Episode 9 X-Ray

Have you been ripped off the short change? We are here to fight for

your rights. Spotting the latest scams and making sure you make the

most of your money. You think it is never going to happen to you. But

you do not know. Exposing the brogues and confronting the conmen.

We are here to help you fight back. -- but rogues.

Tonight, the bogus insurance brokers using your address for their scam.

Once they've got your addresses, what else are they going to use if

for? Are they going to use it for credit cards, loan applications? He

travelled over 7,000 miles from chilly to Wales, only to be left out

in the cold. It's money I'll never see again in my life. And what do

you think about those companies that just leave you hanging on? I was on

hold for 20 minutes last week. In the end I put the phone down. First

tonight. Reporting on the scams that affect you is our bread and butter

on X-Ray. This week though, Rachel has a more personal tale to tell,

after her home address and many of her neighbours' addresses were used

for insurance fraud. Bills, junk mail, and a letter for a

Mr Bayryam. Now, I've been getting a lot of his post recently. All about

his car insurance, which is strange because no-one of that name has ever

lived here. In fact, over the past few months,

I've begun to wonder if it is just me and my family who live here, or

weather some shady character's been using my address to run some dodgy

business. At first, I assumed I'd just been

unlucky. Then I did some research among friends and neighbours here in

Saundersfoot - and I realised this was something much more sinister.

I've spoken to lots of people in the village who've received letters just

like mine - too many to be coincidence. All the indications are

that our addresses are being hijacked for an insurance scam.

Amanda Cunningham has been getting letters since May for two different

people. So this is one of those letters. You know nothing of Mr

Cretu? No, not at all. When this letter turned up, the first thing I

did was open the letter, purely to get the phone number of the

insurance company. I rang them and sort of explained to them that this

isn't me, nobody of that name lives at this address. And these weren't

just harmless letters confirming details of a policy. The insurers

were chasing debts, querying if drivers details were genuine, and

threatening to cancel policies. You'd come home from work, look at

the post and think, oh, another one. How is this one going to affect me?

Is it going to cause any more problems? Are the insurance company

going to be understanding when I phone them and say it's not me?

Because they may think you are telling lies and you don't want to

pay for the insurance, so that was quite worrying. You just think

please stop, please stop sending me these letters, it's nothing to do

with me. Just around the corner, another worried home owner. Dianne

Whiting has been getting letters for a year for three different people -

and they're still coming. This morning my husband said to me, we've

had another one. So I knew exactly what he meant, and I do think,

what's going to be in this one? You'd resisted opening the letters,

but then the letter came from Liverpool Victoria and mentioned

fraud. Yes, I opened that one because it said to the occupier, and

it was naming this lady that I'd been having the mail for. And it

said anti-fraud, and that did freak me out a bit, because I don't want

to be dragged into something belonging to somebody who could live

in a big city and got my address. And it's not just letters from the

insurers. People have been hearing from debt collection agencies, and

even receiving letters about speeding fines. Their home

addresses, but not in their names. And when you're on the receiving

end, it's no joke. So who's to blame? I've made some

calls, and done some searching - and it seems these letters are the work

of so-called ghost brokers. That's what the industry calls

individuals or organised gangs who sell these worthless policies. They

suck drivers in with the offer of a dramatically cheaper deal.

So how does this scam work? Simple! The ghost brokers post adverts on

sites like Gumtree or even Facebook - offering car insurance at a

bargain price. If you ring them for a quote, they'll use a price

comparison site, just like the rest of us. They'll use your name, but

then lie about the rest of your details to make sure they get a low

price from the insurrance companies. Points on your licence? Forget

those. No no-claims bonus? They'll forge one. Live in the car crime

capital of Britain? Not any more, they'll put you down as living

somewhere quiet, somewhere safe. Somewhere like Saundersfoot.

Is that Kessa? Later in the programme, we'll be trying to track

down those ghost brokers using your addresses to sell bogus policies.

You come down to where I am. I can meet you. I'll give you the policy

details. We'll have more on that later in the

programme. Still to come in tonight's programme. Cerys wants to

GIVE the tax office some money, but she can't even ask them exactly how

much she owes! I am worried because the deadline's passed now. I've got

a perfect credit history and I'm worried this has affected it.

Hundreds of overseas students come to Wales every year to study all

kinds of subjects. For most of them it's a positive experience. But for

one Chilean student who arrived here with the aim of improving his

animation skills, the academic year got off to a very bad start. Rachel

went to meet him. Animation has come on a long way

since Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse by hand. Today animation's a high

tech big money business. But when animator Mario Quinones from Chile

in South America wanted to improve his skills, he didn't head to

Holywood. He came here, to the University of South Wales famous

film school in Newport. I am trying to learn more 3D digital

animation. I can learn from professors that are very

experienced. For 28-year-old Mario it was going

to be a massive adventure. But he would need somewhere to live. The

University gives accommodation for students, but that was too expensive

for me. That is why I started to look on the website of the

university. Mario posted an appeal for a cheap student room on the

website. He says it was the only place he advertised. But who was the

person who got in touch? He just sent me an email. There was a shared

house with two students. He sent me some pictures of the house. For a

student house, it was hot property. It even had an en suite bathroom.

But what about the man behind the offer? He was called Fran Spenca,

but he was no comedian. He needed a deposit, a whopping ?800, before

he'd reserve the room. Mario paid up by cash transfer - and headed off

for a new life in Wales. And after two days on planes, and

trains, he got in a taxi to take him the short ride from Newport Train

Station to THIS street in central Newport. So when I arrived to the

street and I was outside a house, knocked the door, a kid came out, he

told me he had no idea about it, he was living there with his family and

the house wasn't for students. Mario realised he had been scammed -

he was devastated. I was very tired, there was a feeling of kind of

frustration. I was scammed for my money and it's money I won't see

again in my life. The conman seems to have got clean

away with Mario's hard earned cash. But how could Mario have been

scammed so easily? Remember he says he only used what looked like a

university website to find a home. This is it - a website run by a

company called Studentpad. Anyone looking at it could be mistaken for

thinking it's an official university site. But how secure is the site?

I'm going to set myself up as a scammer and try to contact Mario via

the message board he used. I've just created an email in a fake name.

Let's see what happens when I try to reply to Mario's ad. I am able to

post a message. But the website says it will be vetted by a university

administrator. So it looks like students are being protected from

any conmen who might be out there. But when Mario answers our message,

his reply doesn't go through the message board, it goes straight to

our fake inbox. So we've now got his email address. Within a few hours,

Mario could be talking to a random stranger with a fake email address,

away from any kind of university monitoring.

Now, Studentpad say they can't find any trace of Fran Spenca using their

website, so we'll probably never know exactly how the conman got hold

of Mario's details. He's now put it down to experience and is getting on

with his studies. It's unlikely that Mario will ever

see that money again. But there is some good news. Within hours of us

contacting Studentpad, they had radically improved the security on

that website. You now have to have a password - issued by the University

- to use that message board - and you have to be a student to get one.

And Studentpad have put that security measure in place on the

accomodation websites they run for Universities across the UK.

Hopefully that will go some way to keep scammers at bay. The University

and Studentpad both say they give lots of advice to students to

prevent fraud - and say you should never hand over money until you see

the property. Now, this is a common scam. But there are loads of other

pitfalls for students and the rest of us who need to rent smewhere to

live. Here in Swansea there's a large student population. Let's find

out what problems they've encountered. We had a real issue

with damp coming in through the ceiling, it was coming off some

cavity walls. It was causing a big problem. What happened when you

contacted the landlord to try and get it fixed? It was always, yeah,

OK, we'll get someone round. Six months would go by and, yeah we'll

get someone round. Yeah, someone is coming, just having a few delays. We

had a fixed bills payment on one. And at the end of our agreement, we

had to pay more than we expected, which was a bit frustrating. There

was administration fees. How much were they? Three...no, ?70 each.If

you forget your rent, then that's a ?30 charge as well. It took me about

two months to get my bond back. There was no issues with me room or

anything like that. It was just poor communication between him and

actually releasing it. As it happens, the Uplands here in Swansea

is the base for the housing charity Shelter Cymru. They've agreed to

give us some top tips on how to keep your cash safe in today's housing

market. Is there anything you can do to protect yourself? You could check

if your landlord is accredited with the voluntary scheme in Wales. If

you're a student and the landlord lets to students, check with the

Students Union or the Housing Office - have they had contact with this

landlord before? Do they know if they're a bona fide person? Make

sure you have their name and address. If it's a gas central

heated property, ask for a copy of the gas certificate. Are there any

other things people should watch out for before they sign on the dotted

line? If in doubt take advice, Lucy. We've got telephone advice services,

we've also got a new service, which is called Advice Online, you can

download documents from. Check your agreement very carefully and make

sure there's no dodgy clauses in there about having to pay fees for

keys or letting agent fees that seem excessive. Those are the sorts of

things to consider. How should you keep your deposit safe? Well, the

landlord must under the law protect the deposit and provide the

information on where it's protected within 30 days of you paying in the

deposit. If the landlord doesn't do that, it gives you additional

protection from eviction and you can sue the landlord for the deposit to

be returned to you and the value of the money. You can ask your

landlord, before you sign the agreement, which scheme do you use

and how do you protect it, when will you provide me the information.

They're going to be aware then that they've got to do it or there will

be consequences for them too. Really good advice - William, thank you

very much. Next: If there's one thing I hate it's being put on hold

when I ring a company with a query or a complaint. And I'm not alone.

According to one recent survey it's our number one gripe. It's

frustrating, it's downright maddening, being kept on hold when

you need help. You're patient, you sit for 30 minutes? Well, you have

to or you don't get nothing done. Oh I don't like the music, I'd rather

speak to someone first then if they have to put you on hold to find the

information then that's OK as long as they're telling you what they're

doing. When you're put on hold just to wait, that's really annoying. I

enjoy the music. I have a little sing-song to it. Do you enjoy being

kept on hold? No, I don't. No. I was on 20 minutes last week, to this

company, and in the end I put the phone down. And one of the worst

offenders is HM Revenue and Customs, as Cerys Burton from Newbridge knows

only too well. She's been trying to talk to them for weeks. The first

night I was on hold for an hour and a half. It doesn't tell you how long

you're going to wait. It doesn't tell you what your number is in the

queue. It just says, "please hold for the next available person to

help you." So how long are we being kept on hold? Thousands of us call

HM Revenue and Customs every year with enquiries about our child

benefit or just questions about our tax. But we've been told they have a

habit of keeping people waiting, so lets see...

Please hold until an advisor becomes available. Well, I might as well put

the dinner on whilst I'm on hold. Still on hold. And I'm not the only

one having problems... Cerys has been trying to pay money BACK to the

tax office for months. She first called them on the 20th August.

Please hold until an advisor becomes available. For an hour and a half I

kept thinking I would be next, but I never was. The next night she tried

again. I started holding at 5:30. I still had to get the sandwiches

ready, the school uniform ready, my clothes for work ready, still trying

to clean the house. I can't just stop for two and a half hours, but I

haven't got a loudspeaker on my phone so it was constantly held to

my ear, me and my husband were taking it in turns, and at 8pm, 2.5

hours later I was just cut off saying "the offices are now closed,

please ring back tomorrow". Thanks for calling, Goodbye Cerys was

determined to get hold of HMRC somehow to see how much she needed

to pay. She sent a letter recorded delivery but just like her calls,

she says it hasn't been answered. I don't like owing people money, I

want to pay them back. I want to pay them back by instalments, but I just

can't get through to this faceless company. I can't email them, can't

write to them, I can't ring them. I just can't get through to them. I am

worried because the deadline's passed now. I've got a perfect

credit history and I am worried that this has affected it, even though

I've tried to pay. So that is one thing that is a cause of concern to

me. Thank you for holding. Well, this pasta has been boiling for 11

minutes and I still haven't got through to the taxman! Maybe its

time to make this more than just a quick snack!

Please hold the line whilst we try to connect you. We decided to

conduct our own survey to see how long it would take HMRC to answer

our calls - and guess what? They kept us waiting and waiting. Oh, at

last I got through, and it's taken just over 15 minutes. At least I've

got my dinner cooked! And that wasn't the longest. We made 30 calls

to HMRC at different times over three days. On average it took

nearly eight minutes to get through. The longest time was more than 26

minutes. And twice we were simply cut off. Now many companies

including HMRC charge customers for making these calls, so we're

actually paying to be kept on hold. HMRC's 0845 number costs up to 11p a

minute from a landline and up to 41p a minute from a mobile. I could get

a takeaway for that! It's cost me nearly ?20 trying to get hold of

them and in the letter I wrote to them, I've asked for that to be

taken off my bill because I don't think it's right that I should have

to pay that. Thanks for calling - goodbye! Well, when we got in touch

with HMRC they told us they are "determined to do better". They

believe callers should be able to talk to them for the lowest cost

possible, so have introduced 03 numbers which are cheaper for most

people. They also say that they are trying out a call waiting system to

let people know how long they'll be waiting. On top of that Cerys tells

us that after we contacted HMRC they got in touch and are currently

sorting out her problem. Great result! Now let's get back to our

investigation into those bogus insurance brokers. Rachel takes up

the story.. Earlier in the programme we told you about the ghost brokers

- people who sell fraudulent insurance policies at knock-down

prices. They've been using my address. And it's not just me - many

of my neighbours in Saundersfoot have also been receiving letters

from insurance companies - about bogus policies bought by drivers

keen to save cash. My husband said we had another one

and I knew exactly what we meant. Now X-ray is going to try to track

down some these shadowy individuals and gangs. I'm told they sometimes

advertise on free ad sites - a case of mobile numbers and first names

only. Well, it didn't take me long to find around a dozen

suspicious-looking adverts, so what will they tell us when we ring them

up with the details of an imaginary driver? Meet Barry Thomas - a

25-year-old sales rep with a fast car, nine points on his licence and

no no-claims bonus. Not surprisingly the best official quote we get is a

whopping ?2800! I've been quoted quite a lot for my

BMW and I was just giving you a call to see if I could get a quote for

your insurance please? Ever had a conversation like that when you've

taken out motor insurance? No, me neither. That was apparently Anas

from London, and we've also spoken to someone called Kessa from

Birmingham. Both asked us to text them our details, before responding

with the same price - ?1300. Less than half the best official quote.

Hi Anas? This is Barry Thomas, you texted me over the weekend about

insurance. So how would I get the money to you? And it's all like

above board, yeah? It's all legit and stuff? Now if we'd gone through

with the deal - we'd have been e-mailed a policy. But who knows

what lies the ghost broker would have told to buy that cover from a

legitimate insurer. We know they often pay for it with a stolen

credit card, so what will insurance fraud expert Glen Marr make of our

calls? They're talking about meeting, paying cash, using a

personal bank account, communicating via text. This is just not how

insurance policies are legitimately purchased and nothing about these

calls suggests they are bona fide individuals working for a regulated

entity in the insurance sector. Now we have had it confirmed, let's see

what they say when we actually confront them. This time I am making

the calls. Hi there, is that Anas? Hi, my name is Rachel

Treadaway-Williams. I'm actually calling from the BBC. One of our

team actually called you, calling themselves Barry Thomas, and got a

quote for car insurance. Does this sound familiar? HANGS UP.

Obviously did not like the questions, not keen to answer those.

Next we try Kessa. He says he only provides trade insurance policies

for businesses selling cars - something not mentioned in the

advert we'd seen or in our earlier conversations. He says he's working

for someone else, but won't say who. I don't wish to give any names to be

honest. So how can we get proof then that what you're doing is legal? Of

course it's legal, because I've just told you that it's through his

insurance? The fact that you've told me doesn't mean it's legal. He'd

have to be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority for it

to be legal. Well, that I don't know, to be honest. He's got his own

fleet policy and trade policies and he can add people on there, not a

problem. The advert speaks about cheap auto insurance quote. It was

advertised as you being based at Balsall Heath in Birmingham. Your

number's on there. It also mentioned bizarrely that you were selling new

Apple iPhones as well. Where on that advert does it talk about trade

insurance? Nowhere! Of course it does. It does not mention trade

insurance. Well, then you are not seeing it properly, simple as. HANGS

UP. There you go - so we did finally

speak to Kessa - not very convincing, Anas hung up on us. Not

really sure you'd want to buy something as critical as car

insurance from either of these people. So why hasn't the industry

managed to close the loopholes used by the criminals? Glen Marr says

they are making it tougher, but some insurers could still do more. There

are simple checks that can be done to establish, is the person on the

insurance application actually living at that address? Well, if

they're not, then they shouldn't ordinarily be offering the cover in

the first instance. So how many more of Mr Bayryan's letters am I going

to get? Well, the good news is that once the legitimate insurers get too

familiar with certain towns or addresses, the ghost-brokers start

using new ones. I'm not the only one hoping they'll soon stop using

Saundersfoot. Before we go, time to mention that investigations into

companies taking cash and promising benefits under the Green Deal were

mentioned in a House of Commons debate today. Eco Green Deal

Solutions has now shut down, I am delighted to say, after the consumer

watchdog programme X-Ray on BBC Wales found that several customers

who were not eligible were charged up to ?249 for arrangement and

assessment fees. Mr Murphy then went on to describe another company we

featured back in June. The company that has caused most concern

throughout south Wales, including in my honourable friend's constituency,

is Becoming Green. It has caused great distress to some constituents

who came to see me, and among other things, it caused me to raise the

matter in Parliament. It is charging older people ?299 for what it calls

its advice service, and when it is challenged, my constituents are

unable to get their money back. Well, we'll be back with more news

on that company next week. And if you've got more to say, our phone

lines are open now - so if you've got a problem remember to get in

touch. you've got more to say, our phone

lines are open now - so Give us a call on 03703 334 334. Or if you

prefer send us an e-mail - [email protected]. We'll be reading

them all in the morning. We'll be back same day same time next week.