Episode 1 Rip Off Britain

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

and you contacted us in your thousands.

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

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

If you're paying for good service

you expect a good service and a good product whatever it may be.

At the end of the day, we expect value for money.

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

and investigate the extra charges you say are unfair.

The wool's being pulled over our eyes.

I don't think we get a fair price.

I think they should always put the customer first.

And when you've lost out but nobody else is to blame,

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

-And no-one could sort that out for you over ten years?

-No-one has.

So whether it's a blatant rip-off or a genuine mistake, we're here

to find out why you're 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, where, as ever,

we're armed with the very best advice to make sure

that you don't end up losing your hard-earned cash,

and particularly not to any of the fraudsters

coming up in the programme

with ever more audacious ways to trick you out of your money.

Today we're going to be exposing some of the very latest scams

you've told us about.

All the ones we're going to be looking at are very different,

but they do have one thing in common - a really plausible story

to draw you in but which turns out to be a complete pack of lies.

Usually, of course, the truth sadly comes way too late, which is why

the people who've contacted us have ended up being taken in,

but what's truly frightening about some of their stories

is that the situations in which they find themselves could

very easily happen to you as well, so today we've got

everything you need to know to avoid being caught out in the same way.

Coming up, the elaborate con

that saw this woman tricked into thinking she was working

for the police, pursuing the very fraudsters who were after her cash.

I mean, as silly as it sounds, I'm quite into the undercover,

because he used that term so many times -

"Now, don't forget you're working undercover."

Which sounds ridiculous, but...

I was being reeled in.

And thinking of replacing your wheels?

How scammers exploit the most trusted names

to trick you out of your savings.

I started to feel panicked. "I can't have just lost £7,000."

Well, I guess that these days most of us know to be very suspicious

if we get a phone call out of the blue from somebody

who wants to discuss our finances,

which is why the people who are behind such calls continue

to come up with ever more inventive ways just to keep you on the line.

And when it comes to scam phone calls, well,

the fraudsters making those have unfortunately become

especially ingenious at making their lies appear totally believable.

Over the past couple of years we've reported several times

on scams that rely on fraudsters keeping open the phone line

when you think that it's been hung up.

But now there's a new twist -

one that's leaving a lot of people out of pocket.

I never cease to be amazed at the really convincing stories

that criminals come up with

to ensure that they can part us from our hard-earned cash, and really,

if it wasn't for women like the person that I'm about to meet,

who are prepared to share their experiences with us,

we wouldn't be able to be on our guard

and ensure that exactly the same thing does not happen to us.

-Valerie?

-Hello!

-Hi, I'm Angela.

-Good to see you.

-Come in.

-Thank you.

-Come in.

-Thanks.

'Valerie is a very busy professional.'

What a lovely, spacious kitchen you've got here.

'And she's long been aware

'of the ways in which scammers can target us in our own homes.'

I'd look on the internet because that gives you up-to-date scams

and just generally speaking to people and just general awareness.

So Valerie was immediately on her guard when in June of 2015

she received, out of the blue,

exactly the sort of phone call that would set her alarm bells ringing.

The man on the end of the line claimed to be a police officer.

This guy is saying that he's a serious fraud officer

and they were working with the bank and that...

could I confirm whether I'd been in London the previous day

because an amount of £1,200 had been taken out, spent at the Apple Store?

So I said, "No, no, I wasn't in London, that's absolutely not me."

And he said, "Well, you will need to phone your bank

"and get your card stopped,"

so I immediately thought, "I've heard about this on your programme

"and that they stay connected," so I said, "Yes, OK".

-So you immediately thought this might be a scam?

-Yes, yes, I did.

Valerie had seen our previous reports on so-called vishing cases,

where scammers cold-call homes,

typically pretending to be from your bank, warning

of suspicious activity on your card.

In order to trick you into thinking they are genuine, they'll suggest

that you call them back,

usually by ringing the number on the back of your card,

but if you don't wait the recommended five or so minutes

after putting the phone down,

the phone line to the scammer doesn't disconnect,

meaning when you think you're making a new call to your bank, you're not.

You're actually discussing your personal account details

with the same scammers who made the original call.

Knowing this, Valerie did not immediately call her bank,

but the so-called police officer was one step ahead and rang HER back.

He said, "Have you phoned your bank yet?"

So I said, "No, I haven't,"

and I said, "By the way, I need your police ID number and your name."

He gave me that.

So Valerie's next call was to check him out with the police,

but that was when she made an unfortunate but crucial mistake

because this time, in the heat of the moment,

she didn't hang up long enough for the line to clear,

so when Valerie dialled 999,

the scammers were still on the line, and of course,

they reassured her that she had been talking to a bona fide officer.

"It's perfectly OK to speak to him,

"he is the fraud squad, Charing Cross."

Now satisfied that the original caller was, as he said,

a police officer, Valerie next called her bank, Barclays, to say

that her account had apparently been involved in fraudulent activity.

But again, she didn't wait long enough before dialling out.

And you were convinced at that point you were talking to Barclays?

Yes. Yes, I was.

But she wasn't. The person supposedly at the bank told Valerie

that to be in a stronger position to get her money back,

she'd need to help the police with their inquiries,

and shortly afterwards, the so-called DC Daniel Roberts rang

again with the first stage of his plan to get her to do exactly that.

First, he wanted her to move money from her savings

to the more easily accessible current account.

He asked me to go and look up my internet banking.

He's not giving me a second, and then he's asking about my other accounts.

I said, "Well, I have an ISA account."

He said, "Well, can you transfer that into your current account?"

"But why would I want to do that?" He says, "Well, we do need you

"to use your money today but it will be totally safe."

And that is when things got really audacious.

Valerie unwittingly found herself at the centre of an extraordinary con

that sounds like something

straight out of the pages of a crime thriller,

because rather than simply try and talk her into handing over her cash,

over the next five hours and throughout dozens of phone calls,

now mainly on her mobile, the scammers persuaded Valerie

that she was taking part in an undercover police operation

to trap a whole gang of crooks that they said

were using her card details to shop at Selfridges in London.

I did put myself in a very vulnerable situation

but I wasn't thinking that at the time.

And though she thought that being asked to transfer her own money

between accounts was rather odd,

she assumed that it must be an essential part of the police's plan

to bring down the very criminal gang

that she was being told had attempted to scam her bank account.

He's on the phone again immediately.

He's then telling me that this gang are working in London

and that several elderly people had really lost a lot of money and that

almost £500,000 had been scammed.

Realising that he had hooked her,

the scammer moved on to the next phase of his plan.

At that point he said, "We need you to make a purchase in London."

But you need a second to process that thought and he wasn't giving me that.

-So he was railroading you with information...

-Yes.

-..with questions...

-Yes, yes.

-..all of the time,

-not giving you time to stop and think.

-Not giving me a minute.

Valerie was being asked to transfer £33,000 of her savings

into her current account.

She was told that the money would help at the crucial moment

when the criminal gang would be caught in the act,

but because it was such a large sum of money,

Valerie had to go physically to her bank to transfer it in person.

The crook even had the gall to caution her to be careful

because somebody in her own bank

could be working with the criminal gang that she was being asked

to help to bring down.

He said, "Don't forget, somebody in the bank is in cahoots with this.

"If somebody asks you what you're going to do with the money,

"you need to have an answer,"

he said, "and I want you to observe the bankers there."

During all of this, still posing as the police,

the scammers were constantly on the phone, chasing her progress.

After transferring the money to her current account,

they convinced Valerie to take a taxi and travel over an hour

to Selfridges in London.

She was told that the gang was about to try and use her card details

to purchase a Rolex watch, so she needed to be there at the same time

to prove to the sales staff

that the other person was using her card fraudulently.

By now, Valerie was tired, worried and upset,

but she was determined to see it through.

Were you sort of quite excited at this point?

Well, I'm thinking we're going to get them.

I mean, as silly as it sounds, I'm quite into the undercover,

because he used that term so many times -

"Now, don't forget you're working undercover."

Which sounds ridiculous, but...

I was being reeled in.

You can find out later how the drama unfolded, and how the true nature

of the scam was revealed, as Valerie arrived at Selfridges.

I was feeling very vulnerable, very frightened, because

I'm in the store, I'm in London, my family don't know where I am.

And we hear from the police how people across the UK are

falling victim to scams like this, and the effect that can have.

Absolutely devastating, the loss of considerable amounts of money,

and in some cases I've known, it's people's life savings.

As you know, buying a car isn't always easy,

and it certainly isn't always cheap either.

Forking out for new wheels,

which many Brits do every five years or so,

is right up there amongst the biggest purchases we'll ever make,

even if we're buying second-hand.

And while that old stereotype of the dodgy used-car salesman

is increasingly a thing of the past,

I'm afraid that doesn't mean you won't still get caught out,

because an increasing number of cars are now bought and sold online,

which makes the internet a particularly fruitful hunting ground

for the scammers determined to get their hands on your money,

and here's a very common way they go about it.

Car-buying scams cost British consumers

around £3 million every year,

and for many of the people who are tricked out of their cash,

there's a particularly bitter sting in the tail.

They've lost out after responding to ads on websites

of some of the best-known and most reputable names in the business.

Like other people who got in touch with us, Essex-based Kayleigh Beard

and her husband Daniel fell foul of a fraudulent ad -

in their case, one which was published on the AutoTrader website.

They wanted to expand their childcare business

and needed a new van.

I put my all into my business. We offer whatever the families need.

It's interesting, no two days are the same,

lots of fun, lots of laughter.

Hayley offers a service where they pick up and drop off children

during the school runs, so to help their new business grow,

they wanted to upgrade their current seven-seater vehicle

to a bigger nine-seater, with room to accommodate more children, and

one of the first places the couple thought of looking was AutoTrader.

I've trusted AutoTrader, it's been going for years,

whether it be for looking for a vehicle

or adverts to have some work done on a vehicle, it's great.

The couple found what, to them, seemed to be just what they needed,

a blue VW Transporter van which was being sold by a company for £6,995,

which seemed to be a fair price.

The vehicle looked great. It was exactly what we were after.

So following the instructions on AutoTrader,

Kayleigh set about contacting the seller via e-mail.

We started e-mailing to and from for several weeks,

we asked all the right questions,

what you're meant to ask about a vehicle.

The couple did ask to see the van, but were told that they couldn't

because it was still in use in the seller's travel company

and the owner was away on business.

Having already sold their old van, they were eager to secure

the replacement, so Kayleigh bit the bullet and agreed to buy it.

We received what seemed to be an invoice from PayPal

and there was a note on it saying,

"Due to the high value of the transaction,

"can you do it as a bank transfer?"

Which seemed feasible.

The invoice looked like it was genuinely sent from PayPal.

The layout, the wording and the logos all gave that impression,

so the couple were happy to pay almost £7,000

into the Barclays bank account that was printed on the invoice.

However, on closer inspection of the e-mail,

it asked for payments through a bank transfer,

something that PayPal would never ask you to do.

In fact, you would only ever receive an e-mail from PayPal

if the money was going into a PayPal account,

but unfortunately, Kayleigh and Daniel only realised that too late,

immediately after their payment had gone through.

Kayleigh began to fear that

this hadn't been the genuine PayPal site after all.

I started to feel panicked.

"I can't have just lost £7,000."

Hoping for reassurance, Kayleigh got in touch with PayPal,

but they only confirmed

what she was dreading - that the invoice had in fact been fake.

Kayleigh then contacted her own bank, HSBC,

but was horrified to discover that not only had she been scammed,

but because she had willingly transferred the money herself,

there was nothing the bank could do to help her.

Kayleigh really had lost £7,000 to a scammer.

They said, "No, it's gone, there's nothing you can do about it.

"You might as well have handed them cash."

Desperate, Kayleigh even tried contacting the seller again

to find out exactly what was going on, but to no avail.

Next she tried writing to the seller's bank, Barclays,

in the hope that they might help her get her money back,

but the offer Barclays made was not what she was expecting.

We received a letter from the bank

where the fraudulent account was based, offering us £50.95

with terms and conditions of acceptance

that we were not allowed to open our mouth about it to anybody

and that we couldn't pursue our £7,000.

The couple turned the offer down.

And now, without a van and nearly £7,000 out of pocket,

the couple had to take out a £6,500 loan to buy a replacement van.

I think the person that would do something like this to somebody

probably don't even care what they're doing to people

as long as they're getting money.

Now, someone else who was caught out the same way

is 18-year-old Leicester college student Akshay Limbachia.

After working two part-time jobs, including nights,

he finally managed to save up enough cash to buy his first ever car.

And he soon found just what he wanted

on the classified website Gumtree.

The car I found had good mileage on the clock.

It was a reasonable age.

Akshay contacted the seller, asking to see the car,

a 2004 VW Golf priced at £1,150,

but the seller told him that that wasn't possible

and instead offered delivery of the car to Akshay's house.

Akshay too was sent an authentic-looking invoice

carrying the PayPal logo

and requesting a payment of £1,150

by bank transfer to a Barclays account.

And unfortunately, he transferred the cash.

I contacted them the next day,

asking how long it would take to get delivery from them,

but I didn't get no reply and the account was deleted straight away.

Realising his mistake, Akshay called PayPal,

at which point he too realised that

he'd effectively just handed his money over to the scammers.

He and Kayleigh have learned too late

that just because an ad is on a trusted website, it doesn't mean

that the ad itself is trustworthy.

Both AutoTrader and Gumtree,

the sites where the ads they'd responded to were placed,

told us they work very hard to combat fraud,

but they emphasise that consumers should always make sure

that they see a vehicle before handing over any cash.

PayPal also assured us

it goes to great lengths to keep its customers safe.

And the three companies supplied a number of simple precautions

and security tips to stop you being scammed,

all of which you can find on our website...

We also got in touch with Barclays,

where the fraudulent accounts in both cases were held.

It told us that it had acted swiftly

to investigate and close the account in both cases

once inappropriate activity was reported.

But Barclays had some great news for Kayleigh.

After we got in touch, it reviewed her case and acknowledged

that the bank could have acted sooner in closing the account,

so they have refunded Kayleigh in full

and given her £250 compensation.

As for Akshay, although Barclays did look again at his case,

it told us that, unfortunately, by the time the fraud was reported,

all the money had been withdrawn from the account,

so sadly he won't be seeing a single penny.

And with thousands of people every year falling prey to these

types of scams, it's more crucial than ever that we truly understand

the risks involved whenever we pay for anything using a bank transfer.

And that advice is reiterated by cybersecurity expert David Emm.

If in an e-mail or any other form

somebody is asking you to give up confidential information

like your bank details, like your credit card,

like passwords, that should immediately be a red flag.

The PayPals and the eBays of this world are not going to ask you

just to give out information, particularly via e-mail.

All of that is great advice, but sadly too late for Akshay.

I just hope that people can learn from what happened to me

and try and not make the same mistake that I did.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain,

the jobseekers caught out by a recruitment business

that can leave you hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

The cost was about £212 and it just totally shocked me.

I was really, really, really upset.

Once again, we're ready to open up our Rip-Off Britain pop-up shop.

Now, this time, we've come to one of the busiest shopping centres,

right in the heart of Nottingham.

For two days only, we've brought our team of experts out on the road

so that we can give advice face-to-face.

And it's absolutely free,

because we've got a terrific team here that are ready

to give you the tools and all the information you need

to ensure that the next time you hand over your hard-earned cash,

you won't be ripped off.

Faye Lord and her dad, Mick, came to see finance expert Sarah Pennells

after being caught out by a scammer advertising on eBay.

They'd bought a voucher for a big-name holiday company,

but had become suspicious

after seeing another very similar listing from the same seller.

Do you mind if I ask, how much did you bid for this card,

this holiday voucher?

-It was, erm, £1,850.

-Wow!

-So, obviously...

-Almost £2,000.

It was a massive amount of money to us.

We decided something wasn't quite right and we thought,

"This is a lot of money.

"The best thing to do would be to cancel this transaction

"and ask for a refund."

The seller agreed to a full refund, but the money never arrived.

So Faye turned to eBay, who gave the seller a deadline to either

pay up or send proof that the voucher had been delivered.

And the day before that time was up,

the seller sent an e-mail claiming the voucher had been sent,

providing a tracking number which they said proved it.

A day later, we saw this tracking number had been signed for

-when we checked it online.

-So, in other words...

We'd not received anything at all.

No card through the door for mis-delivery or anything.

And no way of tracing whoever

-it might have been who'd had the item?

-No. No.

And so the plot thickened

when they called at their local sorting office to find out

what had gone on.

We said, "Look, allegedly, this item's been sent to us,

"but we've not received anything. How can this happen?"

And we provided them with the tracking number.

They said, "Oh, this rings a bell with us, actually.

"We know about this." A gentleman had come in and said,

"Ooh, I've got a special delivery item.

"I'm not expecting anything. This is all very strange."

But he handed over the card nevertheless.

And all there was inside it was a piece of paper that said,

"Your gift card is enclosed."

But there was nothing else inside it.

It seems rather than sending the voucher,

the seller has simply sent an empty envelope by recorded delivery

to a random address in Nottingham,

and they'd done so deliberately,

knowing that they could then demonstrate

proof of posting and delivery.

As a result, eBay told Faye they couldn't refund her money,

leaving her nearly £2,000 out of pocket.

The auction site just keeps saying, "The seller's provided evidence

"that the item's been delivered to you."

Which is just not true.

I mean, really, it's down to the online site to reimburse you,

because you have undoubtedly been the victim of fraud.

And they have a procedure which says very clearly the terms and conditions

you have to meet in order to be covered by it, which you meet.

It wasn't delivered to your address and it wasn't signed in your name.

It wasn't even addressed to you.

The company's quite adamant you haven't got a case. I disagree.

Erm... I mean, I think this might be one that we need to get involved in.

-Mention the name Rip-Off Britain and see...

-Mention the name.

Give them a bit of a shake and just see whether it changes their mind,

because I can't see how they are saying you haven't got a case.

Immediately after filming, Sarah contacted eBay herself

and the company conducted an investigation

using specialist teams in both the US and Europe.

They concluded that Faye had been the victim of a sophisticated

fraudster and have now refunded her the full amount,

so a great result.

In the heart of the shopping centre, many of you came to our Gripe Corner

to let off steam about all sorts of subjects that really wind you up.

Something that really annoys me

is when you go into a supermarket

and you only mean to buy one or two things,

but you get bombarded with a load of offers where things are

buy-one-get-one-free or three-for-the-price-of-two,

and you end up buying about ten more things

than you actually needed in the first place.

I hate being put on hold.

Whenever I phone a company to complain, they always leave me

30 to 40 minutes and never offer to phone me back.

It's my phone bill. It's my money they're wasting.

It's just not on.

Earlier in the programme,

we heard the astonishing story of a very elaborate new scam

in which the people behind it will try

and trick someone into believing they are going to be working

undercover for the police in a rather sophisticated sting

to try and catch the fraudsters.

I met a woman called Valerie who had been involved in exactly this scam

and she had been persuaded to move all of her savings

into her current account and then take a taxi into London

to help the so-called police catch the fraudsters in the act.

Over a period of around five hours, a barrage of phone calls,

supposedly from the police, had convinced Valerie

that her bank account was the target of fraudsters,

who she could now help to bring to justice.

After transferring £33,000 into her current account,

Valerie was instructed to catch a taxi to Selfridges' flagship store,

where the final act of the drama was to play out.

The cab arrives, I go out there, get in the cab

and no sooner sit down than the phone goes, the mobile.

So he said, "Are you in the cab?"

I said, "Yes, I'm in the cab and I'm on my way to London."

Well, that phone, he kept ringing and ringing and ringing.

"Where are you now? How long now?"

After nearly two hours of frantic phone calls,

the taxi eventually dropped Valerie outside the famous department store.

It was only then that Valerie suddenly began to worry

that she could be out of her depth.

I had said to him, "Hang on a minute.

"Am I safe doing this? You know, if you're putting me

"in a situation where I'm going where you know criminals are,

"how safe am I?"

"No," he said. "I'm going to have two plain-clothes police officers.

"They'll be with you all the way. You'll be absolutely safe."

As Valerie takes me through what happened next,

the extraordinary ingenuity of the scammers becomes clear.

She was told that the criminal gang was about to buy a Rolex watch

using her card details,

but by purchasing one at the same time with her real card,

she'd be able to prove they were crooks.

So, Valerie, you're at the Rolex watch counter in Selfridges.

What happened?

At this stage, I was feeling very vulnerable, very frightened,

because I'm in the store. I'm in London.

My family don't know where I am.

The only person that I'm in contact with is this guy

that I totally believed was a police officer.

-And he's still on the phone?

-He's still on the phone.

He directs me. He says, "Now, I want you to go to the watch department."

And I said, "I'm starting to feel really wobbly and faint."

And he said, "Go, go, go!

"They've just taken another £30,000 out of somebody's account.

"We've got to get them. We're going to get them today. Go!"

The scammer remained on the phone the whole time.

The assistant asked me, "Can I help you?"

And I said, "I'm looking to buy a Rolex."

And she said, "Do you know what one?"

So I said, "No, I'm not sure."

But he's able to hear me and I said, "Well, just a minute then,

"I'll ask him, cos it's for a friend."

And then he gives me a number of a Rolex

and I relay it to the assistant

and she said, "Oh, yes, it's this one here."

And he's now saying in my phone, "You're doing really well, Valerie.

"It's all going to be over soon. Purchase. Make the purchase."

And you were buying a watch that was valued at...?

£13,000.

-That's a bit scary in itself, isn't it?

-Well, it is.

It's probably my only opportunity to go and buy a Rolex for £13,000.

But luckily for Valerie,

the Selfridges staff could sense that she was on edge

and what's more, they'd been warned about these kinds of scams

involving expensive purchases in department stores just like theirs.

What was there in your demeanour, do you think,

that made them think that there was something not quite right?

Because I didn't know what I was buying.

And also, I'm on the phone to somebody.

You know, I'm asking them which one it is that they want,

which is ridiculous.

If I was buying a present, I'd either be selecting

what I liked or I'd go there knowing what I was going to buy.

Fortunately, the vigilance of the store's staff paid off

and they intervened to stop the purchase

before the scam could escalate any further.

As for Valerie, she was understandably confused

and unsure who she could trust.

Then I'm aware of two guys coming into the store.

And one of them leans over and...

He said something about fraud. So I thought, "Ah, this is my two guys

"under plain clothes and they're the ones that are looking after me."

And he said, "You're involved in a scam."

-What's going through your head now?

-I don't know.

I'm sat there now and I don't know who's the baddie, who's the goodie.

I just absolutely do not know who's who now.

And at that point, then, I did break down for a minute.

Eventually, genuine police officers turned up

and took a very distressed Valerie home.

They were also looking into similar cases -

all of which produced the same perplexing question.

Why would crooks want someone like Valerie

to buy an expensive item,

like a Rolex watch,

in the first place?

DCI Anthony Archibald was the real police officer

who took charge of the investigation

dubbed "Operation: Edisto."

As he explains, the purpose of this scam

wasn't to secure Valerie's card details,

but to persuade her to use them herself

on a high-end purchase

that the crooks would, ultimately,

find a way to get hold of

and then sell on.

What was the point of this scam?

The ultimate goal for the criminal is that the high-value watch

would then get sent out of the country

and sell it for a considerable amount of money.

So, there's a huge profit for

what was just a couple of hours' work for a criminal.

If Valerie's purchase had gone ahead,

the man on the phone would most likely have given her

instructions on what to do with the watch next -

which, inevitably, would have meant handing it over to the gang,

supposedly as police evidence, and losing all her money.

As it was, she had a lucky escape

but others aren't so fortunate.

You must have seen many instances

where people have become the victims of scams.

What sort of effect does it have on them, do you think?

Absolutely devastating for some people.

The loss of considerable amounts of money and,

in some cases,

people's life savings.

They are mainly retired professional people

who have fallen for a very clever scam

and they get quite embarrassed

and I can fully understand how Valerie, or other victims,

are taken in by this.

It wouldn't happen. The police would not put those demands on someone.

Variations of this scam have seen people persuaded

to buy other high-value goods,

including expensive clothes,

supposedly to help with the police operation.

And because they've all been bought

using the customer's genuine details,

rather than stolen ones,

the criminals leave little footprint

and, if all goes to plan,

they can simply melt away with the purchases

with no real hope of them ever being brought to justice.

Has it done a lot of permanent damage

and hurt to you, do you think?

There's a lot of anger in me still.

I was lucky. All he took from me was a day of my time -

but other people, they've taken your life savings,

they've taken your life away

and I'm very angry about that.

That's why I'm prepared to speak up about it.

Now, in the world of job hunting,

competition can be fierce

and you might have to send your CV out to endless job sites,

agencies and recruiters

before you strike lucky.

But a word of warning,

not every company offering work is genuine

and their ads may not be for a real job.

Indeed, instead of trying to help you get more money with a new job,

they might simply be trying to trick you out of

whatever money you've got right now.

They've not yet met, but these two women have something in common.

They're among the more than one and a half million people

who've used recruitment consultancy

in the last year...

..and for both Hristina Chowdhry and Halle Fadeyi

their job search came with an unexpected and very costly catch.

The cost is about £212 and it just totally shocked me.

I was petrified, thinking,

"Oh, no, all the bills that I've got."

In the past few years, both Hristina and Halle

have had periods of unemployment,

spending hours job hunting with little success.

It was a very stressful time,

simply because you keep on applying all day long

and then, in the end, there is no result.

When I was searching for jobs,

and I was unemployed,

I felt very frustrated,

very distraught...

So, both were delighted when they were approached

with the news of potential work by a company called...

Now based in Devon and

not to be confused with any companies with a similar name.

For Hristina, it was just the news she had been hoping for.

It was a very difficult period

because I'm a single mum

and I am looking after my two kids.

Not having a job,

it was a strain on myself financially

because I need to pay the rent,

I need to pay the bills and look after the kids.

Hristina wasn't sure how the company had found her CV,

but the supposed job as a PA

with multiple language skills

sounded perfect and it came with a good salary.

I thought, "Great, I'll go for this,"

and I got excited thinking...

I felt confident because it's very easy to go for something

that feels like it matches you like a mirror.

Hristina responded straight away

and the recruitment firm quickly e-mailed back

with an appointment for a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, on the other side of London,

Halle had been approached by Total Recruitment Consultancy Ltd

about an apparent marketing position.

When they first contacted me,

obviously, as anyone else would feel,

you feel, "Oh, wow, there is hope out there and I can find a job."

She too swiftly had a telephone interview arranged

and, at the appointed time,

rang the number she had been given in the recruitment company's e-mail.

When Halle finally put the phone down,

after what she thought was a two-hour job interview,

she felt really positive.

Rather than it being just an interview,

it felt like it was a conversation I was having with a friend.

At the end of the call, I thought,

"OK, I think this is good

"because we was on the phone for a long time."

So, it was a positive phone call.

But when Hristina rang for her supposed job interview,

the overfamiliar tone

and the attitude of the person at the other end of the phone

started to ring alarm bells.

They seemed unready for the phone call,

and the way he spoke, it wasn't professional at all.

So, towards the end, I was more than sure that something is wrong.

I don't think that it's a genuine phone call that I made.

Hristina's suspicions were soon to be confirmed,

but Halle, on the other hand, was convinced

that her phone interview had been a success

and that the job was in the bag.

When I hung up the phone

I just automatically thought I might get a job soon,

I won't have any money problems,

I would feel more positive.

That's how they made me feel.

Halle was sent an e-mail

confirming she'd made it onto the books of the recruitment consultancy

but, after that, neither women ever heard

from Total Recruitment Consultancy again -

but that wasn't their only concern.

When Halle received her phone bill the following month,

she could hardly believe her eyes

when she saw how much that two-hour phone interview had cost.

The call was £212

and it just made me feel so shocked.

I felt really let down.

But Hristina, who was immediately suspicious after her phone call,

found out the truth about her interview

straight after she checked with her phone provider

and discovered her call had clocked up a hefty £75.89.

I was really, really, really upset.

I've got two kids and,

obviously, I need to pay the bills,

to pay the rent and everything.

It was a fortune at the time.

Both job opportunities had been entirely bogus

and the huge costs were because Hristina and Halle

had each been lured into calling an "09" premium rate number -

costing around £1.44 a minute.

Although it was unclear from the firm's website,

and unbeknown, at this stage, to the two women,

the company doesn't actually offer any jobs at all.

It provides only job training and advice.

They want you to call them

so that you can do the interview.

They sound in their initial e-mail

that they already know who you are

and what you're looking for,

and they have found the bingo job for you.

The original e-mail, sent to both women,

did say, in the small print, that there might be extra charges

for the training telephone interview

and that there was no guarantee of a job,

but Hristina and Halle both say that was far from the impression

they were given.

Although the women both remember that there was a brief recorded message

at the start of the phone call mentioning additional charges,

they say that no specific cost was stated

and nor was it made clear that they were calling a premium rate number.

The guidelines around premium rate numbers are very clear.

For example, the cost of the call must be shown in close proximity

to the premium rate number itself in any literature

and the purpose of the number

must be clearly set out too

without being in any way misleading.

So, just how did this recruitment firm manage to get away with it?

Keith Rosser is the chairman of Safer Jobs.

These days, it is possible to be able to mask

a premium rate phone number.

So, often jobseekers won't actually know that they are calling

a premium rate number.

It's absolutely not standard practice that a legitimate,

reputable recruiter would contact a jobseeker

and ask a jobseeker to call a premium rate number

for an interview.

Desperate to get their money back,

the women did all they could to recover the cash,

including contacting BT, the police

and the regulator PhonepayPlus.

I remember spending the whole day on the phone

reporting the case, being told,

"It's your word against them. It has to be investigated.

"You have to pay the bill first."

Halle, too, reported the case to the authorities

and their persistence paid off.

Complaints from both women were submitted as evidence to a tribunal

investigating Total Recruitment Consultancy.

The company was found to be in serious breach

of the rules and regulations

and the owners were ordered to refund customers.

But for Halle, there was a final sting in the tail.

I received a cheque, finally,

so, obviously, that made me feel like, "This is finally over."

However...

the cheque bounced back.

We tried to contact Total Recruitment Consultancy

but they didn't respond to our letters or e-mails.

Although this particular company's website is no longer active,

it seems recruitment scams like this one

are a growing problem.

Anybody can be targeted with a job scam

just by having a profile

or CV out there, online.

So, if you're looking for work,

Keith has some sound advice to help you steer clear of the scammers.

Don't phone the organisation for the interview, but have them phone you.

Check it is a genuine job.

Never part with money.

Never do everything online.

Choose reputable recruiters.

'But there has at least been some good news for Hristina and Halle.

'Both have now landed full-time, permanent jobs.'

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 is too small and it's done on purpose

so that you can't actually read it.

People will 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.

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.

Time and time again,

we hear from people who say that they would never fall for scams

like the really nasty ones that we've been hearing about today -

but I'm afraid the reality is that,

whether the yarn that you're spun

involves a potential job offer,

fake e-mails or even the claim that

you're going to be working undercover for the police,

there is a scam out there to catch everyone,

with more cynical and inventive ones cropping up all the time.

And it doesn't really matter whether you lose a small amount

or an absolute fortune,

the effects of the worst scams

can leave you picking up the pieces for months or even years afterwards,

which is why we're so grateful that all the people we met today

have been prepared to share their stories with us.

And quite extraordinary stories they've been.

But, you know, it's only because they have told us their experiences

that the rest of us know exactly what to watch out for.

So that, if we're targeted the same way,

we don't end up handing over any money.

At this point in the programme is

where we have to leave it, I'm afraid,

but do please tell us about any new scams that you've come across.

But in the meantime, thank you very much for joining us in the programme

-and until next time, from all of us, bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.