Consumer News » Public sector consumer problems

Car repair garages fail to spot dangerous problems

Alan — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:36:08 +0000

The consumer organization Which? has discovered a high level of incompetence at most UK car repair garages after an investigation showed that about 87% of the employees missed potential faults that were highly dangerous.

Which? sent cars with easy to find faults to a total of 62 garages. Out of the 62 only eight of the garages returned the cars completely fixed with five failing to even notice the faults.

In total, 57% did not see the reverse light was out, another 48% did not notice the brake fluid was low, 68% did not notice the almost fault spare tyre, and 21% did not notice that the rear tyre was low on air pressure.

In addition, the consumer watchdog stated that 40% of the garages charged for a service or product that was not performed or added. In an attempt to see if garages were honest, they filled up the screenwash, but four out of the ten garages charged for a refill of the fluid, charging anywhere from 68p up to £2.41.

According to Which?, the investigation shows that there are different levels of performance offered at different garage companies with those that were associated with the Bosch Car Service finding 64% of the faults while those that were associated with Motor Codes indentifying only 60%.

Garages that were independent of these schemes found about 43% of the faults while those that were part of the Good Garage Scheme were able to find and repair 39%.

Burglar alarm scam warning The Powys city council trading standards service is warning residents...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

New anti-identity theft tool

Alan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:57:28 +0000

Global information services Experian announced the launch of Identity yesterday, a tool that businesses can use to verify identities that want to produce higher authentication rates to reduce the risk of account and identity fraud.

Last year over 5,000 victims of identity fraud sought out aid from Experian in an attempt to get their identities back, which was a 20% up compared to the year 2008. Experts at the company expect fraud to grow more during the course of this year and hence sensed that individuals and companies need protect customers and their employees from the increasing problem.

The Identity IG tool allows for additional security and electronic verification by asking customers to answer a list of generated questions that only the actual consumer should be able to answer. The set of questions are not based on past answers so cannot be stolen.

By making use of the mass of consumer data offered by Experian, businesses can validate a consumer identity instantly and thus reduce the need for customers to remember their password or carry paper ID.

Every time that an individual is validated they are asked to set questions to use next time during the security process those creating a new log-in every time while protecting themselves from identity fraud.

Director of Fraud and Identity Solutions, Nick Mothersaw, stated that businesses face a large loss of reputation and finances if they become involved in identity fraud. Thus, they need to be take advantage of the best tools on the market such as the Identity IQ to protect themselves.

Keeley Hawes suffers identity theft while making drama about identity theft Ashes to Ashes and Spooks star, Keeley Hawes, watched life...
Consumers need to be careful with identity theft protection companies A new court ruling just made it a bit harder...
Identity theft on the rise There was a large increase in the incidents of identity...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Government concentrates on fraud prevention

Alan — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:25:29 +0000

In response to the announcement of how fraud will be tackled within the public sector, CEO of CIFAS, Peter Hurst stated that he is delighted the Government is finally taking a closer look at how they can prevent fraud from occurring instead of just worrying about how to investigate it once it is committed.

CIFAS is a non-profit fraud prevention organization that is dedicated to sharing information with the public about known fraudsters and is aiming to work alongside the government in order to reduce the amount of fraud found in the public sector.

Hurst continued to say that a great deal of effort in combating fraud has been placed on credit reference agencies, but while they will have a role in the process Ministers should look at other available tools such as creating databases like CIFAS that contains the names of all known fraudsters instead of assuming that credit reference agencies are the best solution.

In addition, Hurst said that he will be writing to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Duncan Smith, to ask for a meeting so that they can discuss how non-profit organizations can help aid the government along with those found in the commercial sector.

He added that the speech by the Prime Minister addressing the need for better fraud prevention was very pleasing and is a signal that the mood is changing in Whitehall and that CIFAS looks forward to working with Smith in any way possible to develop a strong counter-fraud strategy.

ID fraud on the increase New figures show that the number of people who are...
Identity theft on the rise There was a large increase in the incidents of identity...
Government act against online scams The government has started up a cyber enforcement team and...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

One out of every five frauds is mortgage related

Alan — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:07:22 +0000

One out of every five financial frauds that occurs within the UK is related to mortgages and the FSA is taking a stand to alter regulations leaving the question open of how the market can help.

Stoy Hayward, the BDO, stated that one out of every frauds pertain to mortgage and that the actions by the FSA to ban and impose fines on such fraud is evidence that there are many cases of fraud and poor practice in existence throughout the UK.

Since the FSA was founded it has been forced to ban 92 mortgage brokers for committing acts of fraud and has issued another £1.5m fines with a third of these fines issued over the last year.

The BDO revealed that out of about £1b of the fraud that happened in the UK during the first part of 2010 almost 20% was mortgage fraud, or £190m which is an 18% increase from 2009.

In response to the large rise in mortgage fraud, the FSA has changed regulation around mortgages so that advisers to any mortgage must now be approved before they can offer advice to patrons as of January 1^st, 2011.

The FSA released a statement about the new regulation that read they hope the move will lead to industry transparency and help to prevent rogue advisers from tainting the industry so that consumers are better protected.

Fasttrack mortgages are also soon to be abolished in order to remove one popular way that mortgage fraud occurs.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Not one provider delivers advertised broadband speeds

Alan — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:06:55 +0000

It has become fairly obvious that broadband providers do not or cannot live up to their own advertising. A recent report by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is the independent regulatory agency for British telecommunications, stated that not a single one of the U.K.’s providers actually delivered on the speeds they claimed.

Following that report the product director at Homephonechoices.co.uk, Michael Phillips, commented that since no one is able to deliver on speeds advertised as “up to” 20 Mb, they should stop misleading the consumer. He suggested companies should stick with a “typical speed range” in their adverts, so at least their customers would have more realistic expectations.

Homephonechoices.co.uk has just received recognition and approbation from Ofcom as the first site of its kind to be given the Ofcom seal of approval. Mr. Phillips said that he is “delighted” with the recognition of his company’s dedication to giving consumers a site that is accurate and easy to use in making informed decisions about their options.

Ofcom investigates pre-paid international calling card company An investigation has been launched into the UK’s biggest pre-paid...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Identity theft on the rise

Alan — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:59:24 +0000

There was a large increase in the incidents of identity fraud that were reported during 2010 according to the UK Fraud Prevention Service CIFAS. The results found a growth of 14% as compared to 2009.

In particular, the number of people who reported they were victims of impersonation in which a criminal takes on someone else’s identity in order to purchase goods fraudulently or access personal details has increased year end by 22%.

The intense focus of the media on identity theft has increased awareness of the problem among consumers but even though the media offers tips for how to reduce the personal threat of being victimized, the numbers of such crimes continue to increase.

According to figures from CIFAS, on average over 275 people become a victim of some form of identity theft each day.

With the increase in identity fraud, it is an excellent idea to purchase some type of identity protection insurance to protect you should a criminal get their hands on your personal information.

CIFAS Chief Executive, Peter Hurst, stated that the recession may be partially to blame for the increase in such crime because as the UK continues to climb out of the economic hole there have been obvious changes in the patterns of fraud taking place with more application fraud at first followed by takeover fraud which has transpired into a strong emergence of identity fraud.

Hurst added that as the economic recovery continues to progress it is almost a guarantee that fraudsters will start to work harder at taking advantage of the fact.

Keeley Hawes suffers identity theft while making drama about identity theft Ashes to Ashes and Spooks star, Keeley Hawes, watched life...
Consumers need to be careful with identity theft protection companies A new court ruling just made it a bit harder...
New anti-identity theft tool Global information services Experian announced the launch of Identity yesterday,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Consumers need to be careful with identity theft protection companies

Alan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:53:05 +0000

A new court ruling just made it a bit harder to fight against scams related to identity theft because the process of identity theft protection is now a bit more difficult than it already was with dozens of businesses making claims that they can protect you against fraud without the proper credentials.

Identity fraud expert, Joe Santini explained that fraud alerts were never perfect although many companies would like you to believe this was so. Instead, he stated that a fraud alert that is placed on a credit file means that a credit company must make sure they take the proper steps to carefully open a new line of credit for you to ensure you identity.

This practice does not actually protect your bank account or any of the credit cards that you have, it only protects new line of credit from being opened.

Thus, if you already have purchased identity theft protection or are thinking about buying one, you may want to take a minute to step back and investigate what you are actually paying for and if there are alternatives to the bills that come along with such services.

However, the bills should not keep you away from an identity theft, given that the epidemic is growing across the nation with identity thieves rejoicing over the new law that will aid them.

It should however make you look a little closer at any serve that you choice and keep in mind that now the government can only do too much protect you in the case of such a situation.

Keeley Hawes suffers identity theft while making drama about identity theft Ashes to Ashes and Spooks star, Keeley Hawes, watched life...
Identity theft on the rise There was a large increase in the incidents of identity...
New anti-identity theft tool Global information services Experian announced the launch of Identity yesterday,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

European Union acts to protect investors against fraud

Alan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:24:46 +0000

The European Union has unleashed new rules that will protect investors that lose money in investment schemes that are fraudulent and account holders that have money in banks that later collapse. The European Commission stated that the new rules aim to help restore consumer confidence in the midst of the financial crisis and fraud scandals.

The commission plans to minimize risk by offering minimum compensation to those who lose money due to operational errors, fraud, or administrative malpractice. The compensation has been increased up to €50,000 from €20,000.

In the case that a bank collapses account holders will receive their money back within seven days. It has also been proposed that the national deposit guarantee is raised up to €100,000 in all countries that are members of the EU.

The new rule would standardize national rules and would allow almost 95% of all account holders in Europe to get their savings back in the case of bank collapse. The EU first moved to raise the amount that was covered during the 2008-2009 crises. Next year the commission is proposing to double that amount again.

It also plans to harmonize the European guarantee schemes for bank deposits as there are now 40 separate programmes in existence across the 27 nations that make up the European Union.

The new rules are yet to be cleared by the European parliament and the EU states although both have been called upon to quickly approve the package.

Amazon being forced to follow European consumer regulations For those that have purchased an item from Amazon regardless...
Office of Fair Trading to offer more online shopping protection The antitrust regulator for Britain sat down with Google Inc,...
ID fraud on the increase New figures show that the number of people who are...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Keeley Hawes suffers identity theft while making drama about identity theft

Alan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 01:32:13 +0000

Ashes to Ashes and Spooks star, Keeley Hawes, watched life imitate her role in the new ITV drama Identity as she became a victim of identity theft. The plot line of Identity involves an elite police unit that is in charge of crimes related to identity fraud, and the actor himself now is in the same situation after a worker at her home stole her credit cards and proceeded to run up a bill totaling £7,000.

Equifax, the credit agency, stated that personal information is now the most valuable asset in the 21^st century scam arsenal. .

Neil Monroe from Equifax stated that a fraudster only needs three pieces of personal information in order to take someone’s identity therefore it is key that people watch their online activity and documents carefully.

ID fraud has even spread as far as Twitter, the popular social networking service, with users sending fake messages after hacking into legitimate accounts. Many politicians and celebrities have fallen victim to this epidemic including Ed Miliband.

In the television show, Hawes plays the lead of the identity unit, DSI Martha Lawson, whose role is to take down imposters.

Monroe continued to say that it is much easier to prevent identity theft than it is to fix it as it can take hundreds of hours and years to clearly fix an individual’s records.

He offered a few measures to protect your identity including keeping your pin safe and varied between cards, updating your virus protection on the PC regularly, and avoiding common verification information such as your mother’s maiden name or date of birth.

Consumers need to be careful with identity theft protection companies A new court ruling just made it a bit harder...
Identity theft on the rise There was a large increase in the incidents of identity...
New anti-identity theft tool Global information services Experian announced the launch of Identity yesterday,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Credit card fraudsters go to jail

Alan — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:23:52 +0000

Four men have been jailed for a total of 15 years for their various roles in a credit card fraud operation. The longest sentence was given to Theogenes de Montford, at four and a half years, while his cohorts Usman Mahmood, Rajakumar Thevathasan, and Rashid Abdi Hassan will be placed in jail for three and a half years.

All four men were found guilty of tampering with ATM devices at petrol stations across the South of England last year. They would play with the chip and pin devices in order to steal electronic data from bank cards used by customers, and then use the information in order to create fraudulent bank cards that could be used overseas.

The men were arrested following an investigation spearheaded by the DCPCU (Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit). The men pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud following a two week trial.

Since its inception in April of 2002, the DCPCU has been able to prevent approximately £340m in cheque and card fraud losses, which breaks down to about £3.5m per month.

Detective Chief Inspector John Osibote, stated that they have worked with retail sector and banking sector closely throughout the course of this investigation in order to send a clear message that anyone who attempts to defraud the public will be caught and prosecuted for their actions accordingly.

Jail for credit card cloners Two men have been placed in jail for a two...
Renewed competition in credit card market, says research CREDIT CARD PROMOS INCREASE, BUT SO DO RATES PROMOTIONAL offers...
Ofcom investigates pre-paid international calling card company An investigation has been launched into the UK’s biggest pre-paid...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.