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00:04Scams and fraud are now the UK's most common crimes.
00:08Over the last year, they cost us £2.4 billion.
00:12And 61% of Brits say they've been targeted by a scam at least once a month.
00:19I've got a really sick feeling that I've been scammed.
00:24Tonight, the scammers who strike when we're shopping online.
00:28To lose that amount of money was a disaster.
00:32Or when we're out on the high street.
00:34When using one of these, your mobile phone.
00:37With truly brazen attacks.
00:39He said that would refund the money, but it just all disappeared.
00:44The good news is, it is possible to fight back, if you know how.
00:49I thought, this isn't right.
00:50If you give any money to these people, they're just going to keep coming after you again and again.
00:55Whether it's pretend purchases that never show up.
00:59Sincerely apologise that you've been a victim of this scam.
01:02Or clever cons you might not know about.
01:05Are you being serious right now?
01:08We'll help you fend off scammers shopping for their next victim.
01:16That's your wheel gone, right?
01:18Hello.
01:19I think I've been the subject of a scam.
01:21We're going to arm you with the tips, the tricks and the techniques to spot the scammers coming.
01:27And make sure that you don't get caught out.
01:37Shopping scammers can take many different forms.
01:41From credit card hackers...
01:43I felt I was being drawn in all the time.
01:47I've heard someone else use the term groomed.
01:50...to high street con artists.
01:52Basically it's an example of crime that costs everybody money.
01:58And blackmailers targeting small businesses.
02:011,500 US dollars and I'll leave your WhatsApp.
02:04Never hear from me again.
02:09In 2023, British retailers took in more than 500 billion pounds.
02:15And while we all still love our high streets, each year we do more and more shopping online.
02:21And do you know what kind of person loves online shopping the most?
02:26Scammers.
02:29Britain spend more money online than any other country in Europe.
02:34In 2023, that number was, and I hope you're sitting down, 118 billion pounds.
02:42So a really good way to make lots of money really, really quickly is target a big online purchase.
02:48Something like, say, a car.
02:51As Kevin from Surrey found out when he went shopping online for a new set of wheels.
03:05It all started when I was 17 and I got myself my first motorbike.
03:09And I loved the being free, open roads.
03:14But the joy it brought.
03:16That grew and grew.
03:18I enjoy going to drive through the countryside.
03:21Sometimes when you feel a bit stressed from work or anything else, I have a tendency to get in my
03:27car and just drive and see where it takes me.
03:32I started looking for a new car and I went on to social media, hoping to find a car at
03:39the right price.
03:40While searching Facebook marketplace, Kevin found a Volvo XC90 hybrid for a bargain price of £9,500.
03:49The seller was a company called Global Forwarding Limited.
03:54I was looking for a nice, laid back, quality vehicle.
03:59And the advert was just what I was looking for.
04:02I replied to their advertisements.
04:05And within a couple of hours, I was contacted by what I would only call as an agent.
04:13The agent, who called herself Katya, then explained that the attractive sale price for the car was because it was
04:20a repossession vehicle.
04:23It was true that the value was around the £38,000 power mark.
04:27So the £9,500 they were asking for was in line with what they said about the quarter of the
04:33value.
04:33I thought, is this too true to believe?
04:37Wary there might be a catch, Kevin checked the sellers out.
04:41He found a professional-looking website and even a number, which Kevin called.
04:47At the end of the phone was Katya again, who assured him everything was fine.
04:52And to prove she was legit, she sent a photo of her driving licence.
04:58Everything seemed totally above board and legal.
05:02Sending ID is a ploy to make scammers seem honest.
05:05But since Kevin had never seen Katya's face, it proved absolutely nothing.
05:13But Kevin didn't spot that red flag.
05:16I was quite happy to move forward with the transaction.
05:19Kevin sent the money and Katya sent him back, well, a load of paperwork.
05:25I've got the invoice, which looks perfectly legal.
05:29It's got all the details on of the company.
05:31It's got an official stamp on it, Global Forwarding Limited.
05:35Somebody's even signed it.
05:37Of course, this invoice, along with the website and everything else, was a fake.
05:43But it helped create the illusion that the transaction was real.
05:49The car was due to be delivered on a Tuesday.
05:52And then around 3pm on that afternoon, I received an email saying that the delivery could not be made on
05:59that day.
06:00But then when the second delivery failed, I started to get a little bit worried.
06:05I thought, no, it'll come on the third day.
06:08And when he didn't, I realised then that something was amiss.
06:13Fearing he'd been scammed, Kevin took a closer look at Global Forwarding Limited.
06:18He discovered a company with that name near Heathrow Airport who specialise in, well, global forwarding, air freight, shipping, that
06:27sort of thing.
06:28One thing the company has never done is sell cars.
06:31And no one named Katya works there.
06:34One person who does is Charlene, the company's HR manager.
06:39I spoke to him originally over the telephone, and he was worried about where his car delivery was.
06:45And I remember in Kevin's instance, I sincerely apologise that you've been a victim of this scam.
06:51If there's anything I can do to support you, please let me know.
06:54And sadly, that is not the first time Charlene had to break that kind of news.
06:59Dozens of people had been duped by scammers, impersonating global forwarding.
07:04You have, like, the sickness because you know that it's not us, and you know it's fraud, and you know
07:09there's nothing you can do to help the person.
07:12This has caused great emotional turmoil for myself and my partner and my family.
07:21And to lose that amount of money was a disaster.
07:26The last three months have been hell, to be honest.
07:35Buying a car online can be done safely if you know how to spot the signs of a scam.
07:40So, if you see your dream wheels online, before you part with any money, there are three simple steps that
07:47will make sure you don't get ripped off.
07:57First up, we've got who.
08:00Make sure you know who you're dealing with.
08:03Look up who's selling online.
08:05Look up their name.
08:06Look up their history.
08:07Is it a profile that was created only a few weeks ago?
08:11Does it have a long history?
08:13Are there other profiles on social media with the same name?
08:17Next up, Reg.
08:19Try and get the registration number for the car that you're interested in.
08:23If the seller won't give it to you, then that is a red flag.
08:27Now, you can get this registration number, put it in in various different websites, which will give you the details
08:34of the car that you're looking at.
08:35First up, do those details match what the seller is telling you?
08:40Next, you can find out whether that car has been ridden off ever, or if that car has been in
08:44a major accident.
08:45There are a lot of steps you can do to verify that the car that you're interested in is actually
08:50the car that is on sale.
08:53Finally, go.
08:56Always go, if you can, and inspect the car in person.
09:00That way, you know that the car that is being advertised is the car that you are looking to buy.
09:07There are plenty of companies out there, like the AA, the RAC, and plenty more that will offer car inspections
09:13for you at a cost.
09:15But at least then you know you're not about to buy a lemon.
09:21Coming up, the woman who caught her scammers on audio as they tried to empty her bank accounts.
09:28This is a scam, isn't it?
09:30This is a scam.
09:33Before the break, here's a little quiz for you.
09:36How much did consumer and retail fraud increase by in 2024?
09:42Is it 49%, 19%, or just 5%?
09:48Find out after the break.
09:58Before the break, we asked you, how much did consumer and retail fraud increase by in 2024?
10:05And the answer is a worrying 19%.
10:15Now, a huge thank you to all of you who have been getting in touch with your emails to talk
10:21about your stories and your scams.
10:23We couldn't do this program without you.
10:26So thank you.
10:26Keep them coming in.
10:30One person who contacted us was Sue from Oxfordshire, when scammers used her favourite retailer's credit card to empty her
10:38bank account.
10:48Sue lives alone in a small village, her quiet refuge since the death of her husband in 2014.
10:55From here, she pursues two passions, sewing and travel.
11:01I've had my first sewing machine when I was six, and I've sewn all my life.
11:06So now, it's just second nature.
11:09We always make new clothes to go on holiday.
11:11I've got a wardrobe that's busting, but it's fun to do.
11:15The department store John Lewis sells everything Sue needs for her sewing projects.
11:20So for years, she's used their branded credit card when she shops.
11:25In April 2024, she got a call with some worrying news.
11:30Someone else had gone shopping with her John Lewis credit card.
11:35I'd just got out of the shower and I hadn't got glasses on and I hadn't got hearing aids in.
11:41But this caller said there were two transactions for gold and one for bullion.
11:48And were they mine?
11:49There was one for £1,314, and that was for gold, and another one for £1,804, and that was
11:59for bullion.
12:00And I said, no, they most certainly weren't mine.
12:02And so he said, well, we can reverse them for you.
12:08Of course, the caller was a scammer, and he was the one trying to buy gold on her account.
12:13He told Sue that to reverse the transactions, she had to enter a special code into her credit card's online
12:22portal.
12:23And he sent me a code by text, and I had to put that in.
12:27And when it came through, he said, accept or decline, and I accepted.
12:32This is becoming one of the scammers' favourite tricks.
12:35More and more accounts use one-time passcodes to verify large or unusual purchases.
12:44When Sue entered the code, she approved the scammer's purchase of gold.
12:50So he tried again.
13:00Thinking she was authorising several refunds, Sue was unwittingly allowing the scammer to steal more than £3,000.
13:09So he kept pressing his luck.
13:11What other accounts could he tap into?
13:15He said that because I paid my credit card off each month from my bank account, my bank account was
13:22now vulnerable.
13:24And I had to empty it and transfer it to another bank for safety.
13:29This is another tactic the scammers love.
13:33Convincing a victim their account is being compromised, so the money has to be moved to a safe account.
13:40I have another account that I use for travelling, and he said it was fine to put it in that.
13:46So I put the whole contents of my bank account, which was £7,400, into that account.
13:54Once again, the scammer gets sued to authorise a so-called refund from her bank,
14:00which in reality sends all of her money to him.
14:04He then said that I had to accept this transfer, and he said it's just a way of securing the
14:12money.
14:12I said accept, because he said that would refund the money to me.
14:18And lo and behold, it just all disappeared.
14:21I wasn't particularly well at the time, and it devastated me.
14:26I just felt totally sick.
14:28I would think by that time I was trembling.
14:32Sue had lost almost £11,000, and the scammer was still on the phone.
14:39Sue then got a message that made her doubt the honesty of the caller.
14:44So she started recording the call.
14:50I've just had a text message from John Lewis saying that they think I'm a victim of fraud,
14:57fraud, and to ring them.
15:00Yes, that's the text message I have to send them now, so that you know you're on a terming call
15:03with us.
15:06All right, we wouldn't be able to text you back behind you, not a terming call.
15:10What you hear is the scammer doing everything he can to make Sue follow his instructions and his alone.
15:18But Sue is starting to see the red flags.
15:27No, it's wonderful. It's gone all the way down to the bottom.
15:30This is a scam, isn't it?
15:33No, it isn't, madam. It's a refund payment.
15:35All it says is the money's gone out.
15:38I've been done, haven't I?
15:40Don't offend me. I've been on the line for 15 to 20 minutes.
15:43I've been here stopping the payments for you.
15:45Well, you haven't stopped this one.
15:48Yeah, it's refunded for you, madam.
15:50The scammer is gaslighting Sue, telling her a pack of lies and then taking offence when she doesn't believe him.
15:59Worse, having raided two accounts, he now goes for a third one.
16:04He has obtained partial details of another of Sue's store cards.
16:08But to keep scamming, he needs more info.
16:12OK, fantastic. Now, do you have your mark?
16:14I've spent a card with you.
16:16I do.
16:17All right, fantastic. So that should be the one starting at five, is that correct?
16:20Yeah.
16:21Then you just can't find your remaining charges.
16:23Seven, nine.
16:24Fantastic. That's also a confident match.
16:27But as he tries to put through yet another fraudulent payment, Sue's had enough.
16:33All right, so if you want to get a minute, I'll call you.
16:37I'm just going to reject this payment.
16:39Madam, if you reject it, how's your refund meant to place it? I don't understand.
16:44It's confirming a payment, not a refund.
16:47Yeah, the payment's back to your card, madam.
16:49I know I'm talking about payment. I wouldn't be lying to you.
16:51I've done this trouble at the end.
16:53You confirm it back to your card.
16:54So press the call down button for me, and then it'll say refund confirmed.
16:58No, I'm going to reject it, and I'm going to end this call, I'm afraid.
17:03That was brilliant work from Sue, not only for recording the call, but for trusting her gut and not the
17:10scammer.
17:11Despite limiting her losses, the whole ordeal, though, left Sue badly shaken up.
17:17I never really got to grips with that morning.
17:20And listening to her again, it just, well, it depresses me wholeheartedly.
17:26I felt I was being drawn in all the time.
17:29And I've heard someone else use the term groomed.
17:34And it was almost like that, that, you know, how dare I disbelieve him?
17:42In Sue's case, as in so many others, the scammer had to convince the victim to take certain actions,
17:48like providing a one-time passcode.
17:51But there is another way criminals can get access to your online accounts,
17:55especially when you're out shopping on the high street.
17:59Throughout this series, we've been showing you how to stay safe,
18:02even when you're using your mobile phone.
18:04Because, of course, we do a lot on our mobile phones.
18:08There were 70,000 reported phone thefts in London alone last year.
18:15It's a subject that Murray McKenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention for mobile provider Virgin Media O2,
18:22knows all about.
18:25Across the country, we're seeing a huge uptick in phones being snatched.
18:30What usually happens to those phones?
18:32Smartphones are incredibly valuable.
18:34Everyone wants one, and they can be sold as a piece of kit, you know, an entire phone.
18:38The other thing is they can be stripped for parts.
18:40So, invariably, they are, you know, shipped overseas and either sold as a handset
18:43or shipped overseas, stripped for parts,
18:45and then they run back up in malicious supply chains globally.
18:48We do all tend to have our mobile phones out in the street sometimes.
18:52Sometimes we need to have them if we're looking for directions.
18:54Yeah, I think the first thing is people being conscious of the value of what's in their hand.
18:58I mean, if we were walking around the streets, you know, up to 1,500 pounds, 2,000 pounds in
19:02cash,
19:03you wouldn't walk down the street with it in your hands.
19:05But criminals don't simply want the phones themselves.
19:09They want access to all the stuff on our phones.
19:12Things like passwords, bank accounts, social media, emails.
19:17For me, one of the big ones is remembering your personal safety.
19:22We're often asked, you know, I contract my iPhone, should I go to where it is?
19:25We all say, no, your personal safety is far more important.
19:28I think the second thing is using the technology available on the device,
19:31making sure there are passcodes in place.
19:33If your phone allows it, making sure there's bimetric controls,
19:36so a face scan or a fingerprint,
19:37to make sure it can't be used unless it is unlocked using that.
19:41And then once unlocked, making sure, little things like making sure
19:44you don't have password stores in your notes application.
19:46That's a good tip.
19:47Instead of keeping your passwords where anyone can see them,
19:51use a password manager instead.
19:54Most important thing is speak to your mobile phone provider.
19:57So if it's Virgin Media 02, give us a call and we'll immediately block that phone
20:01so it can't be connected to the network.
20:05Coming up, the online seller whose business was held to ransom.
20:10How much does this cost you, your business?
20:14Thousands.
20:17But first, here's a quiz for you.
20:19According to one survey, how many adverts on Facebook Marketplace are scams?
20:25Is it one in two?
20:27One in three?
20:29Or one in four?
20:31Find out after the break.
20:42Before the break, we asked you how many adverts on Facebook Marketplace are scams?
20:48And the correct answer is...
20:50One in three.
20:56In our quest to bring you the latest and most devious scams,
20:59sometimes we come across things that leave us a little bit confused.
21:03They kind of look like scams, but it's hard to tell.
21:07So our advice to this is always the same.
21:09Go online, see what other people are saying about it.
21:12Read reviews, for example.
21:14But what if the reviews are part of a scam?
21:19You have to ask yourself...
21:25So you've decided to buy something online.
21:28You thought to yourself, you know what?
21:29I'm not going to be one of those fools who rush in.
21:31I'm going to look at some reviews.
21:33How can you tell genuine reviews?
21:35Well, you can use tech to see if the reviews are genuine.
21:38You can go to a website called fakespot.com.
21:42Now, not every website has been analyzed by fakespot,
21:46but plenty of the big ones have, and it can be quite useful.
21:50So I've gone over to Amazon, and let's say I'm looking to buy these headphones.
21:54We've got 20,000 comments and reviews.
21:56So I've copied the web address, and I go back to analyze,
22:01and I am going to paste it in here and hit analyze.
22:05Immediately, I'm getting a review grade of A.
22:08Okay, so this means it's quite trustworthy.
22:10Now, there's plenty of really handy information,
22:13but this is the important bit.
22:15Overview.
22:16Our engine has profiled the reviewer patterns
22:18and has determined that there is minimal deception involved.
22:22So most of the reviews on here are trustworthy.
22:25Remember, it doesn't work on every website,
22:27but there are quite a lot of websites out there that fakespot has analyzed.
22:32So worth a go.
22:35In this episode, we are focusing on people getting caught out as buyers,
22:40hoping we can help you to stop getting scammed.
22:44But throughout the UK, there are plenty of small businesses that do their trade online.
22:51Now, if scammers get their claws into those people,
22:54it's not just their money that's at stake, but their entire livelihood.
23:06The second-hand luxury watch market is a highly secretive and lucrative world,
23:12with many famous brands passing through the hands of only a handful of traders.
23:17Tony is one of them.
23:19He doesn't want people to see his face
23:21because he sometimes carries watches to clients and could get mugged.
23:26What is it here?
23:2718 watches?
23:2818 watches, yeah.
23:29In this tray, you've got Patek Philippe here, Rolex.
23:34What's this one?
23:35Audemars Piguet.
23:36How much is this tray worth?
23:38Today's value, you're probably looking just under half a million pounds.
23:42For 18 watches?
23:43Yes.
23:44There are watches, you were telling me, and I've found this quite surprising.
23:49There are watches where no matter how much money I have,
23:52a watch company won't sell them to me.
23:54Correct.
23:54Because they're like, who are you?
23:56Yeah, so they're going to profile you?
24:00Profile me?
24:00Yeah, so they're going to want to know.
24:02I'm not applying for a job.
24:03It's like you're applying for a mortgage.
24:06They want to know who you are and what you do before they hand you over this watch.
24:09Tony helps clients sidestep these restrictive practices
24:12by finding them desirable second-hand watches.
24:16He operates almost exclusively via a WhatsApp business account.
24:20So, let's talk fraud.
24:22What happened to you?
24:24Talk me through it.
24:25So, I received a random message from an international number,
24:29my business WhatsApp, basically saying that it's my turn now,
24:33and if I don't pay a certain amount of money, I think it was $1,500,
24:40they will ban my WhatsApp, and I had two and a half hours to pay that money.
24:44And we've got that message here, in fact, actually, which we can take a look at.
24:50There we go.
24:50This is the first one you got.
24:52So, it says, hello there, nice and friendly.
24:54I'll keep it simple.
24:55I want $1,500, and I'll leave your WhatsApp.
24:59If you never hear from me again, if you don't pay me within two and a half hours,
25:03I'll delete your WhatsApp permanently, and if you want it after the ban back,
25:08I'll charge double.
25:09What went through your mind when you first saw that?
25:12I just thought it was just a load of rubbish.
25:13I just thought there's nothing of it, so I just ignored it.
25:17And then what happened?
25:18So, I looked at my phone, and it just said,
25:20your WhatsApp's now been banned.
25:22So, they went ahead and actually...
25:24Banned me, yeah.
25:25Tony thinks the scammers targeted him by infiltrating private watch-dealing chat groups,
25:31then picking off members one by one.
25:34But in theory, anyone who uses WhatsApp business could be vulnerable.
25:40How can they ban your number?
25:43Because if they can do it to you, they can do it to anyone.
25:45So, they're banning us for child porn.
25:49So, hang on.
25:51They have got a system that is reporting your number to the parent company of WhatsApp,
25:57which is Meta, accusing you of child pornography.
26:01So, yes, they literally send all these thousands and thousands of reports for child porn on your number.
26:06Meta pick it up and bans it.
26:08Now, look, I've got to ask you, I mean, this is something you categorically deny, obviously.
26:14Of course, yes.
26:15Yeah.
26:16This scam takes advantage of legitimate tools for reporting illegal content on messaging platforms.
26:22The problem is, if someone's wrongly accused, it can be hard to get the ban reversed.
26:29So, you go back to your WhatsApp business number.
26:32Yeah.
26:32It's been banned.
26:33Yeah.
26:34What happens next?
26:35I can't log in.
26:36I can't do nothing.
26:36I've lost all my data.
26:38I've lost all my trusted group chats.
26:43Any photos that are in WhatsApp, I can't get them.
26:47And your contact Meta?
26:48I requested a review and literally within hours, like an hour or two later, just said, no, banned.
26:55And then I emailed them and I didn't get nothing back.
26:59Unsure what to do next, Tony began to engage with the scammers who were now offering to unban him for
27:07a fee.
27:09Here we go.
27:09As I said here, pay me $17.50.
27:12Yeah.
27:13And I'll try and get your WhatsApp back within three days.
27:15If it succeed, I'll keep the money.
27:17And you have your WhatsApp and we're done.
27:19I mean, once you're in there, it's just hard to get out.
27:25In the end, Tony paid £1,300, but they never unbanned him.
27:32And they've kind of got me to ransom right now because obviously I need my WhatsApp.
27:36But right now I'm banned and my business is getting affected.
27:39How much does this cost you, your business?
27:42Thousands.
27:43Thousands.
27:43And it's just affected my personal life as well because a lot of my personal stuff, like my bank accounts,
27:50are all linked to my phone number.
27:51And now you're, that's it?
27:53Yeah, my number's literally dead.
27:59And the moral of the story has to be that if you give any money to these people, they're just
28:03going to keep coming after you again and again and again.
28:06Because in their minds, they're thinking, well, if they've paid out once, chances are they're going to pay out again.
28:12So they won't leave you alone.
28:19There is another way that scammers are hitting businesses up and down the country.
28:24It involves something you find in almost every post office and supermarket on pretty much every high street in the
28:31UK.
28:33In the show, we always try and bring you the very latest scams.
28:37But imagine our surprise when a scam email came through to one of the members of our team.
28:43Now, the sensible thing to do then would have been to contact IT and get the problem sorted.
28:48But did we do that?
28:49No.
28:57This is called the gift card scam.
29:00That email we received was supposedly from our company's boss.
29:04He had some very specific instructions.
29:08Please go to the local post office or supermarket and send me a picture of the gift card racks.
29:16What a bizarre request.
29:19So we went to the supermarket and we did actually send him one of those pictures.
29:24And then immediately he got back and he said, I want these ones.
29:27And he circled the Amazon gift cards.
29:31And he's essentially asking for three £100 gift cards for Amazon, 300 quids worth.
29:37Here's a whole scam.
29:38Buy those, turn them over, reveal the code, photograph the code and send it to me.
29:44And once I get out of my conference, I will reimburse you.
29:48With those codes, the scammer can buy literally anything from Amazon and have it sent anywhere in the world.
29:55But before we buy any gift cards, we suggest speaking to the finance team.
30:01His reply is, are you being serious right now?
30:04Explanation mark, exclamation mark.
30:06The reason this scam works, and it actually works quite often, is because people do feel a sense of obligation
30:15when they're speaking to their superiors at work, right?
30:19If this is your big boss and he's saying, oh, you're being serious right now, you might just kind of
30:23think, you know what?
30:24I don't want to get into trouble.
30:25I might as well just do what he's asking.
30:27So, again, it's that authoritative, you work for me, get it done.
30:31Of course, we didn't do it.
30:34We said, I'm sorry, there's no need to be rude.
30:36How much trouble will I be in if I don't do this?
30:40And we just got one response, which, thumbs up.
30:43I think that was a sort of an agglonishment of, yeah, we're not going anywhere with this.
30:47So, let me move on to another victim.
30:53Coming up, the trip to the high street that turned into a cash-for-crash nightmare.
31:01And so I came across the road and I heard this bang.
31:08But first, how much money did Brits lose in gift card scams in 2023?
31:14Was it seven and a half million pounds, 13 and a half million pounds, or a whopping 55 and a
31:21half million pounds?
31:22Find out after the break.
31:32How much money did Brits lose in gift card scams in 2023?
31:37And the answer is 13 and a half million pounds.
31:41But remember, gift card scammers don't just pose as bosses.
31:45They impersonate friends and family, too.
31:51It is clear that scammers are still very, very busy trying to scam people up and down the country.
31:57Now, some of the scams we've seen before, some are completely brand new to us.
32:02And some are very old-fashioned and yet still very, very effective.
32:14Retired soldier and intrepid adventurer Richard is the last person you'd expect to fall victim to a daredevil motoring scam.
32:23So, during my five years as an army helicopter pilot, I was very lucky to be able to go on
32:29the adjoined services expedition to Elephant Island,
32:32which was the island that Shackleton was marooned on and has become very well known since then.
32:37But we were the first people back since his rescue of his people who were left there.
32:42It was during a slightly less adventurous drive down his local high street, running some errands, that Richard believes he
32:49fell victim to a long-running scam.
32:52So, this is a run I do very regularly.
32:55And I was coming up that junction that you can see where I'm pointing and onto the major road here.
33:04When I was there, I stopped.
33:05I looked to the right to see if the road was clear, looked right and left and right again.
33:10I could see a motor scooter coming.
33:12So, I then thought, that's quite far enough to have time to come across.
33:17And so, I came across the road and I heard this bang.
33:22And that was this motorcycle grazing me.
33:25I honestly didn't think much of it because it sounded very minor, but I thought I'd better stop.
33:29So, I then came to this point where I stopped the car and straight away, the motorcycle came alongside me.
33:37So, he hadn't fallen off and his motorcycle was perfectly drivable.
33:42Richard promptly took two photographs, the first showing minor damage to the motor scooter and the second of his own
33:49car.
33:51So, I could see my damage would just, it wasn't dented, it would just polish out.
33:56And all he had damaged was this very minor scratch on the dashboard, on the lower bit of his bicycle.
34:04Richard did exactly the right thing in this situation.
34:08Exchange details, record damage to both parties and don't admit liability.
34:14But moments after Richard drove away, he received a phone call, apparently from the lawyers representing the scooter rider.
34:22And I thought, that's pretty strange because he was a Brazilian, didn't speak any English.
34:28And I thought, this isn't right.
34:30By hitting Richard with a threatening phone call right after the crash, someone may have hoped he would just pay
34:37up a common feature of this scam.
34:41But Richard was having none of it.
34:44I said, well, there's just been an incident about three or four minutes ago.
34:48And they said, well, our client wants to know more about it, wants to know more about you.
34:54We want to know more about you.
34:55And I said, well, that doesn't sound right.
34:58And I think you sound to me like bounty hunting lawyers and are not prepared to speak to you.
35:03However, a few weeks later, Richard heard that his insurers had agreed to pay a claim to the rider.
35:11Only the claim was, well, rather large.
35:14They said, look, actually, as you were coming out of the minor road and you hit a motorcycle, they admit
35:22liability.
35:23They admit the accident happens.
35:24There's no point in contesting that.
35:26But what they are interested in is what they call the quantum of the claim.
35:30And I said, but the damage was minimal.
35:32There's no damage at all, no appreciable damage.
35:35And they said, oh, well, they're claiming, I think they said, £3,000.
35:40I said, how could that be?
35:41It simply isn't the case.
35:43£3,800, in fact.
35:45Worse, the motorbike rider was now suing Richard for that money.
35:50It was only when evidence of the alleged damage was produced for court that Richard realised the rider's story was
35:58completely different from his own.
36:00It shows clearly that the damage is dramatically more than the actual damage that was sustained.
36:08And I can show this in the photograph.
36:09So if you look at this first photograph, this is a picture of the side of the bike that they
36:15say was damaged.
36:17And the actual damage sustained during that, at the actual incident, was this.
36:23This is my photograph from exactly the same place.
36:27And then, just to show you, here's my car.
36:30And you'll see this is a light sort of rubber-type marking.
36:36And the reason why I thought nothing of it and no claim was going to be made,
36:39because I had this polished out within, I don't know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes of going home.
36:44So how could an impact like that on my car cause all this damage that they are claiming, which is
36:51such a nonsense?
36:53Richard's insurers are fighting the suit on his behalf.
36:57But it's dragged on for two years, partly because the rider has never shown up for court, each time claiming
37:04he's in Brazil.
37:05But he continues to assert his claim is legitimate, and the case continues.
37:11In the meantime, Richard's premiums have gone up 40%.
37:15I feel grieved because of the higher premiums.
37:20I feel grieved to see society being treated in this way, brazenness of actually pursuing this claim.
37:29As we've seen in this program, there are many ways for shoppers to get caught out.
37:34From scammers lurking in online marketplaces, to phone snatchers that steal your data along with your handset.
37:41But there's one more threat that millions of us need to watch out for on our high streets.
37:48In 2023, English cyclists rode about 288 million miles to and from shops.
37:56But when you lock your two wheels up, how do you stop someone else riding them away?
38:03There are more than 60,000 bike thefts in the UK a year.
38:07And according to one survey, more than three quarters of them occur in a parking area or the street.
38:14Most of those stolen bikes were locked up.
38:17But the people in this building know that all bike locks are not created equal.
38:22Sold Secure is an impartial non-profit organization that tests locks of all shapes, sizes and price points under the
38:31watchful eye of lab manager Guy McCaffrey.
38:36We test them based on real world attack methods that we know thieves are using out in the streets.
38:43So if the police are telling you we're seeing thieves use bolt cutters or angle grinders,
38:49you're using the techniques that we know thieves are doing out in the real world and applying them to locks
38:55to see how well they do.
38:57Yeah.
38:58Guy and his trusty lab technician Luke are here to show me how easy it can be to break poor
39:05quality locks.
39:06Do you have to be Luke's size to open quite a few of these locks?
39:10It's not imperative. It certainly helps.
39:14I mean, to be fair, if Luke asked me for my bike, I'd probably just give it to him.
39:20First up, a sturdy looking D-lock.
39:25Luke, I'm going to get the timer out.
39:28Three, two, one, go.
39:33Well, that was hardly worth doing.
39:36The time that it took to register and stop it was more than it took you to actually get into
39:41it.
39:41That was one hit.
39:42Next, a lock that looks almost identical to the one Luke smashed open in under a second.
39:48But looks can be deceiving.
39:50This one is designed to resist hammer attacks.
39:53So Luke needs something a bit bigger.
39:57OK, Luke, when you're ready.
40:00All right.
40:01Three, two, one, go.
40:11Luke, let me know when you want to give up.
40:16Two minutes now.
40:21All right.
40:22I'm going to call it, Luke.
40:24The difference between these two locks is that one has been rated by Guy and his team as pedal cycle
40:30gold.
40:31The other one hasn't been rated at all.
40:34I'll let you work out which one's which.
40:36Well, gold is the grade that's most commonly asked for by insurers when you're insuring a bicycle.
40:41So it's probably the most popular grade, really.
40:45There are bronze and silver rated locks, too, for lower risk situations.
40:50But even the literal gold standard locks designed to secure bikes for extended periods in high theft areas are hardly
40:59worth their weight in, well, gold.
41:02Let's talk a little bit about cost, because I think that influences a lot of people's choices and what lock
41:08they're going to put on their bike.
41:09I mean, there's some that are around 15 to 20 pounds.
41:11So I can spend 15 to 20 pounds and get a gold?
41:15Yeah.
41:15Right.
41:15I believe so.
41:17But if your two wheels are really precious, you might want to consider spending 100 pounds or more on the
41:24ultimate deterrent, a diamond-grade lock.
41:27Certified to protect motorbikes, but great for pedal bikes or e-bikes as well.
41:32It's not going anywhere.
41:34I say extractor on.
41:35Extractor on.
41:36Luke, get ready.
41:40Let me know when you're ready.
41:43Off you go.
41:45Luke is attacking the lock with an angle grinder, but the grinder wheel is wearing out faster than the lock.
41:53Oh, his wheel's gone.
41:57That's your wheel gone, right?
41:59Yep.
42:00So that was 30 seconds it took for that wheel to just be completely ground up.
42:08Can I just see, I'm going to see what damage you've done here.
42:12I would say that's about quarter.
42:15It's mostly just the rubber coating.
42:17It's the rubber coating.
42:18In terms of the actual material removed, it's going to be negligible.
42:22Wow.
42:23I mean, I saw that wheel just go, so you'd need like, I don't know, five, six more wheels, and
42:34maybe you still won't get the lock off.
42:35And it takes an awful long time just to cut through one side.
42:40You need multiple batteries, a whole host of discs.
42:45And we know for a fact that thieves don't go out and buy angle grinders.
42:51They use what they steal in our vans.
42:53So if you take two wheels to the shops or anywhere else, don't judge a lock by its looks.
43:00Make sure it's properly rated and make sure you use it correctly.
43:05As for the people featured in this episode, there's some good news and some bad.
43:11Sue was out of pocket to the tune of £4,000 on her credit card and a further £7,000
43:19on her bank card.
43:21John Lewis refunded the money taken from that account in full.
43:25But Sue has still not received the £7,400 stolen from her other bank.
43:32Kevin took out a loan for £10,000 to buy this car.
43:37This car never materialised.
43:38Kevin is still out of pocket and still paying back that £10,000 loan.
43:45Our watch dealer Tony is not out of pocket, but he has had to give up his old phone number
43:50for doing business for fear of being constantly attacked.
43:54But he has set up a new number, and he's hoping that the scammers will leave him alone.
43:59As for Richard, if the claim against him is resolved in his favour, his insurers have said that they will
44:06reverse the 40% hike in his premiums.
44:09Have you been scammed?
44:11Do you have a tip for us?
44:12Then please go to channel5.com take part.
44:15That's channel5.com forward slash take dash part and get in touch.
44:29That's channel5.com forward slash take dash part and get in touch.
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