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October 10 2007 to June 6 2008
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Driveway and path repair trader in Chorley
Bogus racing tipster mailings
June 6 2008
Residents who like a flutter on the horses are being warned not to fall for the bogus racing tipster mailings currently sweeping the country. The Office of Fair Trading estimates that punters lose at least £5million every year to such scams.
Punters are often ‘guaranteed £10,000 a week' using ‘unrivalled access to insider information' for a discounted membership fee of £100.
Every week hundreds of people lose money to a variety of tipster scams. Often victims receive a glossy mailing from a fake ‘racing pundit' who claims to have access to inside information from trainers and owners and an amazing success rate that guarantees large profits. Other tipster scams promise consumers a regular income placing bets on other people's behalf with punters told to send on winnings for successful bets while losses are “protected” by a money-back guarantee.
Victims often end up paying hundreds of pounds for a non-existent service and when they try to get their money back they find out that the pundit's name is made up and the address given is just a mailbox.
Reports of roof cleaning service in Clitheroe
May 12 2008
Lancashire Trading Standards Service has received a complaint about a business offering to clean and re-seal roof tiles. It is suspected that the ‘re-sealing' of the tiles is charged for but that the work is not actually carried out.
The business is also offering a ten year guarantee that may prove difficult to enforce, as the paperwork bears no address.
High pressure sales team in Chorley
May 9 2008
Residents in the PR6 area of Chorley are alerted to concerns about a high pressure sales team selling carpet cleaners currently operating in their area.
The company is contacting residents and offering to clean carpets for free in return for comments on the cleaning performance. However, once in the house to provide this free service, the salesmen refuse to leave until they have sold one of the cleaners. In one house they stayed for over two hours until the sale was finally agreed.
They are believed to be targeting elderly and vulnerable consumers with hard line sales techniques.
Be warned that if you or your neighbours deal with this company you may end up paying £2000 for an unwanted vacuum cleaner.
Security company targeting Fleetwood area
April 25 2008
Residents in the FY8 area of Fleetwood are alerted to concerns about a security company based in Southport but currently operating in their area.
The company, known to Lancashire Trading Standards Service, is offering to install or improve security systems, and is believed to be targeting consumers with hard line sales techniques.
The company contacts householders to ask if a surveyor can look at existing security arrangements and assess if the house is vulnerable to burglars.
If you deal with this company you will pay very high fees, typically £200 for a survey and in excess of £1000 for the work.
Under no circumstances should residents deal with alarm companies who cold call.
Warning over cold calling ‘white van' men
April 15 2008
Residents in East Lancashire are advised to be wary of a business in a colourful, pink and blue decorated white van cold calling at the door and offering to power wash and sometimes re-paint roofs. These men have recently targeted the Burnley area and are likely to be spreading their operations to other parts of Lancashire in the near future.
They appear to target areas with high concentrations of bungalows and elderly residents, and charge £2,000 to £2,500 per job.
Scams hitting Lancashire – February 2008
February 25 2008
Residents are advised that there are several scams hitting Lancashire at the moment.
Bureau Reporting of Bradstock
A company calling themselves Bureau Reporting of Bradstock appear to be telling consumers that they have won money but that they have to pay to receive it. We are currently investigating a case where an elderly person from Chorley has lost £8,000.
‘Cloned' painting website
Another scam involves a complaint about a cloned website selling paintings over the internet, requesting credit card details and taking payments for non-existent products, and then vanishing. This appears to be a cloned copy of a genuine site. Always check before buying on the internet that there are contact details for the site and that the site is secure - look for a closed padlock on the bottom right of the page.
New take on African-style scam
In addition, Lancashire Trading Standards Service is still receiving complaints with inventive new takes on the African-style scams that have been so prevalent in the last few years. One recent story involves residents in Great Harwood receiving a letter stating that an individual with the same surname as the recipient has dies in an accident in Spain, leaving a £19million fortune, and that if the recipient agrees to pretend to be a relative of the deceased the inheritance will be shared between the Spanish lawyer and the Lancashire consumer. In this case the documentation, which appears very official, claims to be from Victor Lawson Bill & Exchange Manager.
Foog Young email scam
Another currently popular emailed scam involves a man called Foog Young, who claims to be from Hong Kong and giving a Yahoo email address, before asking for assistance with the transfer of his investment banker relative's funds to the UK.
Foreign lottery warning
Any vulnerable individuals should be warned that it is impossible to win on a foreign lottery unless you actually participate in one, and that many genuine national lotteries are only open to a country's own residents. Never give out your personal bank details in response to an unsolicited call or mailing.
Warning over fascia companies
February 14 2008
Lancashire Trading Standards Service wishes to warn Lancashire residents about a drive and gutter cleaning company currently operating in the Fulwood, Preston area. The men appear to be cold calling, targeting the vulnerable, charging amounts of £550 for little work, and not giving the required written cancellation rights.
There are five traders driving a white van, they have Irish accents and claim to be from Birmingham. One man and a cleaning machine is left at each property and collected shortly afterwards.
We also wish to warn residents county-wide about a company which is offering window coatings which are alleged to cut down the need for washing your windows. The salesmen use hard-sell tactics and claim there are grants available for the work- in actual fact the ‘grants' are discounts from their own original inflated prices. The price paid is many times that you would pay for several years work by window cleaner, and we would advise anyone telephoned by a company offering such a service not to make an appointment with a salesman.
Reports of poor workmanship by G ‘n' A Roofline Services
January 22 2008
Lancashire Trading Standards Service has received a number of complaints about the quality of work carried out by a company of two men, one with an Irish accent, calling themselves G ‘n' A Roofline Services, and giving an address in Cheshire on paperwork. G ‘n' A Roofline Services has been cold calling local residents in the Preston, Lancaster and Chorley areas and offering to fit a dry verge cap system for gable ends, which is a system where plastic caps are fitted to the apex of the roof, in order to protect tiles and stop rain from entering.
There are allegations that the trader initially quotes a high price but then offers a reduced rate to make householders feel that they are getting a bargain. Prices may then be increased when other ‘faults' are noticed, and in some instances the final bill has been £2,000 or more. Work appears to be carried out to an extremely poor standard and the trader is often reluctant to rectify the faults on any of the complaint premises. Some householders have been forced to pay out again for a reputable company to put the work right and fix leaks in their roofs.
The company is also offering a ten year guarantee that may prove difficult to enforce, as the paperwork bears either no address or just an accommodation address.
Scams hitting Lancashire – January 2008
January 14 2008
Warning over cold calling paving worker
Residents are advised to be wary of several men with Irish accents and a white van who cold called an elderly man in the Accrington area on Friday 11 January, did some unsatisfactory paving work on his drive, and drove him to the bank where he was made to hand over £2,500. They are believed to have also worked in the Ribbleton area lately. Any further information on such callers would be gratefully received.
New scam - Man claiming to be from Loot paper
New scams include customers who have placed adverts in Loot being called by an unconnected man who claims to be from the paper, and wants the placer of the advert to hand over personal and credit card details so that the account can be processed manually following a problem with the details given. He gives a bogus telephone number when challenged.
US Petroleum Holdings requesting money for shares
A company calling themselves US Petroleum Holdings have been writing to Lancashire residents asking if they wish to invest in a new oil well, copies of share certificates are provided and a good return on the investment promised, while a company from Frankfurt, Germany seems to be targeting the recent sellers of shares to ask if they wish to invest the money realised. The latter requests passport and driving licence numbers along with a banker's draft.
Bogus foreign lottery companies
In addition, Lancashire Trading Standards Service is still receiving complaints about bogus foreign lottery companies, often giving addresses in Spain or Holland, with either foreign names or names such as ‘UK Lottery' or ‘Euromillions.' A recent one is Biotonic Nivelle based in France. They all inform customers they have won a large sum of money but that they must pay an initial administration fee, and often hand over personal bank account details or fill in a form authorising banks to release information. Several Lancashire residents have lost large sums to these scams over the last three months.
Any vulnerable individuals should be warned that there is an increasing number of these types of companies out there, that it is impossible to win on a foreign lottery unless you actually participate in one, and that many genuine national lotteries are only open to a country's own residents.
No bona fide lottery, such as the El Gordo Spanish National Lottery, would demand up-front fees. And never give out your personal bank details in response to an unsolicited call or mailing.
Phishing bank emails
Meanwhile the usual fraudulent ‘phishing' emails claiming to be from Nationwide, Lloyds, HSBC etc are still doing the rounds demanding full account details, and despite publicity we are still receiving reports of victims.
Scams hitting Lancashire – October 2007
October 30 2007
Residents are advised to be wary of traders selling solar heating systems, who are currently visiting premises in the Ribble Valley and allegedly using hard sales techniques. One complainant claims they stayed for three and a half hours, and tried to charge £10,000, later cut to £6,000.
Secondly, an elderly lady in Preston recently received an unsolicited call from a company trying to sell her a hearing aid and claiming to be calling on behalf of a local hospital. Please warn any elderly relatives or neighbours not to give out personal or financial information in unsolicited phone calls.
In a separate incident, a man in a white van visited a consumer in Rossendale claiming that he was getting rid of carpet off-cuts from recent jobs. He ended up selling her an expensive, poor quality piece that does not fit the room he sold it for. He only left a first name, and a mobile number which does not work.
Finally, information has been received suggesting that upholstered furniture (leather-look two and three piece suites) is being offered for sale door to door in the Lancaster area, by a man driving a plain van and wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of a major national furniture retailer, which does not sell door-to-door.
Although we have so far only received complaints about attempted sales and have not been able to check a sample yet, householders should be aware that Lancashire Trading Standards Service has had problems with such furniture in the past. The UK has strict national laws covering the flammability of such furniture, and such standards may not apply in other countries. If purchasing upholstered furniture always look for both a swing ticket and a permanent label relating to cigarette and match resistance, and do not buy furniture at the door.
Cold calling companies targeting Lancashire
October 16 2007
Residents are advised to be wary of a trader in a black and yellow van that has recently cold called elderly residents in the Thornton area, typically charging £450 for a thin half-inch layer of poorly laid tarmac.
There are also four young men who are dropped off by an older man in a 51 registration white van, who have been cold calling in the Walton-le-Dale area offering to rip off gutters and mend roof tiles. The work done is shoddy and one elderly man was charged £2,500.
In a separate incident, two young men in a white van with blue writing on the side have been targeting elderly residents in the Lancaster area offering to cement loose roof tiles. Even when the offer is turned down the men often go onto the roof anyway, demand hundreds of pounds from householders for un-agreed work, and threaten to get solicitors involved when payment is refused.
Imported furniture sold door-to-door
Finally, information has been received suggesting that upholstered furniture (leather-look two and three piece suites) from Eastern Europe has been coming into Lancashire via freight carriers. If such furniture is offered for sale door-to-door householders should be aware that Lancashire Trading Standards Service has had problems with such furniture in the past. The UK has strict national laws covering the flammability of such furniture, and such standards may not apply in other countries. If purchasing upholstered furniture always look for both a swing ticket and a permanent label relating to cigarette and match resistance, and do not buy furniture at the door.
Driveway and path repair trader in Chorley
October 10 2007
Residents are advised to be wary of a trader who has recently cold called residents in the Chorley area, offering to carry out driveway and path repairs using tarmac left-over from a previous job.
On one complaint the trader said he would charge £2 per metre and then tried to demand £20 per metre once the tarmac was laid. No cancellation rights were given and the tarmac was placed unevenly on top of existing coatings, blocking drains and other features.