:00:14. > :00:19.Every year con men and scam artists net an estimated �3.5 billion from
:00:20. > :00:24.you and I, the British public. They don't care how they do it and or
:00:24. > :00:34.how much damage they cause. They only really care about one thing -
:00:34. > :00:46.
:00:46. > :00:50.Coming up, a further education college whose bogus qualifications
:00:51. > :00:54.can teach you a very harsh lesson. I have got a piece of paper
:00:54. > :00:58.upstairs, certificates that mean nothing. Would you pay �1,000 for
:00:58. > :01:04.certificate that is mean nothing? The property investment that left
:01:04. > :01:09.innocent people high and dry. It makes me really angry that these
:01:09. > :01:13.people are so arrogant. They feel that they can get away with this.
:01:13. > :01:16.If they can spend people's money who have been saving all their
:01:17. > :01:20.lives. I'm here to tell you what the con
:01:20. > :01:28.men doesn't want you to know and how to stay ahead of the game and
:01:28. > :01:33.The cost of a full-time university education can be crippling and if
:01:33. > :01:38.you add to that, the time you will need for lectures and seminars, for
:01:38. > :01:44.those of us with jobs and children, it can be a no, no. That's why home
:01:44. > :01:48.study makes such sense. Learning from home is big business
:01:48. > :01:52.and thanks to the internet you can now do anything from a diploma to a
:01:52. > :01:55.degree without leaving your front room. Sadly the con men have been
:01:55. > :01:59.doing their homework too and they have worked out how to scam people
:01:59. > :02:03.out of cash that they thought was buying them knowledge.
:02:03. > :02:08.There is a number of fraudulent operations that we've come across.
:02:08. > :02:11.One in particular was an overseas university which was offering bogus
:02:11. > :02:16.qualifications in effect. Scammers will either make up
:02:16. > :02:21.official sounding courses to fool people or offer rock niced
:02:21. > :02:26.qualifications that -- recognised qualifications that count for
:02:26. > :02:30.nothing. It can be a minefield, but one some of us have to enter as
:02:30. > :02:34.home study is offered to help those who can't afford the time or the
:02:34. > :02:39.money for a more traditional course. Caroline is trying to move on with
:02:39. > :02:42.her life after studying for over 15 years for what she believed to be a
:02:42. > :02:47.set of diplomas that would change her future..
:02:47. > :02:51.. What I was looking for was a way that I could study whilst being a
:02:52. > :02:57.full-time mum and whilst working full-time that I could get the
:02:57. > :03:00.qualifications that I wanted to basically build my self-confidence.
:03:00. > :03:05.Caroline had been having a tough time and was a working single
:03:05. > :03:10.mother taking temporary secretarial jobs to make ends meet. She was the
:03:10. > :03:15.type of person that the home study scammers hoped to lure in.
:03:15. > :03:19.There are a number of reasons why scammers can exploit our industry.
:03:19. > :03:24.There are vulnerable people within that. Those people that are looking
:03:24. > :03:32.to change jobs or are in a job that they are not enjoying. It is easy
:03:32. > :03:37.for that person to fall foul of the scammer.
:03:37. > :03:41.Caroline wanted to study psychology and she found a company that seemed
:03:41. > :03:46.to fit the bill. I decided I would give them a call
:03:46. > :03:50.to find more about it. I spoke to a very nice young lady who told me
:03:50. > :03:55.what to expect and I thought, "This sounds great." Just because you
:03:55. > :03:58.have had phone contact with one or many people at one of these
:03:58. > :04:01.fraudulent operations, it is really important not to let your guard
:04:01. > :04:04.down. These fraudulent people would have many people answering the
:04:04. > :04:07.phone when you call to make themselves look as genuine as
:04:07. > :04:10.possible. Once on the phone, the scammers
:04:10. > :04:15.have you where they want you. They will tell you what you want to hear
:04:15. > :04:17.as they attempt to hook you on to one of their courses.
:04:17. > :04:21.Some companies will make up qualifications which sound
:04:21. > :04:24.important by giving you letters that you can put after your name. A
:04:25. > :04:27.check with that industry, you will find those letters don't exist.
:04:27. > :04:32.What about the kind of qualifications that they were
:04:32. > :04:39.offering? Did they say what it was that you would be walking away at
:04:39. > :04:44.the end of it? I was looking at doing a diploma and psychology and
:04:44. > :04:49.psychotherapy and they told me it would be equivalent to a diploma.
:04:49. > :04:53.It wasn't affiliated to? No. They did mention at the time ibg an Open
:04:53. > :04:57.University if you did a diploma through them, it would be the same
:04:57. > :05:02.qualification as that and they were recognised by companies.
:05:02. > :05:09.Ah, equivalent to. Surely one of the scammers favourite phrases, but
:05:09. > :05:12.Caroline was persuaded. Handing over �200 she started working hard
:05:12. > :05:16.on what she thought was a genuine diploma.
:05:16. > :05:20.The study programmes look legitimate, but they have taken the
:05:20. > :05:26.course information from somewhere else because they are not
:05:26. > :05:31.registered with a professional body, these courses are worthless.
:05:31. > :05:36.Caroline, how did it work in practise? You get a series of photo
:05:36. > :05:39.copied pages put together in a binder. Each section, they ask you
:05:39. > :05:44.a question or you get a series of questions which you have to answer
:05:44. > :05:47.based on what you've you've read. I was looking to get highest mark
:05:47. > :05:50.possible. Another sign of the scam course is
:05:50. > :05:55.high grades. Happy pupils ask pure questions.
:05:55. > :05:59.I always got an A. It is not like you can converse with other
:06:00. > :06:02.students or speak to anybody else to find out how they are dsmght you
:06:02. > :06:06.are on -- doing. You are on your own.
:06:06. > :06:10.Caroline had been given the name of her tutor, but when she did need to
:06:10. > :06:14.ask him something, he seemed hard to get hold of.
:06:14. > :06:18.A few times, you know, when I asked to speak to my tutor, they were
:06:18. > :06:21.either not available or I would get told they would send me an e-mail
:06:21. > :06:25.later. Almost as if he had to read up on
:06:25. > :06:29.something. On several occasions I would get e-
:06:29. > :06:33.mails back, but they didn't quite answer the question that I was
:06:33. > :06:37.asking so whether they didn't understand what I was saying, I
:06:37. > :06:40.don't know. Caroline finished her so-called
:06:40. > :06:44.diploma course, passing with flying colours. Receiving a shiny
:06:44. > :06:47.certificate in the post, she happily went on with life with a
:06:47. > :06:50.great sense of achievement after her success, but scammers are never
:06:50. > :06:53.one to let profitable targets vanish.
:06:53. > :06:56.There is an encouragement particularly with the fraudulent
:06:56. > :07:01.companies to get to you do more and more courses. To keep you hooked in
:07:01. > :07:06.their organisation. To get more and more money out of you.
:07:06. > :07:11.Time passed, but the con men e- mailed Caroline again. As she
:07:11. > :07:14.hadn't rumbled their scam first time around, they decided to come
:07:14. > :07:17.back for more. They were operating under a different name, but the
:07:17. > :07:22.tutor was the same and Caroline was interested in what they had to
:07:22. > :07:25.offer. Did they say that it might lead to
:07:25. > :07:28.professional status of any sort? Yes, they did.
:07:28. > :07:31.So they gave you assurances that you would be walking out with
:07:31. > :07:34.something that would be professionally valid and would
:07:35. > :07:39.allow to you practise what you wanted to do? Yes.
:07:39. > :07:49.Sucked in by the sales pitch, Caroline, at a cost of a further
:07:49. > :07:52.�800, signed up for four more courses in psychology.
:07:52. > :08:00.She knew these could take a long time to complete, but hoped at the
:08:00. > :08:03.end of it all, she she would be qualified enough to have a job in
:08:03. > :08:06.the subject. I I have had this feeling that's
:08:06. > :08:10.the job I should be in because I had the interest.
:08:10. > :08:15.How would you use it? Setting up my own business and helping other
:08:15. > :08:22.people that have problems. Are you a motivated person? Yes.
:08:22. > :08:28.When you set your mind to something, generally you get it done.
:08:28. > :08:32.Car Caroline was patient and didn't want a radical career change until
:08:32. > :08:35.her son was grown-up. She studied whenever she could grab a moment,
:08:35. > :08:39.progressing through the courses she believed would transform her later
:08:39. > :08:43.life. When was the moment when you really
:08:43. > :08:49.started to think, "I'm really not sure about what I have been
:08:49. > :08:57.spending all this time and money on." Was there one moment of
:08:57. > :09:03.realisation? Yes. 2009 when I started doing my last course which
:09:03. > :09:08.was for a marking tutor which they sent to me and asked me to do.
:09:08. > :09:11.There was a job offer. So you have ascended to the level
:09:11. > :09:15.where you can be judging other people as well? Yes.
:09:15. > :09:20.But the dangling carrot was about to be snatched away and Caroline
:09:20. > :09:24.was set to learn a very harsh lesson.
:09:24. > :09:29.I finished the first section. Set it back. -- sent it back. Sent the
:09:29. > :09:33.various e-mails because I hadn't received anything back. The next
:09:33. > :09:39.thing I know is I get an e-mail to say they are moving offices. The
:09:39. > :09:44.phone number has changed and alarm bells start to ring and then when
:09:44. > :09:47.after a few weeks I still hadn't got anything back and I'm sending
:09:47. > :09:52.snotty e-mails and saying, "Look what is going on here?" Because I
:09:52. > :09:58.had paid for the course in full. Then the company's website website
:09:58. > :10:01.shut down and a message appeared saying they had gone into
:10:01. > :10:03.receivership, Caroline checked other review sites and found other
:10:03. > :10:10.people were having the same problems.
:10:10. > :10:17.As soon as I read things like, "Scam. This is a joke." It started
:10:17. > :10:23.to sink in. What exactly, what were you working
:10:24. > :10:33.out at that stage? Well, it was the fact that I had spent so much time,
:10:34. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:46.money and effort trying to build a better life for myself and I just
:10:46. > :10:50.felt cheated. Take your time. It's fine.
:10:50. > :10:54.The unbearable truth was the courses that Caroline had been
:10:54. > :10:58.studying for since 1994 were worthless, a waste of her time and
:10:58. > :11:01.money. You know I paid for something that I haven't got. You
:11:01. > :11:06.know, I have got a piece of paper upstairs, certificates, that mean
:11:06. > :11:11.nothing. Would you pay for �1,000 for
:11:11. > :11:17.certificate that is mean nothing? I don't think anybody would.
:11:17. > :11:22.Sadly, many others have. Caught out by crooks selling bogus home study
:11:22. > :11:26.courses online. I feel that the organisations that operate these
:11:26. > :11:29.scams are really tainting the home learning and distance learning
:11:29. > :11:34.industry. It is a very good industry and people do get an awful
:11:34. > :11:39.lot from it, but there is a small minority which are operating in
:11:39. > :11:48.this scam. What's Worse four, the money you
:11:48. > :11:54.left or the 15 years? The 15 years. You know, I mean, my life is
:11:54. > :11:58.brilliant at the minute, you know and I have sorted myself out and
:11:58. > :12:03.I've sort of worked around t around my feelings about the whole thing
:12:03. > :12:10.to a certain extent and I'm determined I'm not going to let it
:12:10. > :12:16.ruin my life, but the 15 years that I was doing all that work, you know,
:12:16. > :12:22.for me to come away with nothing, you know, I don't know how anybody
:12:22. > :12:27.is supposed to feel about that. But it is the fact that it is 15
:12:27. > :12:33.years of what? You know, I couldn't even explain
:12:33. > :12:40.to my husband how it made me feel. And it has happened to thousands of
:12:40. > :12:45.other people, you know that? Yes. It is cold comfort, but I think to
:12:46. > :12:51.take advantage of people's desire to better themselves, you know, I
:12:51. > :12:55.think that's pretty despicable. Yeah.
:12:56. > :13:01.Caroline will never get back the years she spent studying, but she
:13:01. > :13:06.is still fight to go try and retrieve some of her money. The
:13:06. > :13:10.authorities are working hard to catch these con men and in 2004
:13:10. > :13:20.Caroline's tutor was prosecuted and fined under the Education Reform
:13:20. > :13:24.Act for awarding a fake doctor doctor ate in psychology to another
:13:24. > :13:27.woman. He was qualified in animal welfare,
:13:27. > :13:31.Egypt tolling, you name it, he is qualified in it.
:13:31. > :13:36.Are you saying he couldn't have had these qualifications so he had
:13:36. > :13:40.none? Who has? Home study provides a valuable and
:13:40. > :13:46.cost effective service for many. How can you spot the scam artists
:13:46. > :13:50.and tell apart the descent degrees from the dodgy diplomas? They are
:13:50. > :13:54.registered with Companies House and as a basic check. It is wise to
:13:54. > :13:57.check how long the company has been trading for. The longer it has been
:13:57. > :14:02.established, the less chance of it being a scam.
:14:02. > :14:05.Other thing that people can do is look online and Google and use
:14:05. > :14:09.search engines. There is a lot of of forums out there where people
:14:09. > :14:13.discuss scams. The other thing that is very important, is if they
:14:13. > :14:18.contact us, the British Institute for Learning and Development, we
:14:18. > :14:22.can see if they are registered with us and any exams they offer are
:14:22. > :14:25.registered with an exam board. companies that offer training
:14:25. > :14:28.should be registered with a professional body. If you have
:14:28. > :14:33.already completed a course and received a certificate, check
:14:33. > :14:36.whether it is official. I expect to see an examination
:14:36. > :14:40.board logo on there as well and I think that's the most important
:14:40. > :14:44.thing that people can look for and they can go and check with the exam
:14:44. > :14:48.board or with people like ourselves and find out if that course is a
:14:49. > :14:54.genuine course. The reason why I wanted to tell my
:14:54. > :14:58.story was basically so that other people are aware of what's going on
:14:58. > :15:04.and nobody else gets caught out in the same way that I did and if I
:15:04. > :15:14.can at least stop one person from getting caught out with this
:15:14. > :15:14.
:15:14. > :15:17.horrible scam then at least I feel If you have got a bit of spare
:15:17. > :15:21.money to invest, there are a few different options you can consider.
:15:21. > :15:25.You could stick it into a bank account, but you might not make
:15:25. > :15:33.very much. You could put it into stocks and shares, but they can go
:15:33. > :15:38.down as well as up. Then there is property. A tempting proposition
:15:38. > :15:43.especially buy-to-let. But a decade ago, in the north-east,
:15:43. > :15:46.one group of con men turned a buy- to-let investment scheme into one
:15:46. > :15:53.of the largest property scams ever seen in Britain. They were the
:15:53. > :15:57.subject of a mammoth investigation by the Northumbrian Police and the
:15:58. > :16:00.Serious Fraud Office. Targeting hundreds of of investors, the
:16:00. > :16:03.fraudulent company, Practical Property Portfolios Limited left
:16:03. > :16:08.many people's dreams and lives in ruins.
:16:08. > :16:11.It makes me really angry that these people are so arrogant, they feel
:16:11. > :16:15.they can get away with this. If they could spend people's money
:16:15. > :16:21.that they have been saving all their lives.
:16:21. > :16:24.The seeds of the scam were sown in 2000 when the UK was gripped by
:16:24. > :16:27.property fever. The one at that time was following
:16:27. > :16:31.what effectively was a global property boom. There was a lot of
:16:31. > :16:35.money around, banks were happy to lend. People were happy to invest
:16:35. > :16:39.generally in property because it was perceived as an investment that
:16:39. > :16:42.couldn't go wrong. If you bought a property, it it didn't matter where
:16:42. > :16:44.it was, it was always going to go up. The impression was if you were
:16:44. > :16:48.a landlord, you were going to make money.
:16:48. > :16:51.With prices rising across the UK, Newcastle and the north-east of
:16:51. > :16:54.England were emerging as the perfect place for buy-to-let
:16:54. > :16:57.investment. Just the potential, you could sense
:16:57. > :17:01.that something was happening in the area. A lot of young professionals
:17:01. > :17:04.coming in. A lot of new students. There was a lot of new businesses
:17:04. > :17:08.with fresh ideas coming to the area and a shortage of houses that were
:17:08. > :17:12.geared for them. One of the companies to try and
:17:12. > :17:18.capitalise on the north-east boom was Practical Property Portfolios
:17:18. > :17:22.Limited or PPP who sold buy-to-let properties for �25,000. Many of the
:17:22. > :17:29.properties they sold have now been renovated or demolished, but these
:17:29. > :17:34.houses in the same area provide an area of what PPP were offering.
:17:34. > :17:39.Investors were sold run-down houses and PPP promised to renovate them.
:17:39. > :17:42.Kay Rogers from the Serious Fraud Office saw how people were drawn in.
:17:42. > :17:47.For an investor, having received the entire amount of the investment
:17:47. > :17:51.upfront, the investor was promised the purchase of the property, the
:17:51. > :17:54.refurbishment of the property to a tenantable standard. That tenants
:17:54. > :18:01.would be found and would be managed, the rent collected, the property
:18:01. > :18:05.would be insured and crucially in this particular one, that void
:18:05. > :18:08.period insurance would be purchased. When there was no tenant occupying
:18:08. > :18:13.the property and paying rent that the insurance would cover the rent.
:18:13. > :18:17.So this one gave investors the impression that they couldn't lose.
:18:17. > :18:21.But you could and in the end nearly 2,000 people did as victims of such
:18:21. > :18:25.a cruel scam, many of them are ashamed of their involvement and
:18:25. > :18:32.unwilling to talk. The people PPPP succeeded in roping into their
:18:32. > :18:38.scheme were mainly quiet, first time investors like Nancy Lewis.
:18:38. > :18:41.Nancy first got in touch with PPP in 2003 and her son Ed recalls how
:18:41. > :18:45.excited she was by what they were offering.
:18:45. > :18:48.She was very fond of the north-east. She had been a student at the
:18:48. > :18:51.University of Durham and she had a good time up there. And soy think
:18:51. > :18:59.she was looking at an investment which she felt could put something
:18:59. > :19:04.back into an area that she was fond As PPP promised to buy houses in
:19:04. > :19:08.slightly run-down places and refurbish, Nancy felt not only that
:19:08. > :19:12.it would be a wise investment, but she would be helping with the
:19:12. > :19:15.regeneration of whole areas. She was of retirement age and she
:19:15. > :19:20.had money which she saved up over the years and she was looking to do
:19:20. > :19:24.something with that. I think my mother wanted to invest her money
:19:24. > :19:29.wisely. Obviously to build that money up to pass on to myself and
:19:29. > :19:32.my sisters in time. I believe she became aware of PPP
:19:32. > :19:36.through either a friend telling her about the investment opportunity,
:19:36. > :19:39.but also they had, I believe, advertised through the national
:19:39. > :19:42.press. She believed it was a legitimate business and she thought
:19:42. > :19:49.it was a really good and clever idea.
:19:49. > :19:53.So much so, that she handed over �50,000 to PPP so they could buy
:19:53. > :19:58.her two properties. And many other people ploughed in greater amounts.
:19:58. > :20:00.During in boom time, Practical Property Portfolios Limited were
:20:00. > :20:09.taking full advantage of the interest shown in the north-east by
:20:09. > :20:14.outside investors. 90% came from outside the area.
:20:14. > :20:17.have been sophisticated in the way they they seduced the investor. If
:20:17. > :20:23.you replied to one of their adverts in a national newspaper, you would
:20:23. > :20:26.be sent a glossy pro pro sure and an invitation to see the scheme
:20:26. > :20:31.first hand as Detective Mark Woods was to find out, it was a slick
:20:31. > :20:35.operation. You made your initial inquiry to
:20:35. > :20:38.PPP, you would be collected at the station or the airport by a
:20:38. > :20:44.salesman who would pick you up in one of the company Jaguars, you
:20:44. > :20:52.were taken to an area which was usually Hartlepool and you were
:20:52. > :21:02.three properties, all similar properties. There There would be a
:21:02. > :21:03.
:21:03. > :21:06.property as PP said they bought it. There was one as they bought it and
:21:06. > :21:13.one refurbishment and one at the end. These were the properties that
:21:14. > :21:17.people who invested in PPP thought they would end up.
:21:17. > :21:23.This is what people thought they would get once the renovations were
:21:23. > :21:28.completed and a tenant was in place. Rental incomes varied, but in
:21:28. > :21:31.effect, they were expecting to to receive somewhere in the region of
:21:31. > :21:37.about �100 a week. So you paid a cheap price for a
:21:37. > :21:40.property that would be renovated and quickly grow in value, while at
:21:40. > :21:44.the same time providing affordable housing for people who needed it
:21:44. > :21:49.and they would pay you rent. It seemed like a win, win win
:21:49. > :21:53.situation and PPP enticed up to 2,000 investors in total. In
:21:53. > :22:00.reality, all was not what it seemed. After three years the whole thing
:22:00. > :22:05.was about to come crashing down. The Northumbrian Police first got
:22:05. > :22:09.wind that something was not right when Mark received a call from a
:22:10. > :22:14.disgruntled investor. They were an overseas investor and
:22:14. > :22:18.they had relatives in the the Gateshead area. They came home and
:22:18. > :22:25.saw what they bought and weren't happy. Basically what they thought
:22:25. > :22:29.they hadn't got. They thought they bought a property that was being to
:22:29. > :22:34.be refurbished and tenanted, but they purchased a boarded up
:22:34. > :22:36.property in a down run area. Mark contacted Trading Standards
:22:36. > :22:40.and local housing associations to find they started receiving
:22:40. > :22:43.complaints from worried investors who were beginning to realise that
:22:43. > :22:47.their their vemplts weren't as -- investments weren't as sound as
:22:47. > :22:52.they believed. Nahns Nancy Lewis was among them.
:22:52. > :22:57.As soon as she made the investment, it was difficult to get hold of
:22:57. > :23:02.anyone specific. She tried to phone them and was passed from certain
:23:02. > :23:06.departments to other departments. When no reasonal money came in --
:23:06. > :23:11.rental money came and no answers from the company, she went to see
:23:11. > :23:13.the houses for herself and what greeted her were empty boarded up
:23:13. > :23:17.properties like this one in the same area.
:23:17. > :23:22.She was, of course, shocked at the state of them. This is money that
:23:22. > :23:27.had been saved up by my mother over her lifetime, taken a long time to
:23:27. > :23:33.save and then once it was gone, it was upset. When I found out it was
:23:33. > :23:38.a scam, it was very frustrating. I felt quite angry about it. I think
:23:38. > :23:42.she felt rather foolish, frustrated, upset, stressed about the whole
:23:42. > :23:45.whole situation. And outside investors who had not
:23:45. > :23:51.seen their properties were finding out what they had spent their money
:23:51. > :23:56.I contacted a guy that lived in the Bristol area. He some property in
:23:56. > :24:01.South Yorkshire which on speaking to him, he thought he had a
:24:01. > :24:05.terraced property, which was tenanted and double glazed. Imagine
:24:05. > :24:09.his surprise when I told him that there was no roof, it had a car
:24:10. > :24:13.half in and half out of the back kitchen and the house was in a
:24:13. > :24:16.state of devastation. During the period when the investor
:24:16. > :24:20.owned it there was an incident reported and when the investor went
:24:20. > :24:24.to see it, they found that it was completely burnt out.
:24:24. > :24:28.PPP had been buying streets of run- down properties like this one for
:24:28. > :24:31.investors and doing nothing with them. This affected whole
:24:31. > :24:35.communities nearby who weren't involved with their scheme.
:24:35. > :24:39.It is bad bad enough areas where there is nobody living there, when
:24:39. > :24:44.you have got people who lived in these areas for years, they end up
:24:44. > :24:53.living in a bomb site. If PPP weren't spending investors
:24:53. > :25:02.money on renovating properties, where had the money gone. As this
:25:02. > :25:08.was a criminal matter, Mark was determined to find out.
:25:08. > :25:10.He seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention. He described him as
:25:10. > :25:15.not the richest man in the north- east.
:25:15. > :25:24.He pays his staff very well, but for want of a better word expects
:25:24. > :25:27.his pound of flesh and is There are scams out there for every
:25:28. > :25:32.one of us. It doesn't matter how old you are, what you do, where you
:25:32. > :25:37.live. There is one that's tailor- made for you. The point is this -
:25:37. > :25:41.how do you recognise a scam and how do you avoid falling into their
:25:42. > :25:45.traps? We have spoken to some of the UK's
:25:45. > :25:49.leading authorities on fraud to build up a picture of what type of
:25:49. > :25:59.person falls for what type of scam and we have created fictional
:25:59. > :26:02.
:26:02. > :26:07.Today's character is a young lad looking for work and like many
:26:07. > :26:11.people in the UK, he is using the internet to help.
:26:11. > :26:15.When people are applying to jobs online they can be vulnerable
:26:15. > :26:19.depending on how urgently they need to find employment.
:26:19. > :26:27.That makes our job hunting youth the prime target for the dream job
:26:27. > :26:32.scam. Here is how it works and why.
:26:32. > :26:35.Our young chap puts his CV on a number of online job websites,
:26:35. > :26:39.advertising his background and credentials as a future employee,
:26:39. > :26:44.but little does he know, he is handing valuable information to
:26:44. > :26:54.scammers as well. He made himself vulnerable by doing
:26:54. > :26:54.
:26:54. > :27:00.something perfectly sensible and legitimate by putting his CV on a
:27:00. > :27:03.website. The scammer can get hold him and field him a line because of
:27:03. > :27:11.his skills and because of where he is in his life. He has dealt them
:27:11. > :27:15.the cards in some sense. He may also have included crucial
:27:15. > :27:19.personal information such as his date of birth, national insurance
:27:19. > :27:27.number and address in a bid to land a job fast. So our young lad is
:27:27. > :27:32.making it easy for the scammers to assess his suitability.
:27:32. > :27:36.So one day, he gets a telephone call. It is really like a phone
:27:36. > :27:41.interview and the job sounds attractive, it involves a lot of
:27:41. > :27:45.travelling. It involves the sorts of skills that he has got, you know,
:27:45. > :27:51.really by the end of this conversation which came out of the
:27:51. > :27:55.blue he is feeling that this is a job he had he would really like and
:27:55. > :28:00.he is feeling good about himself because they took the trouble to
:28:00. > :28:02.contact. Our chap is desperate. Wooed by the
:28:02. > :28:06.sudden and exciting offer, he has been caught off guard. He hasn't
:28:06. > :28:08.stopped to think about the fact that attractive jobs rarely come
:28:09. > :28:16.out of the blue and he hasn't questioned the fact that he was
:28:16. > :28:23.cold called. Having missed all the marks of the
:28:24. > :28:27.scam, our lad is unwitting put himself in a seriously vunnable
:28:27. > :28:32.vulnerable situation. The next day, or a few days later
:28:32. > :28:35.our victim gets another call and what she says is, "Congratulations,
:28:35. > :28:41.you have got the job." She goes into more detail about what we have
:28:41. > :28:46.got to do and the first thing is to have a placement in some exotic
:28:46. > :28:51.foreign country, one he has never been to before and unfortunately,
:28:51. > :28:59.the firm can't get him his visa, but they can manage all the
:28:59. > :29:02.processing for him if he can just send them the �200 or �500 or
:29:02. > :29:07.whatever it is, the sort of scale that someone in his position would
:29:07. > :29:14.be able to put their hands on, though not easily and he is never
:29:14. > :29:18.going to see it again. So our chap has has innocently
:29:18. > :29:23.handed over whatever cash he has in a bid to get on with his life and
:29:23. > :29:28.the fraudsters have probably sold his details on to other scamming
:29:28. > :29:32.websites. So keen was he to gain independence, he has done what many
:29:32. > :29:37.young people risk doing. He has put too many personal details on job
:29:37. > :29:42.websites. He has been fooled with the promise of an exciting career.
:29:42. > :29:46.He has paid upfront fees on the back of a cold call. So if you or
:29:46. > :29:56.anyone close to you is in a similar situation, this is what you need to
:29:56. > :29:59.know: Reputable companies have advice on
:29:59. > :30:03.their website about security and. If you are in doubt about an advert
:30:03. > :30:06.that you wish to apply for, you can contact the service provider that's
:30:06. > :30:11.advertising the job. Think about your preferences and settings on
:30:11. > :30:14.your profile that you have online. You can choose to keep your e-mail
:30:14. > :30:19.and phone numbers confidential from recruiters.
:30:19. > :30:22.Remember, scams are designed to target people of all ages and
:30:22. > :30:32.backgrounds so stay on your guard and hopefully you won't be their
:30:32. > :30:36.
:30:36. > :30:46.The early noughties and UK property is booming with little sign of bust.
:30:46. > :30:54.
:30:55. > :31:03.It was in this economy that that prk that PC PC that a company
:31:03. > :31:07.company pulled off a scam. PPP had been promising investors for
:31:07. > :31:12.�25,000, they would buy them a run- down property, do it up and rent it
:31:12. > :31:18.out on their behalf. After a tip- off, Detective Mark Woods
:31:18. > :31:23.investigated and found they weren't honouring their promises. This
:31:23. > :31:26.house here is probably typically of a house that PPP would buy for an
:31:26. > :31:32.investor. As soon as they bought the house this is what they ended
:31:32. > :31:37.up, a house that was boarded up and derelict. The vandals have gone in.
:31:37. > :31:42.It would remain like this because they didn't have the money to do
:31:42. > :31:45.the refurbishments. You get two or three houses like this, and the
:31:45. > :31:49.area comes into decline and you are left with a shell.
:31:49. > :31:52.Where was investors money going? With the help of the Department of
:31:52. > :31:57.Trade and Industry, the police forced PPP to stop trading and
:31:57. > :32:02.conducted a series of raids on the offices and homes of senior staff.
:32:02. > :32:07.From our point of view, it is important that we seize everything
:32:07. > :32:10.as soon as practicable. We didn't want to lose anything.
:32:10. > :32:14.Searching through the company records and seeing how many people
:32:14. > :32:19.had been taken in, Mark realised he needed help.
:32:19. > :32:23.As a force, it was the largest fraud inquiry that the force has
:32:23. > :32:27.taken on. We didn't have the resources, we referred it down to
:32:27. > :32:30.the Serious Fraud Office and they came on board and basically ran the
:32:30. > :32:34.operation in conjunction with ourselves.
:32:34. > :32:39.Put in charge of the case, Kay Rogers at the SFO was taken aback
:32:39. > :32:43.by the size of the fraud. I have not come across another case
:32:43. > :32:50.where we had so many individuals who were actually victims to such a
:32:50. > :32:53.large degree. There was In secretaries in excess of 1700
:32:53. > :32:57.victims and they paid to the company what appeared to be a total
:32:57. > :33:00.of �80 million. As the police drove around the
:33:00. > :33:04.country, interviewing victims, they found this was not a case of the
:33:04. > :33:08.rich robbing the rich, many of those caught out were ordinary
:33:08. > :33:13.people. It wasn't just a case of investors
:33:13. > :33:17.losing money and they are losing money by investors can be a
:33:17. > :33:21.calculated risk by them, this was people's livelihoods and life
:33:21. > :33:23.savings and it was tragic to see what happened to them and the
:33:23. > :33:26.effect it has on them. That's probably the thing that will stick
:33:26. > :33:29.with me most. Many of the victims of this scam
:33:29. > :33:35.were left too crushed and embarrassed to talk about their
:33:35. > :33:38.involvement. Nancy Lewis was tricked into paying PPP �50,000 for
:33:38. > :33:41.two properties that turned out to be worth far less when she saw the
:33:41. > :33:46.state they were in. It sounded like a really good
:33:46. > :33:49.scheme because it was look to go put something back into the area
:33:49. > :33:53.through regeneration. She had saved that money over a long period of
:33:53. > :33:57.time. It was precious to her. It was pretty much all the savings
:33:57. > :34:05.that she had. She put that wholeheartedly into something she
:34:05. > :34:08.believed in. There was a puzzle to solve. PPP
:34:08. > :34:12.had been running this scam for three years, yet it was only now it
:34:12. > :34:17.had been discovered. Although most of their investors lived away from
:34:17. > :34:20.the area, how had they got away with it for so long? Police
:34:20. > :34:24.interviews can company employees and an examination of the accounts
:34:24. > :34:28.would provide the answer. To start with, the scheme was
:34:28. > :34:31.perfectly viable, however it became far more difficult to identify
:34:31. > :34:35.properties that were of a sufficient quality that could be
:34:35. > :34:38.refurbished and tenanted as envisaged by the scheme. That
:34:38. > :34:41.didn't deter the company. They continued to sell because they were
:34:41. > :34:46.so enthralled by the amount of money coming in and it was the fact
:34:46. > :34:49.that the properties would cost a lot more money to refurbish that
:34:49. > :34:54.really undermined the whole scheme. They weren't prepared to spend the
:34:54. > :34:58.money. P PPP tried to cover their tracks
:34:58. > :35:02.in a pyramid scheme. Money from new investors was used to pay the rents
:35:02. > :35:07.to existing ones. And that's what keeps pulling in the new investors
:35:07. > :35:14.because the earlier investors see it as a successful investment.
:35:14. > :35:18.rental income was put in their bank account from the PPP account. Those
:35:18. > :35:23.people didn't know what they had until the company went under so
:35:23. > :35:26.they came back to these houses thinking, "OK, I have got to look
:35:26. > :35:34.after the house myself. I have a tenant that I'm receiving an income
:35:34. > :35:38.and found this.". When they were closed down, PPP had around 100
:35:38. > :35:42.employees, most of whom had no idea the company was rotten to the core.
:35:42. > :35:45.Rooting out who the real bad guys were and bringing them to justice
:35:45. > :35:49.was a major challenge for the Serious Fraud Office.
:35:49. > :35:53.We interviewed over 300 victims so we talked to them about the
:35:53. > :35:56.investment that they made, their contact with the defendants and we
:35:56. > :36:02.looked at the documents that they retained so that was able to show
:36:02. > :36:04.us was who they had spoken to and how they were misled and the
:36:04. > :36:11.information that they were given that persuaded them to invest in
:36:11. > :36:15.this scheme. From the company itself, PPP, the liquid dator gave
:36:15. > :36:20.us the records and that amounted to 600 archive boxes which is a huge
:36:20. > :36:22.volume of material to have to read through, to analyse and to assess
:36:22. > :36:27.its relevance. With so many victims and pieces of
:36:27. > :36:32.evidence to wade through, it was a complicated case, but four years
:36:32. > :36:39.later in 2007, the SFO were finally ready to prosecute.
:36:39. > :36:43.We charged five people. Those five people were app all
:36:43. > :36:48.directors of the company and crucially they all attended board
:36:48. > :36:51.meetings where they discussed the situation. They all knew there was
:36:52. > :36:56.less than 40% of the properties tenanted. They knew there was not
:36:56. > :37:00.enough money spent on refurbishments and they were
:37:00. > :37:04.generously paid, far more so that could be justified by the income
:37:04. > :37:09.that the company generated. While they left nearly 2,000 people
:37:09. > :37:13.to pick up the pieces, the directors had been living it up, in
:37:13. > :37:20.particular company boss, John Potts who had. A nice big housepm Luxury
:37:20. > :37:27.items. Fine art. He He liked expensive
:37:27. > :37:34.suits. He seemed to enjoy being the centre of air tension and he --
:37:34. > :37:41.attention. He Jaguar which he was renovated. He ruled his
:37:41. > :37:44.organisation with an iron fist. There is two sides to Mr Potts,
:37:44. > :37:49.there is the side that you can meet and he is affable and there is a
:37:49. > :37:57.side when necessary charge of staff which is -- when he is in charge of
:37:57. > :38:00.staff. We found him quite bullying and inTim daght and pays --
:38:00. > :38:06.intimidating and pays his staff well, but expects his pound of
:38:06. > :38:11.flesh, but is an intimidating man. But his chickens were about to come
:38:11. > :38:18.home to roost. On the eve of their trial in early 2009, the fraudulent
:38:18. > :38:21.five decided to plead guilty. It didn't need anybody standing up
:38:21. > :38:25.in court and trying to explain that to a jury, it really meant that
:38:25. > :38:30.anybody looking at the results of all that work that we had done, it
:38:30. > :38:34.was clear they were guilty. All the directors received prison
:38:35. > :38:38.sentences and John Potts was jailed for five years.
:38:38. > :38:43.The SFO haven't stopped there. To claw back money for investors, they
:38:43. > :38:47.have begun a process of digging out any loop the crooks may have buried.
:38:47. > :38:50.We need to look at the assets they have acquired. Sometimes trace them
:38:50. > :38:55.through shell companies and other nominee owners, particularly where
:38:55. > :38:58.it comes to property and shares and sometimes things are hidden really
:38:58. > :39:02.effectively so we have to do a major tracing exercise.
:39:02. > :39:06.One thing is for sure, John Potts is no longer the richest man in the
:39:06. > :39:11.north-east and that's some comfort to the hundreds of people conned in
:39:11. > :39:17.this massive scam, including Ed, whose mother Nancy handed over
:39:17. > :39:21.�50,000 to PPP. It makes me really angry that that these people were
:39:21. > :39:25.so arrogant, they feel they can get away with this. If they can spend
:39:25. > :39:28.people's money that they have been saving all their lives, that no one
:39:28. > :39:35.would do anything about it. I'm delighted that they have been put
:39:35. > :39:39.behind bars. They deserve it. They are scumbags, these people. They
:39:40. > :39:46.have got no conscience. Nancy died in 2008, but before she
:39:46. > :39:55.did, she was able to recoup her losses and help the area by doing
:39:55. > :40:00.up her PPP houses. She came out of this with her her
:40:01. > :40:10.head held high. She She managed to achieve something and I'm really
:40:11. > :40:18.
:40:18. > :40:23.proud of her for that. Before I go today, I want to know
:40:23. > :40:25.some of the latest scams out there now, I will be speaking to an
:40:25. > :40:35.expert from the National Fraud Authority on what to watch out for.
:40:35. > :40:42.
:40:42. > :40:47.Utilities, they are straightforward, they give you what you need to live
:40:47. > :40:51.and you pay the the bills. Surely you can't get scammed.
:40:51. > :40:54.Unfortunately as technology moves on, for instance with the
:40:54. > :40:57.electricity companies, we have prepayment meters with a card that
:40:57. > :41:01.you insert that gives you the credit. Unfortunately the
:41:02. > :41:05.fraudsters have got hold of this and they are scamming the poorest
:41:05. > :41:10.in our society again. How does that work? They are
:41:10. > :41:15.calling door to door and selling you a card to get free electricity.
:41:15. > :41:21.The card is either bogus or the money that has been used to top it
:41:21. > :41:26.up has been topped up using a stolen or cloned credit card. When
:41:26. > :41:30.the payment for that card bounces, the card doesn't work.
:41:30. > :41:35.You are charged by the utility company for the electricity that
:41:35. > :41:39.you have used that hasn't been paid for. So you end up paying twice?
:41:39. > :41:42.You pay pay twice. An electricity company will never
:41:42. > :41:47.sell you any payment card on the door, even if the amount on the
:41:47. > :41:51.card looks tempting, remember it is stolen money and you will end up
:41:52. > :41:56.paying twice. OK, so if I get a message from my
:41:56. > :42:00.utility, utility company company saying there is money waiting for
:42:00. > :42:05.you, what's the reality behind that? You will contact them. You
:42:05. > :42:09.will phone them. There could be a premium rate phone number involved
:42:09. > :42:12.in which case it it costs you a lot of money to get nowhere in an
:42:12. > :42:17.information stream. When you phone up, you will be put on hold and
:42:17. > :42:21.after two or three minutes, having spoken to no one, when you hang up,
:42:21. > :42:27.you will find that that phone call has cost you a lot of money. That
:42:27. > :42:31.is one scenario. The other sin scenario is they will ask you for a
:42:31. > :42:36.fee to facilitate the France fer of the funds that -- transfers of
:42:36. > :42:39.funds that never arrive. Refunds do happen, but a utility
:42:39. > :42:43.company will never ask for a fee to process one. Any refund will be
:42:43. > :42:49.taken off a future bill. Someone telling you different? Well, don't
:42:49. > :42:54.believe them. Con men will keep coming up with