0:00:02 > 0:00:04Tonight on Spotlight...
0:00:04 > 0:00:08A pensioner scammed out of £180,000.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12I just felt devastated, completely,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15because I knew all the money was gone.
0:00:16 > 0:00:22Scams cost Northern Ireland an estimated £100 million every year.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26I think that is a major epidemic in the United Kingdom.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30Yet the authorities don't seem capable of stopping it.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35Money is moved, and it is dissipated and dispersed many times over
0:00:35 > 0:00:39through multiple bank accounts which eventually become untraceable.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42'We follow the letters trail to Holland.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Hi. I'm from the BBC.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16This is Elizabeth. She's a 75-year-old widow,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18and she's lost her life savings.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25She's been conned out of £180,000 by scammers.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32These letters started to come, you know, from different places,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34the Netherlands...
0:01:34 > 0:01:37I thought, "Well, it's international, and it must be OK."
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Elizabeth - we're not using her full name -
0:01:46 > 0:01:49first fell victim to a mail scam.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Here's how it works.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55You receive a letter like this one
0:01:55 > 0:01:59which appears to guarantee you a cash sum of £20,000.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02It could be as much as a quarter of a million pounds
0:02:02 > 0:02:05or, in this one, £3 million.
0:02:05 > 0:02:06It's all yours for £25,
0:02:06 > 0:02:11which you're invited to send in a pre-addressed envelope provided.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14This envelope's addressed to a PO box in Holland.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20So, of course...
0:02:20 > 0:02:21temptation got in the way.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23- And were you paying money to these people?- Yes, I was.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27- At every stage?- I couldn't afford to.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29But I did do quite a few now, to tell you the truth.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32How much money were they asking you to give them?
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Some was £20, some was £25.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38In return for these payments,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43she was led to believe she had already won large cash prizes.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Police call this an advance-payment fraud,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49and anyone who pays it is being scammed.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56How much do you think you were spending in a week?
0:02:56 > 0:02:58How much were you sending away?
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Well, I keep enough for the petrol for the car
0:03:01 > 0:03:07and some for my food for myself, but the rest I spent on...
0:03:09 > 0:03:11..on that there.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Well, it's just like being hypnotised.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17You're going to win and you're going to win this big amount of money
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and you'll be able to buy what you want when you get it.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25And what Elizabeth wanted to buy was a new house.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29The letter scams began after her husband died.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31She felt isolated and depressed,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35both factors that can make people vulnerable to scams.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Anyone can fall victim to a scam.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45If you've got something to lose,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49there is someone out there who's trying to take it off you.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Professor Stephen Lea from Exeter University has never met
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Elizabeth, but he has studied the psychology of scam victims
0:03:58 > 0:04:00and scammers.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Certainly, they detect that someone's kind of lonely
0:04:04 > 0:04:08and looking for activity, then they'll play on that.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Often, the excitement is financial.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16You know, they're dangling a very large financial reward out there.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20The volume of letters grew rapidly.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25Elizabeth was becoming busier and busier, filling in forms
0:04:25 > 0:04:27and posting off cash.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32When she exhausted her pension, she started to use her savings.
0:04:38 > 0:04:39I'd bring an envelope in,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44and one by one, she'd do the cheques for me.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49- So did she write the cheques? - No, no.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53It was printed out on the printing machine or the computer thing.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57She got my book and then she printed out the cheque.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01And then you put them into the envelopes?
0:05:01 > 0:05:02Yes, and went and posted them.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Elizabeth's books from the Progressive Building Society
0:05:12 > 0:05:17tell their own story. You can see how the scams took over her life.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20In the years before, there were virtually no
0:05:20 > 0:05:22withdrawals from her account.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24But that would soon change.
0:05:26 > 0:05:32On one day in March last year, her building society issued 24 cheques.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Two days later, 21 cheques.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41The next day, another 21 cheques.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48In just a few months, she'd spent £42,000.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51And she's far from being the only victim.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Now it's time for Money Box, with Paul Lewis.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Hello. In today's programme, beware of this man.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08On the BBC's personal finance programme,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11the lead story is on the latest scam.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Like most scammers, he's very convincing.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Presenter Paul Lewis says they are hearing about ever-increasing
0:06:24 > 0:06:26numbers of scams.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28It's one of the fastest-growing crimes,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and I suspect one reason is people realise they can make far
0:06:32 > 0:06:36more money far more safely sitting in their bedroom defrauding
0:06:36 > 0:06:42people than going out committing violent or burglary-type offences,
0:06:42 > 0:06:47and I think that is a major epidemic in the United Kingdom.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53Scams cost the UK economy £3.5 billion a year,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56and in Northern Ireland they're growing all the time.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01The estimated cost here is £100 million every year.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07We discovered a scam operating within Northern Ireland
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and we went in and we seized the post.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Now, there was over 22,000 letters.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16When we opened those letters, there was over £300,000.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Now, that was just a couple of weeks' post gone off to one scam.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24'Trading Standards is the body responsible
0:07:24 > 0:07:27'for helping local scam victims.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31'Beverley Burns has the job of trying to keep on top of the problem.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35'It's not just the elderly and the vulnerable who are taken in.'
0:07:35 > 0:07:40Retired teachers, university professors, accountants, nurses.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43I have to say, it's people from every single walk of life.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47And the amounts lost by people in Northern Ireland
0:07:47 > 0:07:51to scammers are astonishing.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55We know of four people who've lost even more than Elizabeth.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58One person was conned out of £1 million,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00two others half a million pounds each.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04The criminal gangs share details of their victims,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07putting them on what they call a "suckers list".
0:08:09 > 0:08:12As soon as you've been defrauded, you go on the suckers list,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16because they think once you've been defrauded, you might think, "Well,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20"I'll go with this, because I might get some money back," and, secondly,
0:08:20 > 0:08:21having been conned once,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25you're probably gullible enough to be conned again.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29A consequence of being on the suckers list is that criminals will
0:08:29 > 0:08:31keep targeting victims,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and they have an imaginative range of scams.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37And that's what happened to Elizabeth.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42Only this time, it was in a relentless campaign of phone calls.
0:08:42 > 0:08:43Hello?
0:08:43 > 0:08:47And in the second scam, the amounts she was giving them got higher
0:08:47 > 0:08:49and higher.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51£5,000?
0:08:51 > 0:08:54The criminals had convinced her she was owed a large
0:08:54 > 0:08:56sum of money from an old mortgage.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58I'm owed how much?
0:08:58 > 0:09:03But first, they asked her to send them money to release the cash.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Erm, well, what mortgage are you talking about?
0:09:06 > 0:09:10The phone-call scam started last September.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15The scammer said he was called David and used the name of a real lawyer.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17He said he was a judge working on behalf of what
0:09:17 > 0:09:21he described as the Ministry of Justice.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25One of the very well-known persuasive techniques
0:09:25 > 0:09:28that legitimate and illegitimate marketers -
0:09:28 > 0:09:30if we can put it that way -
0:09:30 > 0:09:34use is to try and surround themselves with authority.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40The man, it was a sort of an Indian, sort of Pakistani accent,
0:09:40 > 0:09:41but the English was quite good.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44'I thought, "Well, £5,000 would be great."'
0:09:44 > 0:09:47The man calling himself David was persistent
0:09:47 > 0:09:50and demanding on the phone.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56Elizabeth was soon wrapped up in his world.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59This is one of the persuasive techniques
0:09:59 > 0:10:01that we know that scammers use,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04of trying to get you committed to a project,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and when you look at the kinds of language they use,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11they start talking about "our joint project" to try
0:10:11 > 0:10:15and give you ownership of it
0:10:15 > 0:10:21so that you'll feel responsible for it and feel you ought to keep it up.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28She was persuaded to withdraw large sums of cash
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and sent it to David, the man she believed to be a judge.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36She sent it using money transfer systems
0:10:36 > 0:10:39that operate anywhere in the world.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45I went to the money shop, filled in the form,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48and it went through on the computer, whatever they do.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Soon, she was sending as much as £2,000 in a morning.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Her scammer would ring her with instructions.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04She followed them all in the belief that he would one day
0:11:04 > 0:11:06pay up the money he'd told her she was owed.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08PHONE RINGS
0:11:08 > 0:11:09Hello? David?
0:11:11 > 0:11:15'He would phone me on a mobile number...'
0:11:15 > 0:11:18to ask me had I done the transaction, and I would say I had.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Then he would want the number on the bottom of the form.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Once they had the serial number,
0:11:24 > 0:11:29criminals on the other side of the world could retrieve the money.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31'That's the number I would tell him.'
0:11:31 > 0:11:34And he said, "That's OK."
0:11:34 > 0:11:37So that money went through to them.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39OK, thanks very much. Bye.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43'But there was no end to his determination
0:11:43 > 0:11:47'to extract every penny he could.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49'He kept her interest by promising to visit
0:11:49 > 0:11:52'and personally deliver £90,000.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58'But on the day he was due, he said she first had to send £4,000 to
0:11:58 > 0:12:01'cover the costs for him and an assistant.'
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I says, "Well, why not leave your assistant at home
0:12:04 > 0:12:06"and come yourself, cos it'd be cheaper for me?"
0:12:06 > 0:12:11He says he couldn't do that, seeing the amount of money was so big.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13'But that, too, was a lie.'
0:12:13 > 0:12:17- So you paid the money.- Yes.- And what happened after that, that day?
0:12:17 > 0:12:20- He didn't turn up.- He didn't turn up.- No. No, didn't turn up.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28The situation becomes a sort of enclosed world which people
0:12:28 > 0:12:33then believe in, and when you stand outside it,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36when you come to stand outside it and you realise what happened,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40you almost wonder, "How could I have believed that?"
0:12:40 > 0:12:45But when you're inside it, it seems entirely persuasive.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49And, of course, that's what the scammers are trying to do.
0:12:51 > 0:12:52Why do you need to deliver it?
0:12:52 > 0:12:57Elizabeth's pursuit of the money she had been told was hers by right
0:12:57 > 0:13:00had left her broke and exhausted.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03You owe me a lot of money. I need that money.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07'The guy says, "Look,'
0:13:07 > 0:13:12"there's no more money left. I can't send you any more."
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Well, I thought to myself, "Well, you've had it,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18"the money's all done, and that's it."
0:13:21 > 0:13:27In just seven weeks, Elizabeth paid out £103,000
0:13:27 > 0:13:31from her bank account to a man she believed was her friend.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37All she had left was £440.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42It must have come as a bit of a shock, then,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45when you learnt what was happening.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50It did. A big shock. And I felt I'd been so stupid, as well...
0:13:52 > 0:13:54..that I should have cottoned on, like, that...
0:13:56 > 0:13:58..that the whole thing was a fraud, really,
0:13:58 > 0:14:04because I had said to that first man there, I says,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08"That there's a fraud that you're doing to me."
0:14:08 > 0:14:11"That's a scam." He says, "It's not, it's real."
0:14:11 > 0:14:15When did you first realise that...
0:14:15 > 0:14:18that you'd been involved in scams?
0:14:19 > 0:14:20Well...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24..when the police came to the house
0:14:24 > 0:14:26and told me that this is all a scam, you know,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28different things like that, and...
0:14:28 > 0:14:32I just felt devastated, completely, because...
0:14:32 > 0:14:34I knew all the money was gone.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42But even when she was broke, there was no end to the scammers' greed
0:14:42 > 0:14:48and cruelty. They persuaded Elizabeth to borrow £14,000.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51A year on, and she's still paying that off.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54But there was worse to come.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58They then made her part of their criminal enterprise by getting
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Elizabeth to open a new bank account.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07And this time, they did lodge some money.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10They paid £5,000 directly into the account.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16He convinced me they could help me,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19so he said he'd lodge money into my account
0:15:19 > 0:15:21and then I could withdraw it.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23But they had an ulterior motive.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27It looked as if I had a healthy enough balance.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32At one time, you get the statement, it said you had £5,000 in it.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36No sooner had she got some money in her account
0:15:36 > 0:15:38than she was asked to move it on again.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Then he'd ask me to draw maybe out of that 5,000,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46he asked me to withdraw 2,000 maybe today
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and another 2,000 maybe tomorrow.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51So that's the way it went.
0:15:52 > 0:15:58She didn't know it, but Elizabeth had started working for the criminals.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03The money lodged in her account had been scammed from other people,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05and a police force in England
0:16:05 > 0:16:08started to investigate her for money laundering.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13You'd never...even thought you were involved in anything like that?
0:16:13 > 0:16:15No, no, sure, I never...
0:16:15 > 0:16:19I hear tell of it, but you never thought, y'know, that they
0:16:19 > 0:16:22used you for laundering money, of all things.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25- I didn't know it. - A bit of a shock?
0:16:25 > 0:16:31It was, that I'd been used, connected with crime. But...
0:16:31 > 0:16:33It was a shock...
0:16:33 > 0:16:35to tell you the truth.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40The scams lasted for nearly a year.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43When she finally stopped talking to the scammers,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47on one day alone she had 26 missed calls.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52Elizabeth kept notes on her callers and their telephone numbers.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54We searched for the numbers online
0:16:54 > 0:16:59and discovered they'd been used in identical scams,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01even down to the same detail about a man called
0:17:01 > 0:17:04David at the Ministry of Justice.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Meanwhile, at Elizabeth's branch of the Ulster Bank,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13her spending had started to cause concern.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16'Well, there was a lady.'
0:17:16 > 0:17:18She asked me into her office one day.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21And she said,
0:17:21 > 0:17:26"You're coming in here very often to withdraw large amounts of money."
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I said, "Yes."
0:17:30 > 0:17:36And I told her I was doing repairs to the house, which I wasn't.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40In all, bank staff took Elizabeth aside on five occasions.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47The Ulster Bank would say that they did intervene
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and that they did ask you about what you were doing with your money
0:17:50 > 0:17:53and that you basically said it was your money,
0:17:53 > 0:17:55you could do with it as you pleased.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Do you accept that you did tell the bank...?
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Well, I just can't remember for sure, but I must have had.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05I must have had when they say so.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07You said you were going to get house repairs,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09- but that wasn't strictly true. - No, it wasn't.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13- It wasn't strictly true.- What do you think the bank should have done?
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Well, I think they could've froze my account and just said,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20"Look, we know that you're not telling the truth."
0:18:20 > 0:18:23So I feel that they could have stopped me earlier.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29'Elizabeth's money had gone by the time her family found out
0:18:29 > 0:18:31'what had been going on.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36'According to the rules, where someone has given away their money
0:18:36 > 0:18:40'voluntarily, the banks don't have to pay compensation.'
0:18:40 > 0:18:43If the customer says, "Look, leave me alone, it's my money,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45"I can do what I like with it,"
0:18:45 > 0:18:48then really the bank is in a very difficult position.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Even if the customer's elderly, in their 70s,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53they still have a perfect right to make decisions
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and to spend it as they see fit!
0:19:01 > 0:19:05'But for the people who have lost out to scammers,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09'there's little hope of any type of investigation.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11'To cope with the growth in fraud crime,
0:19:11 > 0:19:16'the Government has established ActionFraud in the City of London.
0:19:16 > 0:19:17'If a scam is reported,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21'the details will go to ActionFraud to be analysed.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28'But the harsh reality for Elizabeth
0:19:28 > 0:19:33'is ActionFraud told her in writing there was nothing they could do.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47'And that's not unusual.'
0:19:47 > 0:19:49When you look around to try and find someone to take
0:19:49 > 0:19:53responsibility as to how you fight fraud,
0:19:53 > 0:19:55it's difficult to find someone who'll put their hands up
0:19:55 > 0:19:57and say, "Yes, we're the people to come to."
0:19:57 > 0:20:02I do think - and it's one of the most common complaints that I get -
0:20:02 > 0:20:06that people who have been defrauded or potentially defrauded say,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09"Well, we reported all this, and no-one seems interested."
0:20:09 > 0:20:11And that is the position we have.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15We have this huge crime, two million people defrauded every year,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and it is not really being tackled effectively at a national level.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25'Successful prosecutions into this sort of crime are rare.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27'And here's why.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29'Scamming is a global business.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32'The criminals behind marketing scams
0:20:32 > 0:20:34'spread their work across the world,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37'so no-one police force is responsible.'
0:20:38 > 0:20:42The plan will be devised in one country,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45the scam letters printed in another.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50The victims are picked off the suckers list and targeted elsewhere.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53They send off cash to yet another country.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59It's delivered to PO boxes, where mail companies process the letters.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05But the big question is, once it's delivered,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07where then does the money finally end up?
0:21:09 > 0:21:12'We understand that most of Elizabeth's money
0:21:12 > 0:21:15'from the phone scams ended up in the hands
0:21:15 > 0:21:18'of organised criminals in Thailand.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21'But it's clear once your money leaves Northern Ireland,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24'there's little the police can do.'
0:21:24 > 0:21:29We will follow the money trail, but very often, nearly invariably,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32that money is moved and it is dissipated and dispersed
0:21:32 > 0:21:35many times over, through multiple bank accounts,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38which eventually become untraceable.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And they do find themselves very often
0:21:41 > 0:21:47certainly at least across Europe, and into Asia and the Middle East.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51The PSNI investigation into Elizabeth's case is now closed.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01So the banks, ActionFraud and the PSNI weren't able to help her.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04The Financial Ombudsman investigated her case
0:22:04 > 0:22:09and ruled that the Ulster Bank was under no obligation to refund her.
0:22:09 > 0:22:15But the Progressive Building Society was told to refund the 96 cheques.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19So out of the £180,000 she's lost,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23she's recovered just a few thousand pounds in compensation.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31'Elizabeth's money is all gone,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34'but a year on, the scammers haven't gone away.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43'They still keep in touch.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49'We asked Elizabeth to keep hold of some of the scam letters
0:22:49 > 0:22:51'she's still getting.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53'The scale of the deliveries is startling...
0:22:55 > 0:22:58'..and most of this in just a few weeks.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04'We asked Royal Mail
0:23:04 > 0:23:08'why they don't simply stop delivering unsolicited mail.'
0:23:10 > 0:23:13One thing that Royal Mail cannot do under any circumstances
0:23:13 > 0:23:15is open people's mail.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17The outside of an envelope may give us some concern.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20It's the content that will actually tell us
0:23:20 > 0:23:21whether there's a scam taking place or not.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23So mail has to be delivered.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31Now, we've sorted out all of these letters into the countries
0:23:31 > 0:23:35of origin, and we find that there are 15 countries where scamming letters
0:23:35 > 0:23:37are being sent into Northern Ireland.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Philippines, Samoa, the United States, Romania, Fiji -
0:23:42 > 0:23:46but the biggest number originate in Holland.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50We know every single one of these letters
0:23:50 > 0:23:54requesting an advance payment fee is an attempt to defraud.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59MUSIC: Eye Level by the Simon Park Orchestra
0:24:11 > 0:24:15'With no organisation appearing to investigate the scams,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18'we wanted to see where Elizabeth was being asked in recent months
0:24:18 > 0:24:20'to send her money.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28'I'm getting help from a former detective.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32'Cees Schep spent 35 years in fraud investigation
0:24:32 > 0:24:36'and now works for a fraud help desk that promotes prevention.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46'We want to visit the PO box addresses on the envelopes.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53'We eventually track one down to a retail
0:24:53 > 0:24:55'park on the outskirts of Utrecht.'
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Yeah.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03This is Postbox 1225.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08It's on the white envelope here.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11'We found out this PO box is registered to a company
0:25:11 > 0:25:15'called Trend Services, owned by this man.'
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Mijn naam is Erik Dekker.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Erik Dekker's company, Trends, does printing and packaging.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25It also provides mail delivery and collection services for people
0:25:25 > 0:25:28who prefer the convenience or secrecy of this type of service.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33This is one of the postbox numbers
0:25:33 > 0:25:37that's registered to Mr Erik Dekker's company, Trends.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42He's got a number of others at different post offices in this area,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44but this is number 1225.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52It's one of an estimated 114 PO boxes registered to his company.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55When we opened the recent mail sent to Elizabeth,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57we found that 59 of the letters
0:25:57 > 0:26:01had return envelopes addressed to his postboxes.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06There's no evidence that Mr Dekker knows anything about the content
0:26:06 > 0:26:09of the envelopes that are being delivered to his postboxes -
0:26:09 > 0:26:14but he does presumably know who he's collecting this mail for.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17We wanted to ask Mr Dekker what happens to the envelopes
0:26:17 > 0:26:20after he's taken delivery of them.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24'We e-mailed him to say we'd like to talk about direct mail from Ireland.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26'He replied to say he didn't want to speak to us,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29'so we decided to visit his offices
0:26:29 > 0:26:31'to see if that provided any clues
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'and to see if we could change his mind.'
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Hi. I'm from the BBC.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45Erm, well, it's about mail that comes through his company from Ireland.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Yes, he doesn't want to speak to me, I understand that,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55but I'm explaining to you that I have information about mail
0:26:55 > 0:26:58that comes through these post office box numbers
0:26:58 > 0:27:01that are registered to this company and it comes from Ireland.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03I wanted to ask him a few words about that.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09- All right? - HE SIGHS
0:27:09 > 0:27:11- Goodbye. - OK. Thank you.
0:27:12 > 0:27:13So...
0:27:13 > 0:27:15clearly...
0:27:15 > 0:27:18the people inside this company don't want to talk.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21And in fact, that lady has underlined the fact that the director
0:27:21 > 0:27:24we've tried to get in touch with, Mr Erik Dekker,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26doesn't want to talk to us, either.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33It was clear our presence was no longer welcome.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41We don't know what happens to the money posted in the scam letters
0:27:41 > 0:27:45or what Mr Dekker knows about the people whose mail
0:27:45 > 0:27:49his company is collecting, but he wasn't interested in helping us.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52In a statement, Mr Dekker said,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56"It's a mystery to me why you approached me in this matter."
0:27:58 > 0:28:01But the question remains, once it's delivered,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04where does the money finally end up?
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It seems the Dutch police aren't investigating that question,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13as there have been no complaints from police in the UK.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21For now, what happened to her money remains a mystery.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24For Elizabeth, life goes on.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27I was used as if I was hypnotised,
0:28:27 > 0:28:31thinking I was going to get money back along with the money I'd spent
0:28:31 > 0:28:35and didn't get anything, not even a penny.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39She's paid a high price for her involvement with scammers.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45I'd just like to warn others, anybody else that's elderly and...
0:28:48 > 0:28:51..you think you know it all, but you don't,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54just to warn them, and not to happen to them,
0:28:54 > 0:28:56because it's happened to me.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59And it's completely devastating.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01It does affect your health, as well.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06How do you plan to get over this, then? How will you recover from it?
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Well, I just plan to live one day at a time,
0:29:10 > 0:29:15be active and take an interest in outside stuff rather than...
0:29:18 > 0:29:20..the money.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25Presumably you've got friends and family to help you.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29You need good friends and family to help you, yes.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32But you feel you've let everybody down.