail showing

Scott doing just that.

I did look on the US sites for fraud

-and a lot of the reports on there it said to ask for similar sort of proof.

-Yes.

But in 99% of cases they don't come up with the proof.

-But he came up with the photograph?

-He came up with the photo and it was definitely him.

With that Ann started to trust Scott again

and their relationship developed rapidly.

I feel sorry for what he's going through stuck over there,

he seems a very nice person and I would actually like to meet him.

Within weeks that opportunity appeared to become real.

Scott told Ann he wanted to release his army pension,

so he could start a new life with her in the UK.

But he needed to borrow just over £2,000 to pay

the bank fees to do just that.

Believing this was a temporary loan, Ann agreed, scraping together all her savings

but within hours, she was asked for a further £550 to cover taxes.

She simply couldn't afford it.

And once again, it made her suspect that Scott might not be telling the truth.

So let me tell you now what we have been able to find out about Scott.

-Are you ready for that?

-I am, certainly.

OK.

Now, am I right in thinking this is the photograph he sent to you?

That's correct, yeah.

-And that was the proof that you accepted that he was real?

-Yes.

-We've done some searching online.

-OK.

-We found this photograph.

-Ahhh...!

And as you can see, instead of your name,

there's a pint glass with some beer in it.

And instead of Scott's name...

-As all Army personnel have, his name is there.

-Right.

-The name is Massingale.

-Right.

-It is not. It's not his name.

-Right.

-That has been Photoshopped to produce that.

-Yes. OK.

-OK?

Now there could be a good reason why "Scott's" name

doesn't match his uniform.

But a quick search online found more than a dozen sites ALL with

photos of the same soldier, but each with a different name.

What we have discovered

is that there is a genuine gentleman called Billy Massingale.

-This man.

-Yeah.

-In the US Army.

He grew up in North Georgia, he now lives in Redbank where he's married with two children.

We've been in touch with the FBI.

We believe that Sergeant Billy Massingale has

-had his identity stolen...

-Right, OK.

..and is being used on all of these websites being several different people.

In fact, these photographs of Staff Sergeant Billy Massingale -

who is now retired from the military and has nothing at all to do with

the scam - have been popping up all over the world since at least 2009.

When we tracked him down,

he was furious that his picture has been used in this way

and told us he's found more than 100 fake profiles using HIS stolen photos.

Not only that but he's been pursued by some of the people who've

been conned - as well as by private detectives!

All this was really hard information to deliver to Ann.

But I had to give her everything we'd discovered.

Are you absolutely convinced now that you have been scammed?

Definitely. That... That's done it for me. Just that one photo.

Because that was the proof I asked for and...

He's stolen your money!

I know. I know.

When Ann transferred the £2,000 that she thought would release Scott's money, she spoke to someone

who said that they worked at the US Army Pay Office in Malaysia.

When we looked into this number, we found out that it was just

a mobile phone, and has NOTHING to do with the US Army.

'So I decided to see what would happen if I rang it myself.'

-'Hello.'

-Oh, hi, hello, is that the US Army Pay Office in Malaysia?

Oh, hi, yes, my name is Angela. I am calling on behalf of a great friend of mine.

'It wasn't a great connection

'but whoever was at the other end was still sticking to their bogus story.'

So you're saying that she's still got to pay that £550

so that Scott's money can go into that bank account?

Yes?

Thank you very much indeed for confirming all of that,

because I have to tell you now, that my name is Angela Rippon.

I work for BBC Television in England, and I've been filming today

with Ann, because we believe that Scott Wilson does not exist, indeed

the US Army have told us they do not have a pay office in Malaysia.

You are part of a scam, and you have effectively stolen already £2,000,

and you are now trying to extort another £550 from her.

What do you say to that US Army man in Malaysia?

Hello?

What do you say to that?

You say what?

PHONE CONNECTION CUTS OFF

You say nothing at all. You put the phone down, because it's a scam.

But Scott Wilson - or whoever was posing as him - and the fictitious

Army Pay Office in Malaysia have already stolen £2,000 of Ann's money.

And she's just one of thousands of people around the world who've

had a similar experience.

In fact, in 2013 more than 2,500 people in the UK alone

told the police they'd been a victim of a romance scam just like this.

On average they lost nearly £9,000 each

but one person lost over three quarters of a million!

What are the warning signs that people should look for, then,

to just trigger that moment of doubt in their minds that this is not real, it's a scam?

The second they are asking you for money.

As soon as they ask for money, the alarm bells should be ringing,

and certainly if they ask for it to be transferred

by money transfer, for example,

definitely the alarm bells should be ringing, don't do it.

'Ann reported her case to Action Fraud, and it will now form

'part of national intelligence data into romance scams like this.

'But her fake suitor hadn't given up yet.

'Shortly after that call that we made to the FAKE US Army Pay Office

'Ann received a text message from so-called Scott acting as

'if everything was normal.

'So we decided to drop him an e-mail.'

"So, Scott Wilson, what is your real name?

"Are you just the front for a scam to get money out of women?

"And if so, where is Ann's money

"because she would like to have it back, please."

Do you think that will do?

-Yep. I think that's fine.

-Yeah? Right...

'Ten minutes later and we get our reply...'

Well, Ann... We've got an answer.

Let's have a look at the inbox and see what it says.

"Oh, sorry, what do you mean by that?

"How dare you asking me such a question.

"What is going on cos I don't understand what

"you are talking about, OK?

"What all that?"

Well, clearly English isn't his first language.

He says, "Yes. Scott Wilson is my name."

We know it isn't.

-Clearly, we know it isn't.

-Yep, yep, yep, yep.

-He's lying.

I hope that as far as you're concerned, though, Ann, it is the end.

Oh, it is. Oh, it is. Yeah, that is it.

Yeah.

How do you feel now, at the end of all of this?

Relieved. Mad, but relieved.

Out of my hands now, I've got no further doubts, queries.

I think you've been brilliant at actually being prepared to talk

so openly about this, I have to say.

I really do.

And you've put on a very brave face,

but I think inside you're hurting quite a lot, aren't you?

Well, away from here perhaps...

but I just don't want it to happen to anybody else.

Well, we did keep investigating Ann's case

and eventually put all of our findings to the man who claimed that he was Scott Wilson.

Now, he didn't reply to us, but he DID try to get in touch with Ann again.

He even asked to come to the UK so that he could prove who he really is.

Can you believe the cheek of the man?!

But, happily, Ann is now free of him, though sadly there is no way

that she's going to get back any of the money that she lost.

As you know, on the programme we often say how important it is

to check the details of what someone is telling you

before you agree to whatever it is they're suggesting.

But it's not always that easy, especially in situations

where you're being put on the spot for an instant response,

and the person that you're dealing with does actually

seem to know exactly what they're talking about.

Well, our next story is a classic example of that - and a rather terrifying one as well.

'It was an audacious scam that would be bad enough whoever was the victim.

'But because it was a charity that was being deliberately targeted, somehow it seems even worse.

'The Hut in York is an activity centre for people with long-term mental health issues

'and learning difficulties.'

'The staff here - including Associate Director Ryan Buglass -

'run classes in everything from music and arts, to maths and sewing,

'and in September 2013, they won funding for brand-new IT equipment.'

We got awarded just under £4,000.

The vast majority of it was for computer equipment, laptops,

iPads, touch screen laptops, to tailor it for some

of the members that we have there that can't use the keyboard.

So a few people just wanted to become more computer literate,

others wanted to learn how to do internet shopping,

others wanted to build web pages.

The charity shopped around and ordered five laptops

from online retailer eBuyer.

And because the Hut isn't open every day, they asked for them

to be delivered to the care home they share offices with.

We have a process in place where one of the members of the care home,

they check the number of items that are delivered,

they sign for it to ensure what we've got and then they contact

the charity, and a member of the charity comes and collects.

Shortly afterwards,

eBuyer dispatched the laptops with delivery company Yodel,

and, as planned, the care home staff counted the parcels, signed

for them and left them to one side until Ryan was back in the office.

But the next day care home manager Joanne Sellers was at work

when the doorbell rang.

I answered the door

and there was a delivery guy stood at the door who said he'd come

to pick up some parcels that had been delivered the day before.

The Yodel driver explained that there had been a mix-up at eBuyer

and the wrong packages had been delivered.

He was here to collect them to send back to eBuyer - and another

driver would deliver the correct products in the next 48 hours.

It seemed a little bit strange

because I'd not been told any parcels had been going back.

So I tried to ring the manager of the Hut and there was no answer.

But the delivery driver was insistent.

He said that eBuyer had sent desktop computers instead of laptops,

an explanation that seemed entirely plausible.

The boxes were all different sizes so I would have just assumed

that if they were laptops would have all been the same and they weren't.

Which then made me think, "Oh, well, maybe this is right."

The driver gave Joanne a receipt and a tracking number,

and loaded the boxes into his van.

Joanne passed on what had happened to Ryan - who, at first,

saw no cause for concern.

But after the promised 48 hours had passed, there was

no sign of a new delivery.

That's when it started to ring alarm bells.

Yodel had no record of the collection.

Or of the new delivery that had been promised.

Now seriously worried, Ryan called the retailer, eBuyer.

And they said there was no discrepancy whatsoever with

the items that were delivered, "You got what you asked for."

And that's when we really started to panic.

More than £1,600 worth of computers had been taken.

I obviously felt gutted, I felt devastated -

I felt sad for the members down there

because they'd been looking forward to the laptops coming.

Because the driver had been wearing a Yodel uniform and driving

a Yodel van, Joanne had had no reason to suspect

that his original story was wrong.

But she and Ryan now realised that the driver had probably

stolen the computers.

And they immediately called the police.

It was disbelief really, in the line of work that we're in,

it might be naivety but you just don't expect

things like this to happen.

To then turn round to 30-odd people, our members,

and tell them that they're going to have to wait

because we don't have them any more was a difficult message to deliver.

When we contacted delivery company Yodel about the missing computers,

they told us the company has a "zero-tolerance approach

"to breaches of protocol", so once they'd investigated,

the driver was "dismissed from the business" and the police called.

Yodel also say they're confident this "appears to be

"an isolated incident involving a single driver."

Retailer eBuyer also told us that this

is the first such incident they're aware of.

They advise anyone buying online to contact their retailer

if they receive any unexpected requests from a delivery company.

North Yorkshire Police later told us they investigated,

but no arrests were made, and the case is now closed.

Whilst this particular scenario - involving a genuine employee -

may be unusual, scams involving fraudsters posing as delivery

drivers are unfortunately not as rare as you'd hope.

In fact, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says it's

seeing more people fall victim to that sort of crime.

Thanks to the internet,

crooks easily find the details they need to identify potential targets.

A lot of the courier frauds that we have are actually people who

pretend to be courier drivers who are not actually drivers

whatsoever, but somehow they've got a high-vis jacket or a fake uniform,

they're good at what they do

and they use that relationship to get into your life.

The problem is of course they've got a pretty authentic looking

van or truck sitting outside,

they've got the high-vis jacket, they've got an identity of some sort

so we do tend to get sucked in, don't we? Because it all looks official.

You know, you can't expect people to know if it's a fake lorry or

a fake truck and if it's a real uniform and actually finding that

out would be quite difficult, but the one thing to do would be to say

to him or her, "What company are you from?"

"I come from X." "Phone number, please."

You phone the warehouse, "Driver, what's your identity number?

"OK, so I have a driver here, identity number 12345, who is he?

"What's he here doing?"

So that's the one thing that you must always do.

If you don't see an identification number, or they start to act a

-bit funny about it, then you should start asking yourself questions.

-Close the door.

-Absolutely.

Back at the Hut, Ryan's had to write off the £1,650 he spent

on the computers as they weren't covered by the charity's insurance.

Delivery company Yodel has now bought them

five reconditioned laptops - but he and Joanne still can't quite

believe how anyone could steal from them in this way.

I wish I'd done a little bit more or I'd maybe taken

a picture of the guy.

I don't know, I wish I'd done something that would have

stopped it from happening really.

To take advantage of a charity, especially the client group

that we care for, vulnerable adults, it's disgusting.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, a property scam that could cost

you thousands when you find out the person you rented your flat

from doesn't actually own it.

It's not just the financial implications,

it's all of the emotional and mental side of it.

You completely lose your faith in everybody.

Once again our pop-up shop is open for business and this year,

we're in the West Midlands.

Here at Rip-Off Britain you're very kind in sending us lots

of stories throughout the year and, by the way, we love receiving them.

And then once a year we have our pop-up shop and for one weekend only

loads of people come and see us here and see our team of experts and you

know the great thing about it?

They get consumer advice on the spot.

Cindy Walters and her daughter Abbi have brought along a letter

they've received from Spain saying they've hit the jackpot!

They don't believe a word of it but are interested to know

what trading standards expert Sylvia Rook makes of it.

I've brought a letter that I've received this week

in the post, claiming I've won the Spanish lottery.

-Let's have a look.

-It tells me that I've won 895,250 euros.

Congratulations(!)

The downside is I have to pay 10% tax.

And in order to get the money, the tax has to be paid first

and I've only got a few days left to claim it.

You know this is a scam, don't you? There are a lot of these scams

around and the main principle of these scams is they do get people to

pay money up front.

They say you've won a huge amount of money, send us

the tax or import duty or whatever it is and then of course you

never get your prize. Do you know how they got your name and address?

No, I'm very careful not to list my name

and address, I think it might be the electoral register.

There are two forms of electoral register, there's one that

keeps completely private and there's another one that gives your name

and address to people,

so you need to make sure you're on the edited roll

and that means they cannot pass your name and address on.

You're not going to try to get your...how much was it, 895,250 euros?

-No!

-Thank you very much for bringing it in so

we get a chance to see it and always be careful about your personal

data and if somebody phones you saying that you've won something and

you haven't entered a competition then you know it's a scam.

Outside the shop in our workshop area, financial ombudsman Caroline

Lusted Wells had lots of tips about avoiding credit and debit card scams.

How many people have less than five bank cards that they use?

Has everyone got a different pin number for each one?

That's not very good, is it?

One of the things that you have to be really, really careful about

is using the same pin number over and over again.

And you know sometimes people disguise them as well?

It's so easy to pick apart a pin number.

If you think about social media you can find out lots

about people's birthdays, loads of people use pin numbers

as birth dates as well. You have to be so, so careful.

Unfortunately these scams can happen to anyone - even Angela's

fallen victim to credit card fraud.

My accountant rang me up

and said, "I didn't know you were in Puerto Rico,"

and I said, "I'm not, I'm in Devon."

And he said, "Well, your credit card is down there and somebody's

"just bought £3,000 worth of goods."

And I said, "Well, my credit card is having more fun

"than I'm having then, obviously."

So what happens when someone gets hold of your pin number

and starts clocking up money on your credit card?

Where do they stand then with not having to pay for that money?

And getting your money back?

The first thing you need to do as soon as you notice something's gone wrong is tell your bank

because the quicker you can do that the more chance you've got of getting your money back.

Look after your pin, look after card

and if it doesn't feel right don't do it.

If you've ever rented a house or a flat, you'll know that as

a tenant you'll usually need to jump through quite a few hoops -

providing references and so on

to prove you really are who you say you are.

But while you're doing that, I wonder how many of you

have thought of making checks into whether the person renting you the property

is also telling the truth about who they are?

When Victoria Bull's mum Jane decided to move out of London

to the countryside, Victoria realised she wanted to stay in the city.

With a baby on the way,

there wasn't much time to find a place of her own.

But London's competitive rental market made finding the right

place for the right price tough.

Every time that she found somewhere it seemed too expensive,

and you were getting very desperate, weren't you?

It felt like I was running out of time, so you do get quite desperate.

And it becomes, sort of, very stressful.

So when Victoria saw what looked like the perfect flat

advertised online, she rushed to arrange a viewing.

And the following day,

Victoria and Jane met up with the owner's son, Jason Williams.

We decided to give him a ring,

and he came down and met us outside the property.

He did ask for a few minutes to be able to tidy up,

because he said the people that live there hadn't tidied up.

I think he also said that his father owned the place,

and he was doing it on his behalf.

Once inside it was obvious the flat ticked all

the boxes for Victoria.

It seemed perfect, it was within budget,

everything seemed to be exactly what I needed.

To make sure she didn't lose out on her ideal flat,

Victoria gave Jason Williams £300 in cash on the spot

and she arranged to transfer another £1,300, for the rest of the

deposit and the first month's rent, when he'd drawn up the paperwork.

Next her prospective landlord called up Victoria's employer to

check her reference.

He did everything that he was supposed to do,

he acknowledged the fact that your boss had given

the reference for you and everything, and we just

assumed that everything was fine and we had no reason to think otherwise.

Just over a week after she first viewed it, the time

came for Victoria to move in to her new home.

So with mum Jane along to help, they set off for North London.

But minutes into their journey, Victoria received a text message

from Jason Williams saying there was a suddenly a major damp problem

at the flat - so she couldn't move in, now or in the future.

I think my heart just sunk at that point.

It just seemed as if he was making excuses for her not to be there.

I think it was probably the hardest part of it all really.

Just being so disappointed.

Victoria and Jane turned around and went home.

And Jason Williams promised he'd refund the full £1,600 Victoria

had paid for the flat - money she'd borrowed from her parents.

But Victoria never heard from him again or saw a penny of her money.

How on earth was I going to get the money to pay for another deposit, really?

Because, I mean, how can you ask someone again to lend you

that sort of money when you had already lost the first lot?

But that's not the end of the story.

Because when Victoria contacted Rip-Off Britain, we were able to

dig a little deeper into the mysterious Jason Williams.

We discovered that he wasn't - as he claimed -

the son of the owner of the property.

In fact, Jason Williams isn't even called Jason Williams.

His name is Kelechi Chukwu.

He was actually renting the flat from the real owner.

Which is how he was able to show Victoria around.

And what's more, Mr Chukwu has operated exactly the same scam on someone else.

We've tried to track down Kelechi Chukwu, we've e-mailed all

the addresses we can find for him, searched for him online

and even tried to contact his old employers.

But as yet, he's not responded to any of our communications.

As well as being lucrative,

this was a particularly well-orchestrated scam.

Remember, the so-called Jason Williams even contacted Victoria's boss

to get a reference, so she wouldn't suspect something was wrong.

So if you're looking for somewhere to rent, is there

anything you can do to make sure you don't to fall into the same trap?

There are three simple things you can do as a tenant to give

yourself a piece of mind.

First is to speak to the landlord and ask them questions,

ask do they rent out multiple properties.

Chances are, if they do, they are a professional landlord

and they're aware of their obligations and what the laws are.

The second thing is ask them

if they have a buy to let mortgage on the property, they shouldn't be

renting it out if they only have a residential mortgage.

And the third thing is to check with the land registry,

they can tell you who the registered owners of any property are for a very small amount of money.

That land registry check will cost you less than a fiver

and could save you thousands.

I think it's important to remember that the vast

majority of landlords are decent, honest people.

But at a time where demand for properties outstrips supply

and rents are really high,

there will always be some people who seek to defraud.

Back in North London, and despite the loss of £1,600, Victoria

has managed to find another flat to rent before she gives birth.

And although she and granny-to-be Jane are busy getting ready

for the baby, it's hard to put this experience behind them.

It's not just the financial implications,

it's all of the emotional and mental side of it that goes with it as well.

You completely lose your faith in everybody.

And I think to take advantage of young people,

who are desperate to find places to live and have very little money,

and to destroy their life like that, it's awful.

At a time when money is tighter than ever,

you need to know that your cash is working hard for you,

avoiding rip-offs and all those sharp practices along the way.

So, to help, on our website:

you'll find plenty of invaluable tips and expert advice.

Plus, you can download our absolutely free guide to getting a better deal

which is full of useful information to stop you being stung.

Or, indeed, left out of pocket.

Now, Britain may be a nation of shopkeepers,

but these days our stores don't need to be made from bricks and mortar.

It's pretty easy for just about anyone to open up a very

professional-looking one online.

And while most are completely above board,

some of them exist simply to entice you with amazing deals,

take your money, and then shut up shop completely -

leaving you with nothing but a sizeable hole in your pocket.

That seems to be what happened in our next case.

But though the people we're about to meet all set out to buy

the same thing,

they went to apparently different online companies that just happen

to look and behave in very similar ways.

In the 1960s, they were the run-arounds of choice for the Mods.

The epitome of style, cool, and affordable freedom.

And today they still offer a simple

and cheap way of getting around, which is why Janice, Adrian, Paula

and her son Harry all started shopping for scooters in 2013.

I've always wanted a scooter because I've always been into bikes and that.

I just fancied something different to do

and I thought it would be quite exciting to do.

My wife was having to walk to work every day

so I decided to surprise her and buy her a new moped.

After having a good look around, all three soon spotted bikes

they fancied, though at different times and on three different

websites.

I buy a lot of things online

so it was just the natural progression for me.

I've never ever had any trouble with any sites before.

I looked online, I found what I thought was the perfect bike.

It was a really good deal.

So, three different websites and three different customers, who,

after finding the bikes they wanted,

each called the retailers to find out more.

I rang up the company and spoke to the gentleman concerned

who give me a lot of confidence.

He told me that the bike was cheap because they weren't running

a factory, they didn't have any overheads.

Each conversation they were just so confident

and knowledgeable in what they were telling me.

And when it was time to pay, these three different companies

each started to behave in a remarkably similar way.

Adrian, Janice and Paula were each told that they'd have to

pay by bank transfer, despite the websites all saying you could

pay using other methods.

At first I was slightly worried about doing a bank transfer

because on the website, it did say you could use PayPal or Visa

which would be my preferred payment, but when I rang him up

he said because of costs they had stopped doing that.

Reassured by the explanations they were given,

Janice paid JPR Scooters £685,

Adrian paid Regency Quads £1395,

and Paula paid Castle Scooters £599.

Then they all waited for their bikes to be delivered...

but none of the bikes arrived as promised,

so all three called their respective companies to find out why.

He then confirmed that the payment had been received

and they were getting the bike ready and it would be delivered to me

either Friday or Saturday.

He told me there'd been a delivery problem,

erm, I was very frustrated on the phone.

He did at that point offer me a refund but we did want the moped.

I rang him up on the Wednesday, he told me there were problems with

the registration documents and, yes, it would be delivered on the Friday.

But none of these delivery dates were met either.

So, all three picked up the phone again.

But this time, none of the companies responded.

The number was just completely dead, so you'd ring it and it was just

a tone, there was nothing at all there.

I just kept ringing him

and ringing him, erm, just kept getting the answer phone message.

I hadn't received an e-mail to confirm that it was being

delivered Friday or Saturday and obviously nobody rang me

and that was when I thought, no, this is definitely a scam.

Janice, Adrian and Paula are still waiting for their bikes.

At the time, they all thought their cases were isolated.

But when they started looking online,

they found other people with similar stories of quads

and scooters paid for, but never delivered.

And as we investigated further, we found these three apparently

different companies had some crucial details in common.

Janice thought she was buying with JPR Scooters, and Adrian

thought he was buying with Regency Quad, but they both transferred

their money into the same bank account, and that account has the

same sort code as Castle Scooters, who still have Paula's £600.

Now sharing the same sort code doesn't mean

the companies are linked, but we've also spoken to other people

with identical experiences with both Castle Scooters and JPR Scooters.

We'd been told that the websites for these three companies looked

almost identical.

When we checked, only one of them, for Castle Scooters,

appeared active.

But funnily enough, we found three other scooter sites that looked

exactly the same.

That can't be coincidence.

So, we asked internet researcher Paul Myers to dig a little

deeper to see if they share more than just the same design.

It didn't function properly, but it looks professional enough.

Is there anything about it that would have aroused your suspicions?

Everything on the net has its own numerical address called

an IP address.

And it seems that two of these scooter sites are on the same

IP address, ie, they're stored on the same computer.

And we have on the same site as Trade Scooters,

here we have Wright Scooters, so we can say to ourselves,

well, it's a little bit of a coincidence really

that we get another one of these websites sharing the same computer.

There's a bazillion computers on the internet,

why would they be on the same computer?

Why indeed.

It seems obvious that these sites are linked.

But when we contacted Regency Quads, Castle Scooters

and JPR Scooters for an explanation, none of them responded.

With so many websites to choose from,

you won't always be able to spot the clues

that they're not all they seem.

But one way to avoid being ripped off

is to steer clear of any website

that only lets you pay by money transfer.

Because, as Adrian, Janice and Paula found out,

if things go wrong you'll be unlikely to get a penny back.

I've lost £1,395.

I've lost £600.

£685 - which is a lot of money to me.

It made me feel I'd been conned really easily.

It's estimated that one in ten people

will fall for an online scam - losing a thousand pounds on average.

So to help stop you being one of the unlucky 10%,

we asked cyber security expert Dr Jessica Barker

what telltale signs we should all be looking out for.

There's a number of small things you can look out for

when you're buying something over the internet

to see if it's a scam or for real.

A key thing is often spelling or grammar,

so if there's an advert that has very poor spelling and grammar,

then that's usually a sign that it's not a professional advert.

If there is a big time pressure, if you're being told,

kind of, "Buy this now otherwise the offer is going to run out,"

then, again, that's a psychological tool that's used by criminals

to try and get you to make the purchase

without thinking it through, or without doing your research.

That research should involve checking out reviews

to see if what you're buying is legitimate

or if others have already reported that it's a scam.

But if all that stacks up and you're still suspicious,

Jessica has a great tip.

If you're using certain web browsers such as Google Chrome,

you can check the validity of the picture being used

to sell a one-off or supposedly unique product.

It's a really good idea if you're buying something online

to do a Google image search -

so, for example, if you are looking to buy a car,

you see a car being sold on a trader website,

you can check whether the image is being used elsewhere.

What you do is right click on the image and copy the image URL,

and then open up Google image search.

And you click on the camera icon in the search bar,

and then you literally just paste in and click search,

and then that will bring up every other website

where that image is being used.

You may find that the same car is being sold again and again

via different websites, and so a sure sign that it is a scam.

British Consumers lose £3.5 billion to scams every year -

and you can't always rely on scammers being obvious to spot.

What you can do, though, is follow the absolute golden rule

when it comes for paying for goods -

and it's advice we really can't say often enough.

Always use a credit card, especially if it's a large purchase.

And this is because your credit card is protected.

If you spend more than £100 on something

and that is mis-sold to you,

then you will be able to claim that money back.

Here at Rip Off Britain we're always ready

to investigate more of your stories.

Confused over your bills, or feel you're paying well over the odds?

It's far too small.

And it's done on purpose, so that you can't actually read it.

People look at it, and they'll say, "I can't be bothered reading that."

Unsure what to do when you discover you've lost out,

and that great deal has ended up costing you money?

People are buying into this - I did.

You know, and are they going to be as awkward with them

as they were with me?

You might have a cautionary tale of your own,

and want to share the mistakes you made with us

so that other people don't do the same thing.

Just fobbed off completely, and, you know, very disappointed.

You can write to us at...

Or you can send us an e-mail to...

The Rip Off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.

You know, when you hear stories like that,

you might think that there's absolutely no way

that you would ever get caught out,

but whether they involve potential love interests

potential landlords, or potential money-making opportunities,

scams exist in every walk of life.

As we've seen, it can be just too easy to get sucked in by them.

And while sometimes you might end up losing a relatively small amount

and can get over it pretty quickly,

other situations could see you losing an awful lot more

and leave you picking up the pieces for months or even years afterwards.

But you'll find plenty more information on how to spot a scam

on our website. It's...

And from there, of course, you can contact us

to tell us about your own experiences -

not just of scams, as we've been talking about today,

but about any subject under the sun.

And, in a different vein, we'd be particularly keen to hear from you

if one of the stories that you've heard on the programme

either recently or, indeed, in the past has helped you

to avoid losing out or being ripped off.

But I'm afraid that's where we have to leave it for today,

so thank you very much for watching, and until next time,

-from all of us, bye-bye.

-Goodbye.

-Bye.