Episode 11 X-Ray

This is the programme that fights for your rights. If you have been

scammed or dealt a raw deal, we are on your side. Exposing the truth and

tracking down the rogues. We will not take no for an answer.

This is a great investment opportunity.

They were promised their ?50,000 life savings were safely invested.

Now Ann and Geoff's retirement plans are in tatters.

I kept checking the bank account every hour.

I was thinking they have got all of this money of ours,

We meet a Welsh woman who was ripped off, then arrested!

They put me in a cell, took my photo and fingerprints

and basically treated me as a criminal.

And the man behind this garage has been in the dock

Do you care at all about the safety of your customers?

You sell vehicles - you let them go from your forecourt

knowing that those vehicles are unsafe.

First tonight, when you retire, you want to make sure you're not

But one in five women and one in ten men don't have a personal pension.

Instead, many people put their savings into schemes

But Rachel's been to meet one couple who fear they've made a big mistake.

Understanding the ups and downs of the money markets

choosing what to invest can feel like a financial minefield.

Newly retired couple Ann and Geoff Inch from Rhoose had

always saved and were looking forward to a secure future.

40 years of hard graft - I think I have earned

Our dreams were to enjoy life, you know,

go on holidays as many times as we could.

Wanting to make their money go further, last November they started

We were looking for the best interest so we could get money back

We found a company called Prusik PLC and it said put your name and email

address and your telephone number and well get back to you -

so thats what I did, and they rang me.

Thats right, I am calling about the bonds.

And Prusik PLC had a tempting offer for Ann -

the chance to buy bonds in trusted British department store

So John Lewis was mentioned, that was pretty interesting.

Well, we thought that was wonderful -

they are bound to have good profits.

This is a great investment opportunity.

What I am looking for is a serious commitment from you.

Well, we were looking to invest 30,000

Our interest every quarter would be ?600.

When the paperwork arrived, Ann and Geoff

were reassured to see that company had a financial

We did the payment beginning of December and he was actually

OK, so I want you to type in the amount, thats the amount

Ann didn't suspect anything was wrong.

Even when she was asked to send the money to a foreign account.

I mean he was so plausible he made you feel like everything

OK, within a couple of weeks you start

seeing some interest on that investment.

He told me that we would get the first interest

Yes, thats what I said, "That's quick."

But he said it would get it in line

like it would be December, March and so on.

But on the day the money was due to hit her account,

I kept checking the bank account every hour.

I thought surely it's got to be there by tomorrow,

I phoned to see if he was there in his office

but I couldn't get any answer - it was just ringing off.

How exactly were you feeling at this point?

I was thinking they have got all of this money of ours -

When she couldn't get through, Ann turned to the police.

They took all the details and said they would be in touch with us.

In the end, we phoned Xray, yourself,

it took them a lifetime to build up those savings.

So how does an investment company disappear overnight

Back to the office to make some calls.

Let's see if there is anyone at Prusik PLC that can explain

Hi, there can you tell me if you have a company called Prusik

Prusik PLC have never operated from there.

John Lewis did not sell any bonds at all in 2015.

I wonder if the contract holds any clues.

They have a financial conduct authority registered number

on all of their paperwork, so I am going to check to see

it actually says on here that the company

is unathorised and it is running a scam, which means that Ann

Things are looking more ominous by the minute.

I'm hoping a cyber crime expert can shed some light

What they are doing is using a real company.

They are creating a name that looks like that real company

and they are using that to socially engineer you into believing

you can trust them and therefore give them your money.

So Prusik Umbrella UCITS, they are regulated by the FCA

and have nothing to do with this scam - they are victim of this scam.

The scammers have targeted them and created a fictitious website,

a fictitious company - thats the trick - making you believe

OK, now I want you to type in the amount...

The moment the money landed in the Singapore

account, it will have been transferred to other accounts.

It will have been split up and moved round the world to make it virtually

impossible for the police to trace.

Ann and Geoff are almost certainly victims of organised crime.

What I found out I'm afraid is not great news really.

Prusik PLC is what we call a clone firm, and unfortunately is a total

You always think it is never going to happen to you.

The police have told us they're looking into Ann and Geoff's case

If you've been affected by this or a similar scam, let us know.

Call us on 03703 334334 or email, [email protected].

And remember, if you're making an investment,

Check that the company's registered on the Financial Conduct Authority

and hasn't been reported as a scam or cloned company.

We'll put the information you need on our website.

Looking for a special someone for Valentine's day?

But people aren't loving the idea here in Bridgend!

Would you ever consider using an online site?

No, no, you don't trust anyone online any more.

We meet a woman whose online romance cost her dear.

I believed in him so much, I did anything for him.

Next, the latest on the long running saga

of one of Wales' most complained about car dealers.

This garage in Barry has been on our radar for years.

The names may have changed, but the man behind it hasn't.

He was first prosecuted five years ago for selling unsafe cars.

But that didn't stop him trying to give his customers,

and Trading Standards, the runaround.

The business name was changing very often,

this was a way of trying to escape investigation.

Customers were queuing up to tell X-Ray

about the dangerous situations they'd found themselves in.

All of a sudden my power steering died

I was coming off the motorway, off the slip-road

and the car just cut out completely, totally died.

Going 50, 60 miles an hour with my family in the car.

All these should have been picked up.

He just kept saying to me 'I don't sell unsafe cars,

But that's exactly what he did to Mike Smith.

His brakes and suspension were dangerously worn,

and how's this for a quality repair job, the exhaust had been patched

It looks like it had been standing in a scrap heap for two

years and basically they threw the car together just to sell it.

My wife, obviously, I bought her a car that

Mike's case gave Trading Standards enough evidence to prosecute

Nasser Asfi again for selling unsafe cars.

He's been handed an eight month suspended prison

sentence, ordered to pay more than ?20,000 in costs

and has been banned from the motor trade for ten years.

His brother, Ashgar, was also fined and banned

from selling cars for five years.

The judge said the Asfis were lucky to avoid jail.

As Nasser left court, we asked whether he was sorry.

Do you care at all about the safety of your customers?

You sell vehicles you let them go from your forecourt knowing

You're telling the viewers lies, by telling them that I'm

going to prison so obviously you need to get your facts right.

I think you need to look at the facts as well,

we said you might spend Christmas in court.

What about the safety of the vehicles?

Well, as it happens, I haven't gone to prison.

Yeah, that doesn't matter does it, what about the safety

You never checked those vehicles when you sold

Never checked those vehicles, you let people leave your forecourt,

You don't care what state those vehicles are in as you long

Now we understand Nasser Asfi wants to appeal against his banning order,

but for now, he's definitely not allowed to sell cars.

So if you see him on a forecourt, let us know!

Next Rhodri's been investigating a canny way of making a few savings

But there's a way to get some of that money back.

You've just got to go through a few hoops!

Instead of shopping directly with a retailer, you could use

There are dozens of them, Topcashback and Quidco

The basketball team here at Coleg Gwent are going

Normally, when I go shopping I pass my money to the shopkeeper

But with cashback there is another player.

He's like a middle man, introducing me to the seller.

So this time when I buy something from the retailer he's got to thank

He passes a bit of my money on to the cashback site.

It's not much, But when you do it all the time it can

I'm off to meet a real fan, you could say, a cashback champion.

Science fiction writer Meg Kingston, from Rhymney, buys almost everything

So over the last couple of years, how much have you managed

Well, the total since 2008 is nearly ?6,000.

Meg's house is bursting with cashback deals.

She even gets cashback on her holidays.

Time to set Meg a little challenge, with a Six Nations theme!

Now Meg, I'm after a nice TV to watch the match on,

so what sort of cashback can we get on one of these?

Okay, tellies are good thing to look for cashback

on because they are a single large purchase.

If you put television in here you get all those retailers

2,3, 4% just click on the buttons and it takes you directly

Tell you what, lets go large, let's get a nice big one.

That one is coming up for ?360 and you are on 3% cashback but that

That might not sound like much but it all adds up over the years.

You will have to wait for the money though,

at least until the returns period has ended.

But the million dollar question, are cashback sites safe?

It is no different to what you do shopping online,

if you are comfortable shopping online then this is just an extra

click to go through and to something you were going to do anyway.

If you go via the bigger cashback sites, given how long they've been

established they are more financially established as well.

The chance on getting your cashback is reduced, if you go

via are the smaller ones , I think you are taking a bigger

It turns out you do have to be on the the ball.

For a start the payments are never guaranteed.

There are there are loads of reports of people claiming they've not had

And cashback sites don't always guarantee the deals are accurate

and up to date so you could end up getting less than you expected.

Make sure that what you are getting is actually the best deal,

don't look at whatever the amount of cashback is and think oh great,

I'm going to get ?50 or 5% or whatever back.

If the price of the item you are buying or the service

you are buying isn't good anyway, having the cash back isn't

going to make any difference, you could find you get a cheaper

price on a different site and not taking in account the cashback.

So the name of the game, shop around and treat any cashback

That way if you score a cashback. you can really celebrate.

And remember, lots of voluntary groups and charities are signed up

to these services too, so if you're feeling generous

you can channel your cash back to them!

Now, it's Valentine's day this weekend, but not everyone will be

shopping for chocolates and flowers...

if you're single and looking for love, you may well try online

dating, but are these sites as straightforward as they seem?

I had a lot of friends come up to me who said these sites are a bit

Quick question, have you ever used an online dating site?

I have actually, it's really embarrassing my partner's here!

I have you ever used an online dating site at all.

And what was your experience of it, did you find it was safe

It was safe, but it wasn't very successful.

I planned to meet him so we met up, I knew by when he pulled up

in the car, I was like, I looked at him and I thought,

he looked totally different to his photo and I was like,

you don't look, and he said yeah that was a few years ago.

I said you need to update your photo!

I said I can't come with you! So did you see him again?

I had a lot of friends come up to me who said these sites are a bit

dangerous, watch out for the photos and that had me worried,

but I met, there's nothing wrong with the site itself,

it just wasn't the right thing for me really I'm sure they're

regulated by whoever owns the websites, so,

yeah, I don't see a problem with them.

You hear so many stories though don't you?

Did you have any sort of dodgy experiences?

Oh, yeah, I ended up deleting my account quite quickly,

you just get a lot of people who clearly aren't

Online dating scams in Wales are on the rise, as Rachel's

This is where more and more people come to search

But how much faith can you put in the online dating

How do you know that the person behind the picture is

Dating websites are now huge global businesses,

but at the same time, they've become a big hit

with the scammers Last year more than three and a half thousand

people in the UK went to the police after losing money

It's almost certainly the tip of the iceberg.

The victims feel they've lost their confidence,

some of them feel silly that they've been drawn into these things

and given their money to a fraudster.

And probably a lot of them think, well, I'm never going to see

One Welsh victim, who we'll call Sue, has bravely agreed

She wants to warn others about the tactics scammers use.

While I was on these websites, I met a gentleman who told me

he was a doctor attached to the United Nations and serving

And we built up a friendship and corresponded every single night.

She was gradually drawn into a world where she believed that the man

who was emailing her really cared for her.

He said I love your personality, he said you know you sound

like an amazing woman and I felt good.

I felt I was on cloud nine, yes, somebody out there wants me.

The man began asking for money, convincing Sue that he was on his

He said, so I can actually be home for Christmas,

because I really want to spend Christmas with you.

He said, if I send a form to you from my commanding officer.

It said on there request for leave, what was the reason.

I said, 'What reason do I give?' Tell them you are my fiancee,

On the bottom then it said I needed to send a fee of ?500.

Sue sent the money and could hardly wait for Christmas Eve,

I turned up at Cardiff airport and I waited,

and I waited, and there was no sign of this person.

I felt really sick in my stomach, thinking, oh, what's going on.

He didn't show up, but was quickly back in touch with the first

of a series of extraordinary excuses, designed to make her hand

On the way to the airport he'd been kidnapped by the Taliban

They want ?3,000 to release him, so I ended up paying ?3,000.

Now he was supposedly free, he said he was desperate to visit

Sue, but needed security to get him to the airport.

Again I paid the ?500 because I know then he was going to be safe.

But, on his way to catch the plane, he said he'd had a car crash.

He was seriously injured and said I've got to have an operation

It took me a couple of months to get the money together and I sent it.

Sue's story is a familiar one to detectives from South Wales Police's

They've caught some of those behind other, almost identical scams.

This was supposedly Captain Morgan Travis,

an American soldier serving in Afghanistan.

His photo appeared on the match.com dating site, and he sent messages

to a number of women including a Danish widow.

This was her first time that she thought look I'm prepared

to look at starting a new relationship in my life.

She was in her mid to late 40s and this was the first time she'd

The scammer doctored photos of a real soldier,

adding his own messages to convince his victim

Can you just help me out with paying for a phone connection

because he was apparently in Afghanistan.

Once that had happened and he realised the victim

is prepared to give some of her money away.

He started asking well look we want to get together,

I want to get a flight out to come and visit you.

Can you send me some more money, it cost me money to apply for leave.

And that's another few hundred pounds, and then the flights

And there's a problem with the flights, can

you send me some more money? The woman ended up paying

an incredible ?250,000, before her bank spotted

Their investigation led them not to Afghanistan or some distant US

army base, but here to this terraced street in Cardiff.

They discovered that Captain Morgan Travis was in fact

Tosin Femi Olasemo, a Nigerian student living in one

We found, when we arrested him, a number of fake ids,

and on his computer was evidence linking him to other women who he'd

either defrauded or was in the process of trying to defraud.

Olasemo had even produced crib sheets with areas to talk to women

Everything from what is your earliest memory to how many

All designed to gain the victim's trust and tease out more

Last summer, Olasemo was jailed for four and half years.

Police are now trying to recover some of the money he

But in Sue's case, there's little chance of seeing her money again.

She gave her fake lover a staggering ?25,000.

When all her cash had gone, he duped her into letting him

He told her that the money flowing through it came from his friends,

when in fact it came from other victims.

One morning I had a knock at the door and it was CID.

I was under arrest for fraud and money laundering,

they put me in a cell, took my photo and fingerprints

and basically treated me as a criminal.

Sue was eventually released without charge when the police

realised she was a victim too. They were reading different women's

names out, and how much these women had been sending the same guy that

Then I sat there and thought oh, none of it is real.

Now I know this man will never be here, and he's probably doing it

Well, scams like these aren't going away, so please,

We've put some of the warning signs to look out for on our website.

That's it for this week, but if you have story you'd like us

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