Street Lottery You've Been Scammed



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Scam artists, conmen and tricksters,

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they trouser an estimated £6 billion every year, from you and me -

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the British public.

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They don't care who they target or how much damage they cause.

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All they want to do is get their mitts

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on as much of your cash as they can.

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Coming up, the outrageous lottery scam that almost ripped

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a family apart.

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It nearly destroyed my marriage.

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And the corkscrew conmen who used their knowledge of wine

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to live the high life at their victims' expense.

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-Here we are in New York...

-Having it large!

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I'm here to tell you what the conman doesn't want you to know,

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how to stay one step ahead of the game and not get scammed.

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You might assume that all scam artists these days

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apply their trade on the phone or the internet,

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where it's easier to hide their faces and their intentions.

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But there are still old-fashioned conmen out there who prefer

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doing things face to face,

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and have the audacity to target people on the street.

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Street scams are quite prevalent, and these take the forms

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of street gambling

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or perhaps selling you perfume or gold.

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Many street scams appeal to the fact that we don't want to walk by

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and let a bargain go.

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But while some street scams are fairly simple, there are others,

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like the one I'm about to hear, that are so elaborate

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and carefully engineered they could have come

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straight off the pages of a Hollywood script.

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The man I'm about to meet was targeted

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as he was walking down the road.

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And the events that followed left him feeling utterly out-of-control.

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Sam is 79 years old and lives with his wife in North London.

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He originally comes from India but moved to Britain 50 years ago

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'and spent most of his working life at the Foreign Office.'

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What was your role?

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I was a publicity officer,

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to popularise the British aid programme

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to over 140 countries of the world.

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You've devoted your life to helping people all around the world.

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Is that something that's very important to you?

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It was a very satisfactory job that you have done something.

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Sam is now retired, but even AFTER he retired

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he continued to provide a service to people in need.

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Here, helping anyone who wants to know about citizenship,

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or they cannot speak the language, I had been helping them.

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-So it's in your nature, even after retirement, to help people.

-Yes.

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And people from different countries.

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I had been a social worker by nature, you see, from the beginning.

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If I can help anyone, I will do so.

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Sadly it was precisely this desire to help

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that the scammers took advantage of

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when they targeted Sam earlier this year.

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It all started when Sam was approached by a man claiming

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to be from Bhutan, on the border of India and China,

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who wanted direction to a nearby solicitor's office.

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How did this gentleman appear?

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An old man, walking very slowly with a stick.

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Just simply, he asked me the name,

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if I know the solicitor and the street.

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The opening ruse of just asking for help, just appeals

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to our good nature. Most people want to help others, and once

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you start helping someone, you start forming a bit of a bond with them.

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The man didn't speak much English and appeared confused.

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As Sam's used to helping foreign nationals in need,

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he was keen to pitch in.

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The man told him he had a winning lottery ticket

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and that the solicitor in question

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had promised to give him some money for it.

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He simply said, "I am anxious to find the solicitor because he has

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"promised to give me £35,000 cash against the Lotto I have won."

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Initially it didn't seem a very plausible story.

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Most people with a winning lottery ticket would go

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and cash it in, not sell it to a solicitor.

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But the man told Sam he wasn't interested in the winnings,

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he just wanted to get enough money to go back to his country.

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He doesn't speaking English, he had no passport,

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and he is from Bhutan, and he wants to return to his home.

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Sam felt sorry for the man and wanted to help,

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but as he didn't know the solicitor and was unfamiliar

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with the area they were in, he was at a loss as to what to do.

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It was at this moment that a second man appeared.

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He was wearing a blue suit with the insignia of a bank.

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And he said, "I'm a bank manager, can I help?"

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These type of scams, you need what's called a claim of authority,

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that's an authority figure who you can believe in.

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You don't expect a bank manager to be involved in some intricate scam

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so this really starts drawing you in,

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that it's a believable, genuine situation that's occurring.

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Sam grew up in a traditional family in India,

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where professional people like bank managers

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are held in very high esteem.

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He was immediately impressed by this smartly dressed,

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very capable-seeming young man.

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-He's presenting himself as a bank manager.

-Yes, he is.

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What effect does that have on you?

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Well, the fact was that I trusted him.

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As the foreign man didn't speak much English,

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the bank manager then asked Sam to translate for him.

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He said, "I live here, I know this solicitor.

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"He's not a good man, and please tell him not to trust this person."

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What's quite clear from what's happened here, it is rehearsed,

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that each of the individuals in the scam know their part,

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they're playing their part well.

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And they are just creating a world around the victim

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which is very credible.

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The first stage of the scam had now been achieved.

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The scammers had appealed to Sam's good nature to draw him in,

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then they'd given him a role to play - that of interpreter.

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And now the bank manager moved on to the next stage.

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He said, "Could you come and sit down in the car

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"so that we can sort this thing out?"

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Then he said, "Can I see the Lotto ticket?"

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What's happening here is the scammer's taking control.

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He's a figure of authority, he's now going to tell everyone what to do.

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And that puts him in the position of power

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and you in a position of weakness.

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The foreign man produced the lottery ticket

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and the bank manager then put in a call to the Lottery helpline

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to check whether the man really had won.

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I think it's important that, as part of this scenario,

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that there's some so-called independent verification

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that it's a winning ticket.

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He said, "They have checked, yes, you have won £300,000.

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"You come and collect it."

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Yet despite this huge win, the foreign man was insistent

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that he just wanted the £35,000 the solicitor had promised

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so he could get back to Bhutan.

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He simply went on repeating, "I want to go home, I want to go home."

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I simply thought that he'd want to go home

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due to certain circumstances and he's not happy in this country.

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At this point the bank manager presented Sam with a proposition.

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He suggested they could give the foreign man the £35,000

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instead of the solicitor, and then split the lottery winnings 50/50.

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In a way, though, did you think to yourself,

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"I'm doing the same thing as the solicitor?

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"I'm giving him less than the value of the ticket."

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Did that not enter your mind at all?

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No, I think I was totally mesmerised.

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Whatever he kept on saying, I went on doing,

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without even asking any questions.

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In hindsight Sam knows that what the bank manager

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was suggesting was morally wrong. But at the time, and with everything

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happening so fast, he found himself agreeing to the scheme.

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We went and got a bundle of notes. He said, "I have got £18,000.

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"You must be having some money."

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I said, "Yes, I have got nearly £12,000.

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And he said, "You can give it to him, go and collect the money."

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Showing the money is the one thing

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that adds huge credibility to this scenario.

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You see the money,

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and I think you start almost salivating

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about what lots of money looks like.

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Sam was now so caught up in the situation,

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he began thinking about how this money could benefit his family.

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My daughter, she works in the hospital.

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I thought I'd help them ease a little

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because they are very hard up, with two children to bring up.

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So he agreed to withdraw the money.

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And now, as is so often the case with scams, the pressure was on.

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The one thing the scammer doesn't want you to do is stop,

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think and reflect on what is happening.

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Is this a likely scenario, are these people credible?

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If you haven't got time to think, you're completely taken away by it.

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The scammer told Sam that he would drive him

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to the bank to withdraw the money. Sam agreed to this,

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and withdrew all his savings.

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The scammers now had £12,000 of Sam's hard-earned money in their car.

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But this still wasn't enough for them.

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Appearing to realise that he wasn't getting a good deal here,

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the old man suddenly piped up, and said he wanted more money.

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The scammer will try to get as much money out of the victim as they can.

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-They want to wipe them out.

-He told me, can I take my ring off?

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I took my ring off and give it to him.

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Can you tell me about that ring? Where did it come from?

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That ring was my mother's. A very heavy ring.

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It must be nearly £2,000.

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The scammers now had Sam's life savings

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AND a precious family heirloom in their possession.

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All that remained now was for them to make their getaway.

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But first they needed to find a way to get rid of Sam.

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And this is when the foreign man's acting skills really came into their own.

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-He said, "This man has puked."

-Physically sick.

-Yes.

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The foreign man was clearly in a bad way

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and started shouting out the name of a medicine.

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Again, in his eagerness to help,

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Sam agreed to go to the chemist to get it for him.

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In the cold light of day this scenario seems farcical.

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But Sam had been quickly and cleverly manipulated by the two men,

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and had complete trust in them.

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By this stage, you've gone through, been in the bank,

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seen the lottery ticket, seen the cash, you 100% believe

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in these people and the scenario.

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Having been deceived into thinking he was helping

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the foreign man and would also be reaping the rewards

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of a substantial lottery win, Sam set off to collect the medicine.

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But when he came back, he was in for a nasty shock.

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When I came back, they had gone.

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Sam had handed over his life savings and a precious ring

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given to him by his mother. He was now left with nothing.

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At the moment where it had really sunk in, what had taken place,

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can you describe your feelings?

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I was very unhappy and I was very sorry of my stupidity,

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the way I behaved.

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The fact that a decent man like Sam was persuaded to go along

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with a scheme that was morally wrong shows just how manipulative

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scammers can be, and, for Sam, it's almost as hard to bear

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as the loss of the money.

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Can you tell me what that £12,000 means to you?

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All my savings gone.

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We wanted to go on holiday,

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we had to cancel because we have got nothing left.

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We had a lot of problems in the family, me and my wife,

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and we couldn't reconcile... for a very long time.

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It nearly destroyed my marriage.

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Can you tell me what the loss of your mother's ring means?

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That was the only thing,

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which she, with great love, saved for me

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and gave it to me.

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And I...just lost.

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-That must be very hard to take.

-Very hard.

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Sam has learnt a bitter lesson,

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but he's not the only person to have been taken in.

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It appears that the Asian community in London are being

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specifically targeted by these scammers,

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and many have been persuaded to hand over their entire life savings.

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I know maybe what you are feeling is,

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at some point greed took over.

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If you look at the decisions you made, they were largely due -

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it seems to me -

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to your desire to help because you wanted to help him,

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the old gentleman,

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and you saw opportunity to help your daughter, and you took that.

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Yes.

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The reason, it appears to me, the scam worked on you

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is because it was very clever.

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Sam reported the crime to the police,

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but unfortunately the scammers who did this to him are still at large.

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So how can YOU avoid the same or similar fraudsters?

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These scams rely on the fact that they are pressured, urgent,

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lots of things going on, and that's confusing.

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So the thing to do is to step outside of it, to stop

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and think for a moment, are you being scammed?

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So don't allow yourself to be pressured into anything.

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When somebody in the street starts asking you

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for thousands of pounds, you've got to think

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there's something very dodgy about this situation.

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Don't hand over any money in the street at all.

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And finally...

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If you think you've been scammed on the street, I'd say,

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don't be too embarrassed about it, many people are,

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tell a police officer or call Action Fraud.

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We need to stop the next person from being scammed.

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Yeah. I like wine.

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Lots of us do, that's why we spend £7 billion a year on it.

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And wine CAN make a good investment if you know what you're doing.

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The important word there, of course, being "can".

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Because it also CAN make an excellent scam.

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Meet some likely lads from North London.

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-Here we are, in New York.

-Having it large!

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This is the roof of our hotel.

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It is wild here in New York.

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Kicking back on the rooftop of a swanky hotel,

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it looks like success has gone to their heads.

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We're making it large!

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And the secret of their success?

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-Done!

-The Bordeaux Wine Trading Company.

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But some of these lads living the high life are lowlifes.

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The Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd was a scam.

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While the guys were filling their glasses,

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they left scores of investors, like Lesley here, with theirs empty,

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when they took their money and bought no wine.

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Conned out of thousands of pounds, Lesley was obviously...

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Bitter, sad...that people live that sort of lifestyle,

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and take advantage of people like myself, who are legitimate.

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Back in 2006, investing in expensive wine was seen as a smart bet,

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and particularly En Primeur wine.

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This process involves speculating on the future value of a wine.

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They are investing in five or six well-known chateaus in France.

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And investing in a wine that is produced by those five chateaus.

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In the space of just a few years, En Primeur wine can triple in value,

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making it attractive to investors.

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But it's the length of time it takes to produce this wine

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that attracts the scam artists.

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People will invest money whilst it's in the barrel,

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they will pay the company the money upfront

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and not expect to see that wine for 18 months, 24 months.

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That gives the scammers 18 to 24 months to live

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a lifestyle that they can only dream of, before disappearing.

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Lesley had been investing in wine for six years, and was no fool.

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He'd actually doubled his money in that time,

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largely by gambling on En Primeur wine.

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You get certain tips from people who are in the know,

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as to whether you should go ahead

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and buy that particular En Primeur.

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So he thought nothing of it when a salesman he already knew

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called him up with an attractive offer.

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The Bordeaux Wine Company was where I started investing.

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And one of the salesmen, or the wine broker,

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a chap called Ose, that's all I knew him as.

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But he was with Bordeaux Wine Company, and then I had a call

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from him to say that he had moved to Bordeaux Wine Trading Company.

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I didn't actually notice the word "trading" when he contacted me.

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At this point we should make it clear that Bordeaux Wine Company

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is a proper, respectable company,

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whereas the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd was anything but.

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Not that Lesley was to know at the time, when Ose gave him the spiel.

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Ose knew a lot about fine wines.

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I had no doubts whatsoever. I invested £15,000.

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Lesley was well aware he wouldn't get his wine for 18 months,

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but when that time passed and he'd heard nothing, he became uneasy.

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And then I made a search on the internet.

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Lesley saw that other investors were complaining

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about the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd,

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all saying that no wine had arrived.

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That's what brought me in touch with the police.

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The complaints came from across the country,

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but the office was in Potters Bar, on the Hertfordshire police's patch.

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The job of looking into them fell to financial investigator Pete Thody.

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The main investigations that we would conduct initially is

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to have a look at the company bank accounts

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because that will tell a story

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of how that company is conducting itself.

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So, the first step was to get a court order from a judge

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that allowed them to examine the company's bank accounts.

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The results confirmed their suspicions.

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The expenditure of the company directors was based on

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a lavish lifestyle and boozy nights out, flash cars, holidays,

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Rolexes, champagne, the works.

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Lesley was one of those cruelly deceived by the men.

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From the first time that I spoke to PC Pete Thody,

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I felt as though someone was looking after me.

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He didn't promise the world,

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but he said that it was a case that was being pursued.

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Although Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd

0:20:390:20:41

had closed their main offices trying to cover their tracks,

0:20:410:20:44

Peter sniffed out three other places they were renting.

0:20:440:20:47

The police raided these premises, seizing documents for evidence.

0:20:470:20:51

They also searched the homes of the company directors

0:20:510:20:54

and brought them in for questioning.

0:20:540:20:56

One of them was Oseghale Hayble - known as Ose -

0:20:560:20:59

the guy who talked Lesley out of his money.

0:20:590:21:02

After questioning suspects and examining the paperwork,

0:21:050:21:08

Peter identified Ose and another company director,

0:21:080:21:11

Paul Craven, as the main men behind the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company.

0:21:110:21:16

He also discovered the idea for the scam was dreamt up

0:21:160:21:20

when Ose and Craven were working together at a legitimate wine firm.

0:21:200:21:24

The management of the initial company

0:21:260:21:29

they were all employed at led a very luxurious lifestyle, and I believe

0:21:290:21:35

that the suspects in this case yearned for this kind of lifestyle.

0:21:350:21:41

So Paul and Ose left to set up their own company.

0:21:410:21:44

They had the knowledge and contacts, and as Peter looked into the methods

0:21:440:21:48

of Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd, it was easy to see

0:21:480:21:52

how they'd conned investors such as Lesley into funding them.

0:21:520:21:55

The company...the first contact seemed legitimate,

0:21:560:22:00

the paperwork seemed fine.

0:22:000:22:03

There was a brochure detailing the company,

0:22:030:22:05

and their role in the market.

0:22:050:22:07

All very nice. Puts the investor at ease with the company.

0:22:070:22:12

And clients got further reassurance

0:22:120:22:15

when they were sent ownership certificates - bogus, of course.

0:22:150:22:20

As Peter built up his case and stuck the corkscrew

0:22:200:22:23

into Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd,

0:22:230:22:25

he found other criminal enterprises came crawling out of the woodwork.

0:22:250:22:29

I believed, at that time,

0:22:290:22:31

it was one wine company with three suspects at the time.

0:22:310:22:36

Um, I didn't think it would lead on to another two scams.

0:22:370:22:43

Yes, he found links to two other dodgy wine companies.

0:22:430:22:46

This was a huge scam network.

0:22:460:22:49

At first the investigation was focused on the three main men

0:22:490:22:52

behind Bordeaux Wine Trading Company.

0:22:520:22:54

Paul Craven, a director who was later cleared of any wrongdoing,

0:22:540:22:58

and Oseghale Hayble.

0:22:580:22:59

These people were all arrested

0:22:590:23:02

in relation to Bordeaux Wine Trading Company,

0:23:020:23:05

but prior to their arrest,

0:23:050:23:06

Oseghale Hayble set up International Wine Commodities,

0:23:060:23:12

along with Benedict Moruthoane.

0:23:120:23:17

International Wine Commodities operated

0:23:170:23:20

in exactly the same manner as Bordeaux Wine Trading Company.

0:23:200:23:24

Which is to say they again used clever sales techniques

0:23:240:23:27

to fool investors into sending cash. They bought no wine,

0:23:270:23:31

and instead spend the proceeds going out on the razzle.

0:23:310:23:34

Benedict Moruthoane was arrested and Ose rearrested for the goings-on

0:23:340:23:38

at International Wine Commodities, and the company shut down.

0:23:380:23:42

Whilst they were on bail for those matters, Benedict Moruthoane

0:23:420:23:47

then went to set up Templar Vintners Ltd, under a false name - Dominic.

0:23:470:23:54

We caught that company fairly early on, and managed to close it down.

0:23:550:23:59

When the dust had finally settled, Peter worked out

0:23:590:24:03

just how much the trio of dodgy wine companies

0:24:030:24:06

had conned out of people.

0:24:060:24:08

Templar Vinters Ltd - five victims lost £50,000 between them.

0:24:080:24:13

International Wine Commodities Ltd -

0:24:130:24:15

40 investors done for £800,000.

0:24:150:24:18

And the scam company that started it all,

0:24:180:24:21

the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company Ltd,

0:24:210:24:24

had taken 50 victims for well over £1 million -

0:24:240:24:27

15,000 of it Lesley's money.

0:24:270:24:29

I was very embarrassed by the fact that I had been scammed.

0:24:310:24:37

Um, it's something quite...

0:24:380:24:41

You don't really want to share that information with too many people.

0:24:410:24:46

So, a case of three fake companies,

0:24:460:24:48

scores of victims and millions stolen eventually ended up in court.

0:24:480:24:53

And, after two trials, the three main men were found guilty.

0:24:530:24:57

Oseghale Hayble, jailed for five years.

0:24:570:25:00

Paul Craven, jailed for six years.

0:25:000:25:03

And Benedict Moruthoane, the man who had the audacity to set up

0:25:030:25:08

another fake wine firm while on bail, banged up for 7.5 years.

0:25:080:25:12

I'm very happy with the conclusion of this case.

0:25:120:25:15

I think the sentences would send out severe warnings to anyone else

0:25:150:25:19

that's considering getting involved in such a scam.

0:25:190:25:23

To protect yourself from the advances of the scammer,

0:25:230:25:26

you can find out more information at -

0:25:260:25:28

Before we go, there's just time to tell you

0:25:350:25:37

about some of the latest scams out there.

0:25:370:25:40

Today we're looking at an employment con,

0:25:400:25:42

where scammers offer you a job and then ask YOU to pay for it.

0:25:420:25:45

Scams that target the unemployed are particularly cruel.

0:25:520:25:56

Yes, home-working schemes are a problem.

0:25:560:25:59

People that go for home-working schemes can't fit in

0:25:590:26:03

with ordinary work hours, or need to be working at home

0:26:030:26:06

because they've got someone they are looking after.

0:26:060:26:08

What would we see in the beginning of the scam?

0:26:080:26:10

They would be offering you a job,

0:26:100:26:12

and that's what you think you're buying into.

0:26:120:26:15

-So you pay an upfront fee to be allowed to work.

-Yes.

0:26:150:26:20

-I have a horrible feeling about what comes next.

-There is no work.

0:26:200:26:24

So, what should I be looking out for to avoid these?

0:26:240:26:26

The key is the upfront fee.

0:26:260:26:28

There's no other sort of employment where you have to pay

0:26:280:26:31

in order to work,

0:26:310:26:33

and it's always worth trying to research anything that you see,

0:26:330:26:37

and check on things like Action Fraud's website to see

0:26:370:26:41

if this is a known scam.

0:26:410:26:42

So if someone asks you to pay upfront for the privilege

0:26:430:26:46

of doing a job, don't do it.

0:26:460:26:49

The reason we work is to earn our bread and butter.

0:26:490:26:51

And you should be working for pay, not paying to work.

0:26:510:26:55

Fraudsters will for ever be coming up with new ways to get you

0:26:560:27:00

to part with your cash, but armed with a little bit of knowledge,

0:27:000:27:03

you could be one step ahead of them.

0:27:030:27:05

Stay safe. I'll see you next time.

0:27:050:27:08

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