0:17:41 > 0:17:45A Spotlight investigation sparks a raid by armed
0:17:45 > 0:17:47fraud investigators in Holland.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53It's a move to close down a link in a global mail fraud
0:17:53 > 0:17:55taking millions every year.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Their actions prompted by our story
0:18:01 > 0:18:04of an elderly scam victim from Northern Ireland.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07I just felt devastated completely,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09because...I knew all the money was gone.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Spotlight follows the money trail to Holland.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16What do you do with the money?
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Our investigation uncovers links to the United States.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Make no mistake, these operations are serious business.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29They're massive in scale and global in scope.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32It leads us to Switzerland.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Hi, my name's Chris Moore, I'm from the BBC in Northern Ireland,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40and I'm looking for Mr Spaar.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42And we go to the Isle of Man...
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Mr Davis, could I have a word?
0:18:44 > 0:18:47'..to confront an executive of a chain of companies the US
0:18:47 > 0:18:52'government describes as a criminal money-laundering organisation.'
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Do you not think the elderly people in Northern Ireland
0:18:55 > 0:18:58- who've lost money are deserving of an explanation?- No comment.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29Mail scam is a lucrative business that rakes in millions every year.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35A year ago we exposed one of the key players of an international scam.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42But what we want to know now is where does all that money end up?
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Our starting point is the story of Elizabeth.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Last December we told how she lost her life savings to scammers,
0:20:06 > 0:20:13a staggering £180,000 in a 12-month period.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Most of her money was taken in elaborate telephone scams,
0:20:17 > 0:20:22but for the rest of it, Elizabeth became a victim of mail-fraud scams.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28How much do you think you were spending in a week?
0:20:28 > 0:20:31How much were you sending away?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Well, I'd keep enough for the petrol for the car
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and some for my food for myself.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40But the rest I...spent on...
0:20:41 > 0:20:43..on that there.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50The letter scams began after her husband died.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53She felt isolated and depressed,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57factors that can make people vulnerable to scams.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02Letters started to come, you know, the Netherlands.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06I thought, well, it's international and it must be OK.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Elizabeth was getting unsolicited letters like these
0:21:12 > 0:21:15offering big cash rewards for an advance-fee payment.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20You're guaranteed thousands of pounds in return for
0:21:20 > 0:21:24a relatively small sum of between £25 and £30.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30But in fact, every time you're asked to send money off first for
0:21:30 > 0:21:35what is supposed to be a guaranteed prize, you become a victim of fraud.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41It's called an advance-fee fraud, and very simply, they make
0:21:41 > 0:21:43a very attractive proposition to you
0:21:43 > 0:21:46that they are going to give you a certain amount of money
0:21:46 > 0:21:49but you have to pay a certain amount of money up front.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53That WILL be a fraud.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Fall for it just once and you go on a list prepared, maintained
0:22:00 > 0:22:05and shared by the criminals who've conned you into paying up front.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08This is known as the suckers list.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It's just like being hypnotised.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15You're going to win this big amount of money and you'll be able
0:22:15 > 0:22:18to buy what you want when you get it.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20But...nothing ever appeared.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23It was just like a drug.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29The scammers buy the so-called suckers lists from each other.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Once your name is on a suckers list your name and your address
0:22:35 > 0:22:36never comes off.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Your details are continually shared between scammers right around
0:22:40 > 0:22:43the world. So the scam mail's not going to stop.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Scam phone calls isn't going to stop.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48You will be repeatedly targeted.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Most of those targeted are elderly.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57From my experience,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01the bulk of people responding to scam mail would be older persons.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Many pensioners like Elizabeth are unfamiliar with social media
0:23:06 > 0:23:08and online banking.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13They're retired and most likely to still use cheques.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28The Trading Standards fraud team use the suckers list to identify
0:23:28 > 0:23:33those at risk, and part of Beverley Burns' job is to call in with them.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44Today she's on her way to Newry to speak to a victim.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49- Hello, Charlie.- Hello, Beverley. Nice to see you again, love.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Lovely to see you. How are you keeping?
0:23:52 > 0:23:56'I will look through post that he's getting and try to identify
0:23:56 > 0:23:57'scam letters,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'or if there's information that I can gather from him which will be
0:24:00 > 0:24:02'of use to the national scams team.'
0:24:04 > 0:24:07I see this letter here has an address in the Netherlands, Charlie.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09I know.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12I would see a lot of scam post with addresses in the Netherlands,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17you know, so you just need to be really, really careful that,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20you know, you don't pick up the pieces and start responding again.
0:24:20 > 0:24:21Oh, no, I won't.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25I mean, I thought I was savvy, coming from London and that,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28but I wasn't, I was stupid.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Charlie says he has stopped replying to unsolicited mail since
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Beverley first called to see him.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39You know, it's music to my ears whenever I hear that someone
0:24:39 > 0:24:41has stopped sending money off,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43cos it's important that people realise that these are
0:24:43 > 0:24:47- out-and-out criminals who are just out to take your money.- Yeah.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52Elizabeth was not so fortunate.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57When did you first realise that...
0:24:57 > 0:25:00that you'd been involved in scams?
0:25:01 > 0:25:02Well...
0:25:04 > 0:25:08When the police came to the house and told me that this is all a scam.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11You know, different things like that and...
0:25:11 > 0:25:13I just felt devastated completely,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16because...I knew all the money was gone.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25The sheer number of scam letters asking Elizabeth to send money
0:25:25 > 0:25:30to post office boxes in Holland needs to be seen to be believed.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38A year ago we went to Holland to track down the owner of some
0:25:38 > 0:25:40of those PO boxes.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47We discovered that many belonged to this man, Erik Dekker,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50a Utrecht businessman and owner of
0:25:50 > 0:25:53a mail-packaging company called Trends.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58Erik Dekker had at least 150 PO boxes.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03In sifting through Elizabeth's scam mail,
0:26:03 > 0:26:08one particular box number of his appeared again and again.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Box 1225.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13This is postbox 1225.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16It's on the white envelope here.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Erm, this is one of the postboxes
0:26:19 > 0:26:21that belongs to Erik Dekker's company.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25And this is where Elizabeth would have sent some of her
0:26:25 > 0:26:29hard-earned pension and her savings.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Mijn naam is Erik Dekker.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36We went to Trends to speak to company director Erik Dekker.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38He wasn't there.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42And he wasn't interested in telling me what he did with our
0:26:42 > 0:26:46victim's money as he drove off from his home in a Porsche.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50- Could we have a word, please? We want to talk to you about... - We don't want to talk.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52We want to talk to you about these letters
0:26:52 > 0:26:54that you receive with money in them.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57These are letters that have money taken fraudulently
0:26:57 > 0:27:01and you use them, distribute them and manage them in your company.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Can you talk to me about them, please?
0:27:03 > 0:27:05Can you tell me what you do with the money?
0:27:13 > 0:27:17The reason Erik Dekker is free to operate as an apparently
0:27:17 > 0:27:21legitimate businessman is because none of those sending money
0:27:21 > 0:27:23to his PO boxes lives in Holland.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30It was only after the broadcast of our Spotlight programme
0:27:30 > 0:27:33a year ago that the Dutch authorities became aware of
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Elizabeth and were able to launch an investigation.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52I'm now returning to Holland.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58I'm catching up with Cees Schep, who helped us last year.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03A former Dutch detective who now specialises in exposing fraud,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07he says finding a victim is vital to a successful investigation.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12- TRANSLATION:- That's the hard part with this kind of crime.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15The fraud is committed in other countries
0:28:15 > 0:28:19and in the Netherlands you rarely receive reports of the fraud,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21because it's very rarely reported.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Victims often don't even know that they are a victim of fraud.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Elizabeth's story was therefore crucial to the raid on
0:28:34 > 0:28:36Erik Dekker's company.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39MEN SHOUT
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Armed fraud investigators arrive in numbers at Trends' offices
0:28:48 > 0:28:51in Utrecht and gain access with a search warrant.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57The Dutch investigators take staff by surprise.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00We see them tell one member of staff to stop work and put his
0:29:00 > 0:29:02mobile phone on the desk.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09They begin to confiscate anything of value.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12This portrait painting of Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff,
0:29:12 > 0:29:14for example.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19The evidence of scam-mail fraud is everywhere.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25Here they find not only the cash the victims put in envelopes
0:29:25 > 0:29:27but some messages as well.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31One telling them to stop sending "this junk".
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Another a note of misplaced gratitude.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43The searches at Trends uncover
0:29:43 > 0:29:47half a million euros in cash and banknotes in 60 different
0:29:47 > 0:29:51currencies, including Bank of England notes
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and, as it happens, Bank of Ireland notes as well.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01The armed fraud investigators also confiscate
0:30:01 > 0:30:03Erik Dekker's latest Porsche.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14Newspaper reporter Roeland Franck
0:30:14 > 0:30:18tells us the searches at Trends and Erik Dekker's home
0:30:18 > 0:30:21stunned the local community.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24Many people were surprised, shocked.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28Er, well, criminal activities are everywhere,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32we don't want to be naive, but seeing that something like
0:30:32 > 0:30:37this is happening in our backyard, well, that surprised people.
0:30:37 > 0:30:45And in this huge amount of letters which were sent from Utrecht,
0:30:45 > 0:30:47this is nothing to be proud of!
0:30:48 > 0:30:51His newspaper carries a revealing insight from
0:30:51 > 0:30:54a former Trends employee.
0:30:54 > 0:31:00He told us really detailed about his experience inside the company.
0:31:00 > 0:31:06He saw how envelopes, many thousands of envelopes came in and were
0:31:06 > 0:31:10opened by tens of people, just opening envelopes, counting,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13sorting the money, counting the money.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18Day after day he could see this happening, going on,
0:31:18 > 0:31:20and he saw also armoured cars
0:31:20 > 0:31:23to pick up the money at the end of the day.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33Cees Schep says that as well as making the Dutch authorities
0:31:33 > 0:31:36aware of Elizabeth and our Spotlight programme, he also brought it
0:31:36 > 0:31:40to the attention of investigators in Britain and America.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46- TRANSLATION:- When the Dutch authorities decided to start investigating,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49I brought them in contact with the US Postal Service
0:31:49 > 0:31:53and National Trading Standard fraud team in the UK.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58Those organisations started working together,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00which led to the raid on June 1st,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05with house searches and the shutting down of over 300 postal boxes.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18The searches here in Utrecht were not conducted in isolation.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22At exactly the same moment, the US government was taking
0:32:22 > 0:32:27a civil action in a Washington court against Trends and Erik Dekker.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41America takes mail fraud very seriously,
0:32:41 > 0:32:44as is evident from this statement
0:32:44 > 0:32:47by the US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51Make no mistake, these operations are serious business.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54They're massive in scale and global in scope and they bring in
0:32:54 > 0:32:57hundreds of millions of dollars.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Several million Americans have been harmed by these predatory schemes.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08Erik Dekker is one of those the Americans have had suspicions about.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15I believe that the evidence that led us to conclude just how much
0:33:15 > 0:33:18Mr Dekker's fraudulent activity was reaching into
0:33:18 > 0:33:23the United States really came to our attention only recently,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26and once we had the evidence and facts to support
0:33:26 > 0:33:30enforcement actions against Mr Dekker we moved swiftly.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Leading investigator Clayton Gerber
0:33:39 > 0:33:42says America has long been aware of the huge amount of
0:33:42 > 0:33:46fraudulently-obtained money leaving the United States for Holland
0:33:46 > 0:33:49on a massive scale.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53Were you surprised to discover the volume, not only of the mail
0:33:53 > 0:33:56that was going to the Netherlands, but the volume of cash that
0:33:56 > 0:33:58was going there as well?
0:33:58 > 0:34:01The volume was breathtaking. We were astounded.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04We did some initial mail observations
0:34:04 > 0:34:06here in the United States
0:34:06 > 0:34:10and we identified something in the order of 60% to 70%
0:34:10 > 0:34:14of the letter mail from the United States to the Netherlands
0:34:14 > 0:34:19each day was these fraudulent remittances from victims.
0:34:19 > 0:34:25The numbers were staggering - 150,000 to 180,000 pieces a month.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31The lawyer from the US Attorney General's Office who brought
0:34:31 > 0:34:35the civil action against Erik Dekker says the fraudulently-obtained money
0:34:35 > 0:34:40sent to his company alone runs into several millions.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44The evidence that we have suggests that in the United States
0:34:44 > 0:34:47the effects of his fraudulent activity was in the magnitude
0:34:47 > 0:34:49of 18 million or so.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55What we were able to do was to bring civil actions in coordination
0:34:55 > 0:34:58with the United States Postal Inspection Service,
0:34:58 > 0:35:03have shut down the mail services for Trends and for Mr Dekker.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16The question for us is, what happened to Elizabeth's money?
0:35:18 > 0:35:21As part of the case against Erik Dekker,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24the US Attorney General's Office
0:35:24 > 0:35:28set out the key elements of how a mail scam works.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33At one end of the chain you have a victim who's conned into
0:35:33 > 0:35:35sending money, often to a foreign country.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41The money goes to what the Americans call a caging company.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45In this case it's Erik Dekker's company Trends.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48The caging company's job is to open the envelopes,
0:35:48 > 0:35:52count the money, take a cut and then send the cheques to
0:35:52 > 0:35:55the next link in the chain, the payment processor.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Sometimes the payment processor is one of the crooks and other times
0:36:02 > 0:36:05the processor is being duped by the crooks,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08who hide behind it to launder the money.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14What we have found is that the fraudulent actors are engaged
0:36:14 > 0:36:19in a very complicated international scheme, so there are caging services
0:36:19 > 0:36:24like Mr Dekker who are essentially the entities that collect the mail
0:36:24 > 0:36:27and open the mail for the other fraudulent actors,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30but in addition to that fraudulent conduct
0:36:30 > 0:36:32there are also the people who send out the mail
0:36:32 > 0:36:35and then people who process the payments.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52I'm back in Utrecht in the Netherlands on the money trail,
0:36:52 > 0:36:56in pursuit of a man who has been providing scam-mail fraudsters with
0:36:56 > 0:36:59facilities to collect and distribute
0:36:59 > 0:37:03the cash they've taken from victims like Elizabeth in Northern Ireland
0:37:03 > 0:37:06and also from victims all over the world.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15The actions of the American and Dutch investigators have had
0:37:15 > 0:37:19the effect of putting Erik Dekker and his companies out of business.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21His offices in Utrecht are up for sale.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26But I still want to know what he's done with Elizabeth's money.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34When I catch up with him, he's no longer driving a Porsche.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38Mr Dekker? Chris Moore from the BBC.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Mr Dekker, I'd like to ask you about how you've managed and processed
0:37:43 > 0:37:46some money that's been sent to you from old ladies in Northern Ireland.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49- Can you go away from the car? - Excuse me?
0:37:49 > 0:37:50Can you go away from the car?
0:37:50 > 0:37:53- Yeah, I want to talk to your... to Mr Dekker here.- No.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56Mr Dekker, would you please answer my questions?
0:37:56 > 0:37:59What do you do with the money you receive in envelopes
0:37:59 > 0:38:03that come to your premises, to your PO boxes?
0:38:03 > 0:38:06There's money that's been taken fraudulently
0:38:06 > 0:38:08from old ladies in Northern Ireland.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10What do you do with the money?
0:38:14 > 0:38:17That's it, he doesn't want to talk, obviously.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29So, Erik Dekker won't tell us where the money has gone.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34But can we find out more about the network?
0:38:34 > 0:38:39In particular, who at the end of the scam chain directly benefits
0:38:39 > 0:38:41from taking Elizabeth's money.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45They're still calling, but...
0:38:45 > 0:38:49It's nonstop. I thought maybe, you don't reply to the things, they would give up, but...
0:38:49 > 0:38:51So you're surprised there's so much?
0:38:51 > 0:38:53I am, yes, I am. There's quite a bit now.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56'Elizabeth has travelled to Belfast to meet up with me
0:38:56 > 0:39:00'and I'm horrified to learn that she's still receiving scam mail.'
0:39:03 > 0:39:08Well, this is where we've been working on your case.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12'With Elizabeth's permission, we decide to see if we can
0:39:12 > 0:39:15'trace where her cheques have actually been cashed.'
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Elizabeth, this is quite a collection of mail...
0:39:19 > 0:39:20It is.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24- ..that keeps coming through your... - Letterbox.- What?!
0:39:25 > 0:39:27That's...
0:39:28 > 0:39:30That's just unbelievable.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32'It's not going to be easy,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35'because there are almost 100 cheques involved,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39'and even where they've been sent to the same PO box
0:39:39 > 0:39:42'they're all made out to different names.'
0:39:43 > 0:39:46And they're made out to strange... little companies.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48I mean, if you look,
0:39:48 > 0:39:51I've just written the names on the front of some of these envelopes,
0:39:51 > 0:39:56and what you have is, like, there's OTO...
0:39:56 > 0:39:57and RDI.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00I don't know where that's to.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02RSG, does that mean anything?
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Eh...yes, some of them do.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16We take some of the cheques she sent to Erik Dekker,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18all made out to different names,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20and look at the sort code stamped on the back.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28And amazingly, when we put that number into a search engine,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31we discover that Elizabeth's cheques have gone from
0:40:31 > 0:40:35Northern Ireland to Holland and have ended up back in the UK,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39being cashed in a high-street bank in England -
0:40:39 > 0:40:42the NatWest bank at Chorley in Lancashire.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Further research reveals that alongside the cheques
0:40:47 > 0:40:49sent via Erik Dekker,
0:40:49 > 0:40:54a total of 38 of Elizabeth's cheques have ended up in this bank.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59All of Elizabeth's cheques were what's known as crossed cheques,
0:40:59 > 0:41:02which means they should only be cached into the account
0:41:02 > 0:41:04of the person they're made out to.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08But incredibly, despite being made out and crossed to
0:41:08 > 0:41:12over 30 different names, they all went into the same account.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21Financial journalist Paul Lewis of the BBC's Money Box programme
0:41:21 > 0:41:24says that just shouldn't happen.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27That's not how it's supposed to work.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Particularly if a cheque is crossed,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33it should only go to the named payee on the account.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35That is how it should work.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37If this is a UK bank, which it is,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40that's how it should work in this country, certainly.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43So you would be concerned if that's happening?
0:41:43 > 0:41:44I'd be very concerned.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56I've come to Chorley in Lancashire because nearly half of
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Elizabeth's cheques were cashed in a bank here.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05It says a lot about how carefully scammers plot their schemes
0:42:05 > 0:42:08when they come to small towns like Chorley here in Lancashire
0:42:08 > 0:42:12and open up bank accounts to clean up the money they've taken
0:42:12 > 0:42:14fraudulently in mail scams.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Muthupandi Ganesan is a barrister specialising in fraud cases,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26particularly mail scams and money laundering.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33In many cases fraudsters do target regional branches of big companies,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37and the reason being is that they do not want to get noticed,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40they don't want to bring attention to themselves
0:42:40 > 0:42:44as much as they would do if they are in a very big city branch
0:42:44 > 0:42:45with lots of transactions,
0:42:45 > 0:42:52with a high number of staff looking at the account-opening procedures.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59But even when dealing with a small branch, how can fraudsters
0:42:59 > 0:43:02cash cheques made out to different people in the same account?
0:43:03 > 0:43:08The answer very often is a payment processor, who tells the bank
0:43:08 > 0:43:12it's holding accounts for a number of mail order clients.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15There have been cases where payment processors,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17third-party payment processors,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22their facilities have been abused by fraudsters because it enables them
0:43:22 > 0:43:25to receive cheques from different names
0:43:25 > 0:43:28and cheques coming from different locations
0:43:28 > 0:43:32but all being put through to one particular account.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39We asked the NatWest to tell us the name of the payment processor
0:43:39 > 0:43:43into whose account they'd paid all of Elizabeth's money.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47The bank declined to tell us on the grounds of data protection.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52Without the name of the payment processor,
0:43:52 > 0:43:57we can't for the time being take the money trail past the NatWest.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08But those are not the only cheques of Elizabeth's
0:44:08 > 0:44:10we are able to follow.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16We traced 24 to a branch of Barclays Bank in London.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23But these cheques contain an even more important clue, because stamped
0:44:23 > 0:44:29on the back is the name of a payment processor, Cambridge Mercantile.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34We have here a number of the cheques that you sent -
0:44:34 > 0:44:37- I think there was 24 of them went into a Barclays Bank.- Yes.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40When you look at the back of the cheques
0:44:40 > 0:44:43there's a clue about who received the money,
0:44:43 > 0:44:48- because on these it tells you, if you look through there...- Yes.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Take the magnifying glass and have a look. You see here it tells you...
0:44:52 > 0:44:54- Can you see my finger?- Yes, I do.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58- It's got the name Cambridge Mercantile.- I see that.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02You didn't make a cheque out to Cambridge Mercantile?
0:45:02 > 0:45:03No, no. Definitely not.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Now, it's important to remember that the vast majority of payment
0:45:08 > 0:45:13processors are legitimate businesses that are themselves being
0:45:13 > 0:45:14duped by criminals.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18And that is what Cambridge Mercantile tell us
0:45:18 > 0:45:21has happened on this occasion.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24In a statement, the company says that while the account in question
0:45:24 > 0:45:29had been set up properly, red-flag issues soon emerged, and that
0:45:29 > 0:45:33they closed the account and launched some form of investigation.
0:45:33 > 0:45:38But once again, very frustratingly, on the grounds of data protection
0:45:38 > 0:45:41neither Cambridge Mercantile, the payment processor,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45nor Barclays would tell us who the money was going to.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53But Elizabeth's cheques are not the only ones we follow.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57- And here we have GDS. - Yes, I do remember them.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59Familiar with those?
0:45:59 > 0:46:01Yes, you made the cheque payable to GDS.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06'We ask Elizabeth if we can send six of our own bank drafts to
0:46:06 > 0:46:11'addresses the fraudsters previously tricked her into sending money to,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14'including this one offering £66,000
0:46:14 > 0:46:18'in exchange for £30 sent in advance.'
0:46:19 > 0:46:23- One of the people we want to send our money off to is GDS.- Yes.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27- And this is the letter that we're going to use.- Yes.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30- You see what it's promising? - Yes, 66,500.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33And that means we should get 66,000 back.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35- If you get it.- Will we?
0:46:35 > 0:46:38I don't think so. Don't get up your hopes, son.
0:46:38 > 0:46:39OK.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49I just purchased these six bank drafts
0:46:49 > 0:46:52made payable to companies we've already identified
0:46:52 > 0:46:55as having scammed Elizabeth two years ago.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58Now we're going to send this money off to those same companies,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02and we're using mail that they've delivered to her home
0:47:02 > 0:47:03since the start of the year.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14That's six envelopes on their way to Holland with our money in them.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17It'll be interesting to see where it ends up.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31One of the bank drafts we sent off was made out to GDS.
0:47:35 > 0:47:3912 cheques belonging to Elizabeth also made out to GDS
0:47:39 > 0:47:41ended up, according to our searches,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44being paid to another payment processor
0:47:44 > 0:47:45called Payment Solutions.
0:47:50 > 0:47:55We contacted Payment Solutions to ask them where the money was going.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57And remarkably, this time,
0:47:57 > 0:48:02there's no attempt made to hide behind data protection,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05because they say they believe their client, GDS,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08is a legitimate mail order company.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16They say their client runs a mail order business
0:48:16 > 0:48:19selling costume jewellery and religious medals.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26Payment Solutions tell us there's no evidence so far
0:48:26 > 0:48:28of the cheques being fraudulent.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35But we have that evidence.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39We know that GDS were not selling any actual items
0:48:39 > 0:48:41when they cashed our cheque.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44Here's what prompted us to send it to them -
0:48:44 > 0:48:48a letter promising £66,000.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52So, where's the money I was promised?
0:48:52 > 0:48:56£66,000 for a small advance payment?
0:49:02 > 0:49:04We need to find out more.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14And, remarkably, Payment Solutions e-mail us
0:49:14 > 0:49:17with an address in Switzerland for GDS,
0:49:17 > 0:49:19which they call Grino Direct Sarl.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24Our destination is Geneva,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27the fourth most expensive city in the world.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35It's a place for those with lavish tastes,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38but also the hiding place for the GDS scammers
0:49:38 > 0:49:41who've taken Elizabeth's money, and our money as well.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46This is a very interesting e-mail from Payment Solutions
0:49:46 > 0:49:50because they finally tell us who was taking the money
0:49:50 > 0:49:52from Elizabeth's cheques that were made out to GDS,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57and it turns out that it's Grino Direct Sarl.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59But they give us the address.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01It's care of Ace International
0:50:01 > 0:50:04at Place de St-Gervais, Geneva, in Switzerland.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10But as ever, when investigating mail fraud,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13you can never be sure you've got to the end of the chain.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Company records show the owner of GDS
0:50:17 > 0:50:21is a Mr Herbert Rudolf Spaar.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25I'm looking for Mr Spaar. Would he be available, please?
0:50:25 > 0:50:29We leave several voice messages and write to him twice,
0:50:29 > 0:50:30but get no response.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35Do you know if he'll be in this week to his office?
0:50:41 > 0:50:43We're not the only people
0:50:43 > 0:50:46who've had difficulty in contacting Herbert Spaar.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Swiss journalist Dr Oliver Zihlmann,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55helped to reveal the Panama Papers
0:50:55 > 0:50:58where companies were engaged in elaborate tax avoidance schemes.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03He made enquiries about Herbert Spaar on our behalf.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07One would expect in Switzerland when you contact a business
0:51:07 > 0:51:09that you would be able to get someone.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11This is not the case here,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14so that makes this person a bit of a ghost.
0:51:15 > 0:51:20Also, we didn't find him in any other database
0:51:20 > 0:51:22or phone book or registry,
0:51:22 > 0:51:28so he is a person who really escapes the eye.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32So the question is,
0:51:32 > 0:51:36does Mr Spaar really exist or is he a faceless ghost?
0:51:39 > 0:51:40Amazing.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44The faceless man of Geneva.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54So, I'm now on my way to knock the door of the company GDS,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56and I've got their address here
0:51:56 > 0:51:58and I'm hoping that Mr Spaar will be available.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01He hasn't been available on the telephone up to now,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04but let's see what happens when we actually knock the front door.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13So, there's no GDS button,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16but their office is care of Ace International, so...
0:52:17 > 0:52:20..I'll press this button and see what happens.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26They're opening the door for me,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30so I'll take the opportunity to go in
0:52:30 > 0:52:31and speak to whoever's there.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37See you in a moment.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40Hello. Bonjour.
0:52:40 > 0:52:41'On my way up to the office,
0:52:41 > 0:52:45'I notice a letterbox with the initials GDS.'
0:52:45 > 0:52:48So, here we have Ace International.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52They provide accommodation for this company down here,
0:52:52 > 0:52:54Grino Direct Sarl.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59This is the company that has taken money from Elizabeth's cheques.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02That's the company we want to talk to today.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09My name's Chris Moore. I'm from the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12I spoke to someone here yesterday. I'm looking for Mr Spaar.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18Along with my producer, we're shown into a conference room.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20The door's closed behind us.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22The receptionist won't confirm
0:53:22 > 0:53:26whether she has ever met GDS owner Herbert Spaar.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29She tells us she is not allowed to say whether or not
0:53:29 > 0:53:31we're sitting in the offices of GDS.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34HE CHUCKLES It's... It's...
0:53:35 > 0:53:39It's hardly surprising we're getting the runaround here.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43No-one seems to, obviously, want to talk to us.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46No-one wants to be able to explain why...
0:53:46 > 0:53:49they send this kind of literature out
0:53:49 > 0:53:53and scam letters promising large amounts of cash -
0:53:53 > 0:53:57134,000 here, 32,000 here -
0:53:57 > 0:54:01for small payments made payable to GDS.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05Elizabeth lost thousands
0:54:05 > 0:54:09in sending money to Holland to these addresses,
0:54:09 > 0:54:14because these all come from PO boxes in Holland,
0:54:14 > 0:54:17and the money then comes to England.
0:54:17 > 0:54:22And then we find out that it's transferred to GDS at this address,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25this very office, in Geneva.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28And it's quite a posh office.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31No-one in here is prepared to talk to us
0:54:31 > 0:54:34and to explain what kind of a business it is that they're running
0:54:34 > 0:54:39and what have they done with Elizabeth's money.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42It's just... It's just unbelievable. Unbelievable.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49After half an hour waiting with no-one prepared to speak to us,
0:54:49 > 0:54:50it's time to leave.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57We never found out whether Mr Spaar was real or whether he was a ghost.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04After our visit, Ace International wrote to us
0:55:04 > 0:55:08insisting that it and GDS are two separate legal entities.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12But we had already established
0:55:12 > 0:55:15that the two companies have a lot in common.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21A quick look at their accounts shows a most remarkable coincidence.
0:55:23 > 0:55:24Based in the same building,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27they both have exactly the same annual turnover.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33Oliver Zihlmann is deeply suspicious.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36One would be surprised.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39When you look a bit closely at this company,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43you see that it is using an address of another company
0:55:43 > 0:55:46who incorporates offshore companies,
0:55:46 > 0:55:51shell companies, in jurisdictions like the British Virgin Islands,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55and this is a very shadowy business, let's say it like that.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03The chief executive officer of Ace International
0:56:03 > 0:56:06is Ariane Slinger.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Ace is a company that provides business and tax advice.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15Ariane Slinger has been linked to over 1,800 entities
0:56:15 > 0:56:18listed in the Panama Papers,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22her company appearing to help them keep one step ahead of the law.
0:56:24 > 0:56:25What we have in Geneva
0:56:25 > 0:56:30is companies like the one that uses the address of your company
0:56:30 > 0:56:32setting up shell companies
0:56:32 > 0:56:35in places like Panama and British Virgin Islands
0:56:35 > 0:56:38and using scam directors.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42If they make that, then law enforcements cannot touch them.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50We never discovered to what extent the ghostly Mr Spaar of GDS
0:56:50 > 0:56:53is connected to Ariane Slinger of Ace.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57As we know, she insists Ace and GDS
0:56:57 > 0:57:00are entirely separate legal entities.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05This is pretty serious stuff,
0:57:05 > 0:57:09and normally you see those companies set up in Liberia and other places.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12That it's operating out of Switzerland is really embarrassing.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14And do you think that the Swiss authorities
0:57:14 > 0:57:17might at some point have an interest in this,
0:57:17 > 0:57:19that they might want to look at this?
0:57:19 > 0:57:20Yes, definitely.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24I would say if you have an operation like that
0:57:24 > 0:57:27with a company actually incorporated in Switzerland
0:57:27 > 0:57:30they would have to go after it, yes, absolutely.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39What Switzerland underlined, as we found elsewhere,
0:57:39 > 0:57:40is that again and again,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44it is really difficult to follow the money trail in mail fraud.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53But in September,
0:57:53 > 0:57:58the American action against Erik Dekker's company, Trends, in Holland
0:57:58 > 0:58:01led them to name a payment processor called PacNet
0:58:01 > 0:58:04as a transnational criminal organisation...
0:58:06 > 0:58:10..to which Erik Dekker was sending fraudulently-obtained money.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14One of the principal payment processors
0:58:14 > 0:58:18that Mr Dekker and Trends worked with was an entity called PacNet.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21PacNet is what we call a payment processor,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24which means that it receives the money
0:58:24 > 0:58:26and then makes sure that the money
0:58:26 > 0:58:29gets to the people who are engaged in the fraudulent scheme.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31To put it another way,
0:58:31 > 0:58:35when Mr Dekker and his corporation open the mail,
0:58:35 > 0:58:37they send the cheques to PacNet.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44The fraudsters needed someone to open the envelopes
0:58:44 > 0:58:46and handle the paper and do the data entry.
0:58:46 > 0:58:48That's what Mr Dekker's company did.
0:58:48 > 0:58:52And they needed someone like PacNet to process the payments
0:58:52 > 0:58:55and deal with the cheques and credit cards and the like.
0:58:58 > 0:59:03US investigators say PacNet have a 20-year history
0:59:03 > 0:59:06of knowingly laundering the proceeds of mail frauds.
0:59:09 > 0:59:12Last year, Clayton Gerber supervised the closure
0:59:12 > 0:59:14of one scheme involving PacNet
0:59:14 > 0:59:19which took 184 million from victims in a five-year period.
0:59:22 > 0:59:26Here, he supervises the interception of envelopes containing cash.
0:59:33 > 0:59:38Andrew Saks-McLeod specialises in research on financial technology.
0:59:39 > 0:59:41PacNet's been around for quite some time,
0:59:41 > 0:59:44and it has a series of other sister companies
0:59:44 > 0:59:47and members of its same group underneath it.
0:59:47 > 0:59:49It's a Canadian company.
0:59:49 > 0:59:51It originates from Vancouver, British Columbia.
0:59:57 > 0:59:59In the case of the Netherlands,
0:59:59 > 1:00:03the US authorities established that tens of millions of dollars
1:00:03 > 1:00:06fraudulently obtained in America
1:00:06 > 1:00:09were being sent to Erik Dekker's Trends company
1:00:09 > 1:00:11and then on to PacNet.
1:00:14 > 1:00:18That's why they stopped first Trends and then PacNet
1:00:18 > 1:00:20from using the US Postal Service.
1:00:23 > 1:00:25What's happened is, the US government
1:00:25 > 1:00:27hasn't been able to have any jurisdiction
1:00:27 > 1:00:29over those particular companies
1:00:29 > 1:00:30because they're not American companies,
1:00:30 > 1:00:32so they cut off the payment source,
1:00:32 > 1:00:35therefore there's no possibility
1:00:35 > 1:00:38that those companies can solicit using PacNet.
1:00:38 > 1:00:41The Americans traced US dollars going to Trends
1:00:41 > 1:00:46and then on to a PacNet account at a Barclays Bank in London,
1:00:46 > 1:00:49and from there through an American bank
1:00:49 > 1:00:52to PacNet's headquarters in Canada.
1:00:58 > 1:01:02But did any of Elizabeth's money pass through the hands of PacNet?
1:01:05 > 1:01:07The answer to that can be found
1:01:07 > 1:01:11back at this branch of the NatWest Bank in Chorley.
1:01:11 > 1:01:16As we already know, we traced 38 of Elizabeth's cheques,
1:01:16 > 1:01:20several of which had gone through Erik Dekker's PO boxes in Holland,
1:01:20 > 1:01:23to a single account in this branch.
1:01:23 > 1:01:27Now Spotlight can reveal that a source in the banking industry
1:01:27 > 1:01:32has shown us evidence that proves the account belonged to PacNet.
1:01:36 > 1:01:39According to the US Treasury Department,
1:01:39 > 1:01:42these are some of the people behind the PacNet group.
1:01:44 > 1:01:47The man at the top is Robert Paul Davis,
1:01:47 > 1:01:49commonly known as Paul Davis.
1:01:55 > 1:01:58When not helping to run what the American government calls
1:01:58 > 1:02:01a transnational criminal organisation,
1:02:01 > 1:02:03Mr Davis is a farmer
1:02:03 > 1:02:07and a director of a RareBridge company based on the Isle of Man.
1:02:09 > 1:02:13Here he's being interviewed for a BBC programme on his farm.
1:02:13 > 1:02:15I've heard anecdotally
1:02:15 > 1:02:19that some of the locals refer to us as Jurassic Park.
1:02:19 > 1:02:22Although none of our animals have actually been extinct,
1:02:22 > 1:02:24we are doing pretty much the same thing.
1:02:24 > 1:02:26We're preserving the heritage of animals.
1:02:29 > 1:02:33As well as being a farmer, Mr Davis has many other talents.
1:02:33 > 1:02:35He's a pilot -
1:02:35 > 1:02:37here he is in the uniform of PacNet Air -
1:02:37 > 1:02:39a barrister,
1:02:39 > 1:02:43and an expert on international financial payments.
1:02:43 > 1:02:45He frequently attends conferences
1:02:45 > 1:02:48and, ironically, gives talks on protection against fraud.
1:02:51 > 1:02:54He told the 8th European Gaming Summit
1:02:54 > 1:02:56that his life is governed is by the four Fs -
1:02:56 > 1:03:02family, finance, flying and farming.
1:03:02 > 1:03:05He didn't mention whether PacNet helps fraudsters.
1:03:10 > 1:03:14We wrote to Paul Davis about the alleged involvement of his companies
1:03:14 > 1:03:17in laundering fraudulent cheques.
1:03:17 > 1:03:19We mentioned PacNet Services Ltd
1:03:19 > 1:03:22and other companies with similar names.
1:03:25 > 1:03:27Paul Davis wrote back
1:03:27 > 1:03:31categorically denying any involvement in fraud.
1:03:31 > 1:03:35He claims PacNet operates strict compliance procedures
1:03:35 > 1:03:38and it denies it ever knowingly processed payments
1:03:38 > 1:03:41for fraudulent mail companies.
1:03:41 > 1:03:45PacNet also told us they will defend the US government allegations,
1:03:45 > 1:03:48which they claim are inaccurate and biased.
1:03:48 > 1:03:52They also told us they'd stopped processing payments
1:03:52 > 1:03:55for direct mail companies altogether.
1:03:55 > 1:04:00In closing PacNet down in America, the US authorities recognised
1:04:00 > 1:04:03that the group operates behind a hugely complex web
1:04:03 > 1:04:07of similarly-named companies and individuals.
1:04:08 > 1:04:09Paul Davis relied on this
1:04:09 > 1:04:12when failing to address some of our questions.
1:04:18 > 1:04:22Today, we took action to protect America's most vulnerable
1:04:22 > 1:04:24by designating the PacNet Group
1:04:24 > 1:04:28as a significant transnational criminal organisation.
1:04:28 > 1:04:32With operations in Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom
1:04:32 > 1:04:36and subsidiaries or affiliates in 15 other jurisdictions,
1:04:36 > 1:04:40PacNet is a third-party payment processor of choice
1:04:40 > 1:04:45for perpetrators of a wide range of mail-fraud schemes.
1:04:45 > 1:04:47The 24 companies designated by Ofac today
1:04:47 > 1:04:49comprise of PacNet Group
1:04:49 > 1:04:53and/or are entities owned or controlled by PacNet executives
1:04:53 > 1:04:55or other PacNet-linked companies.
1:05:00 > 1:05:02In our letter to Mr Davis,
1:05:02 > 1:05:05we told him about 74-year-old Elizabeth
1:05:05 > 1:05:07and the money she'd lost.
1:05:07 > 1:05:12In his reply, he said PacNet was sorry to hear about people
1:05:12 > 1:05:16who have lost the capacity to look after their money.
1:05:19 > 1:05:23- You sent a lot of money to these mail scams.- Yes, I did. I did.
1:05:23 > 1:05:27- And you lost your life savings. - Yes, I did. Uh-huh.
1:05:27 > 1:05:30How difficult has it been
1:05:30 > 1:05:33to survive without that money that you had safely stashed away?
1:05:33 > 1:05:35Well, it was difficult
1:05:35 > 1:05:38to know that I'd made of a fool of myself, for starters,
1:05:38 > 1:05:40and was difficult...
1:05:40 > 1:05:43I had plans for that money,
1:05:43 > 1:05:47but I thought if I had a little bit more, I'd be able to...
1:05:48 > 1:05:52..succeed in my dream of what I was going to do with it.
1:05:52 > 1:05:55But it wasn't to be,
1:05:55 > 1:05:59because I had no money to do what I wanted to do.
1:05:59 > 1:06:02What was your dream? What did you need the extra cash for?
1:06:02 > 1:06:05I wanted a nice house,
1:06:05 > 1:06:08a better house than the one I lived in.
1:06:08 > 1:06:11And a nice dry house and...
1:06:11 > 1:06:13You know, nice and comfortable for the rest of my days.
1:06:13 > 1:06:15But it didn't work out like that.
1:06:19 > 1:06:22We also asked Mr Davis about PacNet's dealings
1:06:22 > 1:06:24with Erik Dekker and Trends.
1:06:25 > 1:06:29He told us PacNet and Trends have no business relationship.
1:06:31 > 1:06:35But Elizabeth's cheques showed that there is some connection.
1:06:37 > 1:06:40By allowing us to track her cheques from Northern Ireland
1:06:40 > 1:06:44through the caging services of Erik Dekker in Holland
1:06:44 > 1:06:48and then on to the PacNet account at the NatWest Bank,
1:06:48 > 1:06:51Elizabeth has enabled us to prove
1:06:51 > 1:06:55that Mr Davis' PacNet is the next link in the chain.
1:07:14 > 1:07:18Surprisingly, that link isn't too far from our own shores.
1:07:22 > 1:07:26We've come to the Isle of Man on the trail of PacNet's Paul Davis,
1:07:26 > 1:07:28the man the US government has placed
1:07:28 > 1:07:31on the transnational criminal organisation list.
1:07:31 > 1:07:35We want to ask him how some of the cheques Elizabeth sent
1:07:35 > 1:07:38to Erik Dekker's PO boxes in Holland
1:07:38 > 1:07:40ended up in a PacNet account in Chorley.
1:07:50 > 1:07:54We start by visiting Mr Davis' Manx Rare Breeds farm.
1:07:56 > 1:07:59But there's no-one at home.
1:07:59 > 1:08:03We want to put our questions to Mr Davis on PacNet's behalf.
1:08:05 > 1:08:06Mr Davis, could I have a word?
1:08:06 > 1:08:08'We catch up with him...' How are you doing?
1:08:08 > 1:08:11'..as he is delivering meat to a local restaurant.'
1:08:11 > 1:08:14- Who are you?- Chris Moore from the BBC in Northern Ireland.- Yeah?
1:08:14 > 1:08:16Just wanted to have a word with you
1:08:16 > 1:08:19about the cheques that went into the PacNet account
1:08:19 > 1:08:21- in Chorley in Lancashire. - No comment.
1:08:21 > 1:08:24- You know, a 74-year-old lady lost... - No comment.- ..thousands of pounds.
1:08:24 > 1:08:26- Can you tell me what you did with her money?- No comment.
1:08:26 > 1:08:28Can you give me some reaction, then,
1:08:28 > 1:08:30to what the Americans have alleged against PacNet,
1:08:30 > 1:08:33- that you're a transnational criminal organisation?- No comment.
1:08:33 > 1:08:36Do you not think that the elderly people in Northern Ireland
1:08:36 > 1:08:38who've lost money are deserving of an explanation?
1:08:38 > 1:08:40No comment.
1:08:40 > 1:08:45- I mean, you did say in response to our letters...- No comment.
1:08:45 > 1:08:47Um...
1:08:47 > 1:08:51- You have said...- No comment.- ..that PacNet will defend the allegations
1:08:51 > 1:08:53against the government in the United States.
1:08:53 > 1:08:56- How will you do that, please? - No comment.- Could you tell me?
1:08:56 > 1:08:58We've given you this opportunity to talk to us
1:08:58 > 1:09:00and we'd like to know what happened to the money
1:09:00 > 1:09:04that a 74-year-old widow was scammed out of.
1:09:04 > 1:09:06- No comment. - Why can't you tell us...?
1:09:06 > 1:09:10'We want Mr Davis to explain PacNet's position.'
1:09:10 > 1:09:12And we would like to know what you did with that money.
1:09:12 > 1:09:15- Who did you give it to? Cos this lady was defrauded.- No comment.
1:09:15 > 1:09:18OK. Thank you very much for your time. Thanks.
1:09:18 > 1:09:20PacNet did subsequently point out
1:09:20 > 1:09:23they've never been charged with any criminal wrongdoing
1:09:23 > 1:09:27and claim regularly to report suspicious transactions
1:09:27 > 1:09:29and to cooperate with the authorities.
1:09:30 > 1:09:33It's time to find out what Elizabeth thinks.
1:09:33 > 1:09:36We've tried to take the story of your money
1:09:36 > 1:09:38- and where it disappeared to.- Yes.
1:09:38 > 1:09:41- We started with you, obviously, here.- Yes.
1:09:41 > 1:09:45We followed the trail of your cheques
1:09:45 > 1:09:48- to the PO boxes in Holland.- Yes.
1:09:48 > 1:09:53And to this man. He owned quite a few of the PO boxes in Holland
1:09:53 > 1:09:55- that you were sending your money to.- Yes.
1:09:55 > 1:09:57- He provides a caging service.- Right.
1:09:57 > 1:10:00- That means that in this scam... - Mm-hm.
1:10:00 > 1:10:02..he collects the money, counts it,
1:10:02 > 1:10:05and then sends it out to the next person.
1:10:05 > 1:10:08He was caught recently in America.
1:10:08 > 1:10:13They took action as a result of your information to the Dutch,
1:10:13 > 1:10:15the Dutch, the Americans combined,
1:10:15 > 1:10:17and Mr Dekker's been put out of business.
1:10:17 > 1:10:19- What do you think?- Good. Good.
1:10:19 > 1:10:20It's good enough for him.
1:10:20 > 1:10:26He was taking 18 million a year from people in the United States.
1:10:26 > 1:10:28Oh, my goodness me.
1:10:28 > 1:10:31- Surprise you?- It does. Really surprises me.
1:10:31 > 1:10:35But I'd like to meet that man and give him a piece of my mind.
1:10:35 > 1:10:39But I'm glad he's getting his punishment.
1:10:39 > 1:10:41If he's put out of business and so forth,
1:10:41 > 1:10:44let him know what it's like to be left penniless.
1:10:46 > 1:10:51I'm going to tell you the next bit on the trail of your money.
1:10:51 > 1:10:56- And it brings us over... to this gentleman.- Yes.
1:10:56 > 1:10:59And his company is called...
1:10:59 > 1:11:02- PacNet.- ..PacNet Services.- Right.
1:11:02 > 1:11:04It's a payment processor
1:11:04 > 1:11:09who makes sure that the proceeds reach the principals involved
1:11:09 > 1:11:11in the criminal actions.
1:11:11 > 1:11:14Well, there you are. That's a surprise.
1:11:14 > 1:11:18Mr Davis, we asked him about your situation,
1:11:18 > 1:11:20we asked him about money
1:11:20 > 1:11:23that was taken from an elderly woman in Northern Ireland
1:11:23 > 1:11:25and what he had to say about it,
1:11:25 > 1:11:28and he said that PacNet were sorry
1:11:28 > 1:11:31that people were unable to manage their own affairs,
1:11:31 > 1:11:35to manage their money properly.
1:11:35 > 1:11:38What do you...? What do you think about that comment?
1:11:38 > 1:11:40Well, I think he didn't care.
1:11:40 > 1:11:43Need a good telling off and let him know what...
1:11:43 > 1:11:49what it's like to take your money and send it to criminals.
1:11:53 > 1:11:55Elizabeth was caught in a global mail scam
1:11:55 > 1:11:57that saw her money travel to Holland,
1:11:57 > 1:12:01where it was collected and opened by Trends caging services...
1:12:03 > 1:12:06..who sent her cheques to banks in England
1:12:06 > 1:12:08and into the accounts of payment processors
1:12:08 > 1:12:10who, if not knowingly involved,
1:12:10 > 1:12:14were unwittingly being used by the crooks hiding behind them
1:12:14 > 1:12:17to launder the cash taken fraudulently.
1:12:22 > 1:12:24The key part of the scam
1:12:24 > 1:12:28is to trick banks into cashing fraudulently-obtained cheques.
1:12:31 > 1:12:33Paul Lewis is not optimistic
1:12:33 > 1:12:36that the system will change any time soon.
1:12:38 > 1:12:41The crooks are cleverer and faster than the banks
1:12:41 > 1:12:44who they're using in their crimes,
1:12:44 > 1:12:47and I think that will probably continue to be the case.
1:12:47 > 1:12:50They know how the systems work and they know how to exploit them.
1:12:54 > 1:12:56A crucial part of the scam
1:12:56 > 1:12:59is the use crooks make of payment processors.
1:13:01 > 1:13:05Muthupandi Ganesan says, like banks,
1:13:05 > 1:13:09payment processors have obligations to fight fraud.
1:13:10 > 1:13:15Absolutely, because they are also a financial provider,
1:13:15 > 1:13:19a financial remedy provider, if I can put it like that.
1:13:19 > 1:13:22They are also under a duty
1:13:22 > 1:13:25to ensure that they are not allowing their mechanisms
1:13:25 > 1:13:28to be used by fraudsters for money laundering
1:13:28 > 1:13:31or washing up of illegal proceeds of crime.
1:13:36 > 1:13:40The body charged with regulating payment processors in the UK
1:13:40 > 1:13:43is the Financial Conduct Authority, the FCA.
1:13:47 > 1:13:49Despite recent evidence from America
1:13:49 > 1:13:52where, as we now know, PacNet have been designated
1:13:52 > 1:13:55as a transnational criminal organisation,
1:13:55 > 1:13:59the FCA say they continue to authorise parts of the PacNet Group
1:13:59 > 1:14:01to operate in the UK.
1:14:04 > 1:14:07They say they are considering what action to take.
1:14:09 > 1:14:14Andrew Saks-McLeod finds this astonishing.
1:14:14 > 1:14:17Bearing in mind that the US Department of the Treasury
1:14:17 > 1:14:19considers PacNet to be...
1:14:19 > 1:14:23and all of its subsidiaries, to be a fraudulent criminal organisation
1:14:23 > 1:14:25and a money-laundering organisation,
1:14:25 > 1:14:29the Financial Conduct Authority's payment services provider register,
1:14:29 > 1:14:34just a few days afterwards, actually held its hand out and said,
1:14:34 > 1:14:39"We're aware of the US Treasury sanctions on the company,
1:14:39 > 1:14:41"we don't stand by that and, actually,
1:14:41 > 1:14:45"we consider to uphold the regulatory status of PacNet
1:14:45 > 1:14:47"and its subsidiaries in Britain,"
1:14:47 > 1:14:50which is quite astonishing, in my opinion.
1:14:52 > 1:14:56In the United States, it was the actions of the US mail
1:14:56 > 1:15:00that led to the closing down of Trends and PacNet in America.
1:15:05 > 1:15:08We asked the FCA if they would appear in this programme
1:15:08 > 1:15:10and explain the actions they're taking
1:15:10 > 1:15:12to help people like Elizabeth.
1:15:14 > 1:15:16They were not prepared to take part.
1:15:17 > 1:15:19I think the Financial Conduct Authority
1:15:19 > 1:15:21should certainly talk to you.
1:15:21 > 1:15:25Fraud is one of the very few crimes that's growing,
1:15:25 > 1:15:29and around half of all crime is fraud,
1:15:29 > 1:15:32and I use the word fraud, which technically is what it is,
1:15:32 > 1:15:35but as far as this lady's concerned, it is theft
1:15:35 > 1:15:39as much as if someone came and took her handbag in the street.
1:15:45 > 1:15:48As Elizabeth continues to rebuild her life,
1:15:48 > 1:15:51the investigation she helped trigger
1:15:51 > 1:15:54continues in Europe and the United States,
1:15:54 > 1:15:57where more payment processors are being investigated.
1:16:02 > 1:16:05Spotlight can reveal that a multi-force investigation
1:16:05 > 1:16:08is currently ongoing in the United Kingdom
1:16:08 > 1:16:11and it's codenamed Operation Nuncio.
1:16:12 > 1:16:16As one source close to the investigation told Spotlight,
1:16:16 > 1:16:18this is being seen as an all-out effort
1:16:18 > 1:16:22to stamp out the scourge of scam mail once and for all.
1:16:23 > 1:16:27Until then, people in Northern Ireland will remain at risk
1:16:27 > 1:16:29of falling victim to scams
1:16:29 > 1:16:34that net an estimated £100 million here every year.