17/02/2014 Inside Out South East

Cook the Kent couple who wished they had not bought a car online. By the

time it came to the day the car was meant to be delivered, we rdalised

it was a scam. The Sussex charity helping horses and donkeys through

violent times in Egypt. People use animals just like a tool and when it

is broke and they find another tool. Fortnightly rubbish collecthons

Should the South East follow Ashford's example? Some people limit

the amount you can recycle. With stories all around the South East,

this is inside out macro. `` this is Inside Out.

Welcome to Dover Castle, whdre we are taking shelter from the wind and

rain in the King's Chambers. Dover is where we start the show because

to live in the South East is to live in a crime hotspot, a cyber crime

hotspot. With good Internet infrastructure, comparative wealth

and behind number of elderlx residents, this region comes top in

the number of people being ripped off by online thieves. Glen Campbell

has been on the trail of ond of the gangs.

One minute it is online and advertised at an attractive price,

the card of your dreams. Thd next, it vanishes. `` car of your dreams.

A phantom card dream up to steal your cash. If you are unlucky to

full `` unlucky enough to f`ll victim to this scam on the xou can't

rely on justice from the police the government ought banks. Kathe and

Neil from Dover are both schoolteachers with a growing

family. To accommodate the `rrival of number three, last Octobdr they

started looking for a bigger family car on the web. Neil found ht and

sent me a link saying, I have found a car. We checked everything online

and all of the details seemdd accurate. We paid for an HPH check

and we felt confident in moving forward and contacting the seller.

The car was a Honda that thd seller was not local. The story was that

they had moved to Norway, it was his wife's car and they had movdd with

her job and she had been given a company car so they had dechded to

sell the British car. The sdller called himself Charlie Olivdrs and

he told the couple that he was willing to ship the car to the UK so

they could view it before btying. All they had to do was lodgd the

funds for the car, ?4700, whth the shipping company. What could

possibly go wrong? He sent the details of the shipping company and

I went to the house to check the number was legitimate and it was a

registered company. The plan was that the car would be shippdd to us

on a particular date. I paid the money in on the 17th of October

went down to Barclays, wherd we had the account. Katie and Neil sat back

and waited for the delivery of the Honda. Neil e`mailed the seller and

contacted the shipping comp`ny who provided us with a receipt to show

we had paid the money into the account. Then Katie had a sdnse that

all was not right. Something started to niggle and we started to delve

into it further and by the time it came to the day the car was meant to

be delivered we realised th`t this had been a scan. `` scam. They had

hijacked the whole shipping company, directors and all. It was a very

detailed scam. Less than five miles away from Katie and Neil, rdtired

engineer Cullen had been sttng as well. It seemed to be the pdrfect

car. The money was to be held in escrow until the car was delivered,

inspected and approved. Fortunately for Colin's bank balance, hd wired

just ?1000 to secure the BMW. Unfortunately, over in Hampshire,

Tracey Smith, a financial adviser, wired a lot more, ?3000 of deposit

for a phantom Audi. We negotiated a bit about car pricing and where the

car was, she informed us it was with a transport company but thex had

moved to Norway. They would transport the car down, allow us to

view it and if we were not happy we would get a refund within 48 hours.

We thought it sounded OK, it checked out with Barclays, so I did the

transfer. As soon as the deposit had left her account the fraudsters

vanished. I got in touch with Barclays to confirm that thd account

was still open and money was going in and out all the time. Back in

Dover, without a car and behng told the police couldn't do anything and

they had to contact the govdrnment fraud Centre, Katie and her sister

Yvonne decided to turn detective. Katie noticed the same car was being

advertised back online. We selected one to reply to and waited ` few

days, they did not seem to have taken the bait, then I got `n e`mail

out of the blue saying basically what it said in a previous d`mail

but from a `` a different pdrson. It was quite exciting. The sisters

found that the Norwegian sc`mmer was advertising the same car ag`in on a

website of `` a reputable ddalership in Surrey. They were adverthsing

vehicles we did not have in stock, which raised alarm bells. It is very

worrying, this is not an issue we had to content with ten years ago.

Then, bingo. Katie and Yvonne found an address online for the mxsterious

Mr Charlie Olivers in Norwax. Would it lead me to the front door of the

phantom car fraudster? Here we are, the address for Charlie Olivers down

in downtown Oslo. We have checked this address, there are no flats

around the back, no houses. His address turns out to be this hotel.

I think it is time to talk to the police.

This is a well`known scam in Norway, also in the UK I believe.

The fraudsters use addresses like that, typical hotels, and in the

past we have had experiences with airport hotels, but of course there

is nobody there with that n`me. Who is behind it, how organised are

these criminals and where are they? We believe they are mostly based in

Nigeria but in the last few years we have also seen competition from

Eastern Europeans, so the competition is heating up to differ

or what people. I have come to Norway to investigate phantom cars

being sold here in Oslo that don't exist but you telling me we have the

same problem going the other way. Yes, it is the exact opposite

because we have Norwegians who want to buy cars in the UK, we h`ve nice

sports cars, all cars, they find a very good price and then thdy try to

contact the seller and they being cheated because the car does not

exist. In Norway the fraud police have a team who proactively search

for suspicious adverts and then warn victims before they wire money. So

what are the people who sell us our cars online doing about the phantom

car fraudsters? You see, all of our victims' cars were advertisdd by

reputable online firms like auto Trader. I met up with the m`n who

oversees security for the bhg sellers online. We are battling very

sophisticated criminal organisations who are able to move much f`ster

than governments or police `nd we really need to have investmdnt from

the government and police to make sure consumers feel safe online Are

you really doing enough? Thd embarrassing thing is you are always

playing catch up to an extent and all we can do is to make sure we

have the right things in pl`ce and be able to respond to these

suspicions as quickly as possible. The number one thing we recommend is

make sure you see the car bdfore you transmit any funds or make `ny

commitment at all. So who should you go to if you fall victim to the

phantom car fraudsters? Well, the government recently set up @ction

Fraud, which is supposed to distribute intelligence to the

police, but as our fraud victims discovered it left them less than

convinced the fraudsters wotld ever be court. We have no way to know if

the criminals in our case whll be caught. The details would p`ssed on

to somebody in Harrow who h`s no clue about our case. Recordhng cases

of fraud is one thing, capttring criminals is another. In thd UK we

sold less than 3% of Interndt crime cases. Not a good statistic.

Are you happy that your org`nisation has its act together? Clearly it is

difficult. You dealing with multi`jurisdiction issues, the

suspect is abroad in a lot of cases, so there are challenges. Wh`t we

absolutely must do, if you have become a victim of this particular

fraud, or any fraud, please report it to us. That, like all

organisations, we are here to limit mistakes and errors and we will

acknowledge where we had made an error but certainly in a lot of the

instances we are reporting frauds that previously were never dver

recorded and that is an important factor. Action Fraud, well, they are

an oxymoron, there is no action and it is a fraud on the public. One of

our interviewees said that xou are an oxymoron, you don't take action

and you are fraud. I think that is a harsh judgement.

It is early days and it is not meant to be an enforcement body, ht is

supposed to collect complaints and pass them on to the police, collect

statistics to let us know what is going on. That is an import`nt

function which has not been done before. Do you shop online? I trust

going into a shop more. Barclay s Bank cropped up in each of our

victims' cases so what are they doing about online fraud?

As the Tracy, well, she is still seething, desperate to stop others

falling for the phantom car scam. So you got no help from the police

or from Barclays? No, the ptblic are completely exposed in this kind of

scam. You feel devastated, xou feel stupid and used, like somebody has

robbed your house. Glen Campbell reporting. Coling up

on Inside Out... The Sussex woman who rescues animals

in Egypt. To be able to help the local young

`` poor people is to help their animals. You can't just givd them

money, it is a way of helping the poorest people there.

Now the issue of rubbish and what to do with it always gets people worked

up and until recently Ashford had one of the worst rates for recycling

in the country. Now it is sdt to become one of the best, so should

the rest of the South East follow Ashford's example?

What is the best way to get everyone recycling? or stick? Many councils

have abolished the general weekly rubbish collection. But, Lewis is

sticking with weekly pick`ups whilst encouraging the public to do more.

Most of these items can be recycled we just threw away. Modern life

creates modern waste. Stone Age man didn't wonder what to do with it is

`` Stone Age man didn't wonder what to do with an all toothpastd tube!

The government has always w`nted us to waste not, want not. These days,

a lot more recycling is possible. Almost anything can be brokdn up and

made into a new product. Sole of us are better at recycling than others.

Ashford was one time where the residence where rubbish at

recycling. They now recycle half of their rubbish, instead of the meagre

12%. People used to provide a bin bag of rubbish once a week, now they

have a wheelie bin for rubbhsh and a wheelie bin for recycling. Dach one

is picked up on alternate wdeks The rubbish revolution here is having

impressive result. The residents had gone from being the worst in the

country to recycling to amongst the best, simply because they c`n put

all of their recycling into one bin. When we first said we were going

over to the wheelie bin system, there was a lot of anxiety from

people. People were so used to just dumping a black bag. Now thdy have

to host their bins. They have taken to them well. So how do people in

Ashton `` in Ashford feel about giving up their weekly rubbhsh

collection? Most of the stock dolls: The recycling, it is not a problem.

It is much easier. All the cardboard and glass can go in there. They just

come and take it away. It's wonderful. We have come to the place

where Ashford centres on wanted items for recycling. It is nearly 70

miles away, but they clearlx think it is worth it. It is known as a

materials recovery facility and it is in north London. One of the

largest in Europe, taking in 5, 00 tonnes of rubbish a week. Hdre are a

mixture of technology and h`nds`on intensive labour means around 9 % of

the dry wasting Ashford can be separated and graded. This hs the

final quality control beford we make it into bales. The aluminiul goes to

be processed in the UK. Plastics, we take to a room plan for it gets

naked into food group plasthc. The paper goes to China. With all the

petrol miles and energy needed to process Ashford's recycled

materials, the question is, does it really help save the planet? Adam

Reed as an expert. In the UK and internationally, recycling hs the

right option. If that can bd done at a reasonably local scale, local

would be within the European Union. That would make sense. The dmissions

to get those materials to those places, far outweighs the energy

wasted by not recycling. Local government Minister Eric pickles

thinks every council should have a general rubbish collection once a

week. It was one of his pronouncements in the so`called Bean

Bible, advice to councils on how to collect rubbish. Brandon Lewis

explains his boss's thinking. We want to see people getting back to

the core thing that councils are there for. When we pay our council

tax, we want good local services. We want rubbish collected and streets

clean. Having rubbish collected weekly and not hanging around on the

street are stuck in our gardens having a weekly collection hs a

really important part of wh`t we play our Council Tax four. H would

argue that if we made recycling easy and encourage people to do, we could

go back to a weekly waste collection as well as recycling and sthll keep

those figures up. That is h`rdest to do things here. Weekly bin

collections are one of the ways along with recycling, that they keep

this time shipshape. Lewis victory Council was awarded ?2 millhon

towards revamping its waste collection service. Lewis is also

very keen on recycling. Thex are collected at the curb every

fortnight by a electric vehhcles. It does need the cooperation of local

people. First they have to sign up to the service, then do somd

sorting. In Seaford, weekly paper in here, with glass bottles in here.

Cardboard goes in here. And plastic bottles, cans, tinfoil to hdar.

Finally, we have food waste, which goes on the small container which is

left outside the house. Despite the efforts of people like Carol, so far

Lewis does not have great rdcycling rates. According to the latdst

government figures, it recycles only a quarter of its waste and the

target is twice that. This councillor thinks the figurds are

misleading. Do we take all the boxes or do we save the planet? It is an

easy decision. Lewis district has the lowest whisper heads in the

country. We have a huge amotnt of extra promotions that aren't even

included in our figures, with incentives for people to retse,

recycle. It is a much more complex issue rather than having a few

straightforward figures. Both Ashford and Lewis have introduced a

new food waste recycling service. High important does Adam thhnk that

those in group `` in improvhng overall recycling? It is fundamental

to waste management, qualitx of life. If you can put in place a food

waste collection scheme, yot will take about 80% of your rubbhsh bin

and put it to good use. In Lewis they offer prizes to residents John

`` joining in with the food waste collection. The prizes are given by

my recycling ambassador. People are surprised, there is a new one `` a

New Yorker knocking on their door giving them a prize! The government

is keen on this approach wants to go with encouragement rather than

fines. We are saying to loc`l authorities, encourage people, show

people how easy it is. Some councils limit how much you can recycle!

Crazy! Back in Ashford, the council is happy at his back on track to

meet European Union targets for recycling. Eric pickles's then Bible

a book into a bit of a blue to those who designed the system. I have read

his Bean Bible. It is a curhous document. Our brains are barely fill

in a fortnight. There is no point in collecting them every week. If we

only collect residual waste every two weeks, the public Exmoor

responsibility. Rubbish collection is of vital and pivotal service

People soon notice that thehr bins overflowing because they have not

been emptied. Everyone is kden to increase recycling, so how often the

rubbish is collect has becole a bone of contention.

The Sussex women who give up everything to help animals `broad.

Which is set up Sanctuary in Egypt, she had no idea of the turmoil the

country was about to descend into. Our report dolls contain sole

distressing scenes. Seven years ago, Inside Out with a

film about a West Sussex wolan who ran a charity looking after horses

and donkeys and eject. It couldn't go any faster, and he is sthll

beating it. Kim Taylor give up life in entering to move to Luxor. She

opened up a charity in the xear 2000. She wanted to teach pdople how

to look after working animals. We saw this source, that had bden

treated at the Centre for a leg injury, being put back to work with

devastating consequences. Wd have been able to redress its leg. It is

now able to stand, eat and drink. What no one predicted was that

around the corner was the Egyptian revolution. After 30 years of

oppression, the struggle for democracy led to violent to test and

the tourist 's are steering clear. In the last few years eejit has

changed. Luxor has certainlx changed. One of the effects of the

revolution has been to bring out more animals onto the streets,

together with increasing poverty, that has meant a rising workload for

her charity. The animals we are seeing, they are the ones that are

bringing goods to and from building sites. It is basically, one vehicle,

one animal on the streets. There are so many animals working on the

streets here it is quite a shock. There are so many. There ard

thousands of horses and donkeys working on the streets, but

especially donkeys. Since the beginning of the revolution, the

Arab spring, we have had no fuel. We have had shortages of petrol and

diesel, so people have been going back to even animals that they don't

really use any more because at least they have got some form of

transport. There has not bedn any petrol or diesel. People generally

use animals like a tool. Whdn it is broken, they will try to find

another tool. Some people are learning that if they take care of

their animals, they will last longer and work better. At the momdnt,

people are downgrading the food they give their animals because they

haven't got the money to spdnd. They are feeding them something that will

keep them alive, but they are not putting on any weight. If they are

working, they are losing wehght That is a horrible thing. Wd are

trying to feed as many as wd can. Just to try and keep them alive

really. As the constitution`l referendum gets under way, Kim is

hopeful that things will begin to settle and the tourists will return.

In the meantime, she is detdrmined to carry on running the centre for

no salary, with a sympathethc ex`husband, her family and

well`wishers. A lot of people say you should be helping children. To

be able to help the local pdople is to the animals. You could not go

there and give people money. It wouldn't work. It is a way of

helping poor people, the poorest of people. And the people except me ``

accept me, as the mad Englishwoman he is trying to do something

positive, not distract. `` not distract destructive.

You can watch the whole show again on the eye player. `` iPlaydr.

Thanks for watching, see yot next week!

Hello, I'm Sam Naz with your 90 second update.

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