“Amazing Frauds and Swindles”
A talk by Hugh Granger - January 2017
A whole new world of amazing exploits designed to separate the unwary from their wealth was revealed to the audience by Hugh Granger at the monthly meeting of Aston Clinton U3A on 17 January. Perhaps the most alarming tale (given the number of retired people in the U.K. who own second homes in sunnier climes) was the story about the American couple who lost everything by “squatters’ rights” - legally exercised - in a country of Central America much less regulated than the European property market. However: caveat emptor!
It seems that paintings also provide the professional faker with a glorious opportunity for ‘wealth transfer’. Art fraud in particular flourished during the Nazi occupation of Europe with fakes of the originals being returned to the market to confound even the experts when war came to an end. The strange concept of “value” in art can be illustrated by the fact that a painting by Lowri that fetched a mere £2.00 during his lifetime was sold at auction in recent times for £60 million. Also, Van Gogh apparently only sold two paintings in the whole of his career such was the lack of interest in his work, whereas its value today runs into millions of dollars at auction.
Although Hugh described a frightening range of opportunities for making money dishonestly - limited only by the swindler’s imagination - there were some amusing anecdotes as well. For example, the man who asked his bank for the replacement of his lost credit card only to discover that the balance of his account had increased substantially. It transpired that the card had been found by someone who had used it to bet on the horses and won.
There was also the case of “Westminster on Tyne” – a totally fictitious pig farm in Devon – which advertised for new investors to participate in an exciting new venture. Believe it or not, hundreds of people signed up and transferred funds into the “owner’s” bank account until someone tried unsuccessfully to find the location of the farm and realised that they had well and truly lost their bacon!
Colin thanked Hugh for a most interesting, if alarming, discourse on frauds and swindles.
ED NOTE: As we are all only too aware, the most common kind of fraud these days arrives by e-mail and perhaps we will now view any e-mails that pop into our inbox requesting personal or financial information with extreme caution.
Received wisdom from a bank suggests:
“Do not click on any links in the e-mail; report all such e-mails to your Internet Service Provider Phishing Department; transfer the e-mail to the ‘scam’ box so any further e-mails from the same source are recognised/blocked; delete the scam box at regular intervals. Mostly importantly, keep virus protection up to date and change passwords regularly.”
Technology is wonderful, but it has its downside!
Janet Cato
January 2017
It seems that paintings also provide the professional faker with a glorious opportunity for ‘wealth transfer’. Art fraud in particular flourished during the Nazi occupation of Europe with fakes of the originals being returned to the market to confound even the experts when war came to an end. The strange concept of “value” in art can be illustrated by the fact that a painting by Lowri that fetched a mere £2.00 during his lifetime was sold at auction in recent times for £60 million. Also, Van Gogh apparently only sold two paintings in the whole of his career such was the lack of interest in his work, whereas its value today runs into millions of dollars at auction.
Although Hugh described a frightening range of opportunities for making money dishonestly - limited only by the swindler’s imagination - there were some amusing anecdotes as well. For example, the man who asked his bank for the replacement of his lost credit card only to discover that the balance of his account had increased substantially. It transpired that the card had been found by someone who had used it to bet on the horses and won.
There was also the case of “Westminster on Tyne” – a totally fictitious pig farm in Devon – which advertised for new investors to participate in an exciting new venture. Believe it or not, hundreds of people signed up and transferred funds into the “owner’s” bank account until someone tried unsuccessfully to find the location of the farm and realised that they had well and truly lost their bacon!
Colin thanked Hugh for a most interesting, if alarming, discourse on frauds and swindles.
ED NOTE: As we are all only too aware, the most common kind of fraud these days arrives by e-mail and perhaps we will now view any e-mails that pop into our inbox requesting personal or financial information with extreme caution.
Received wisdom from a bank suggests:
“Do not click on any links in the e-mail; report all such e-mails to your Internet Service Provider Phishing Department; transfer the e-mail to the ‘scam’ box so any further e-mails from the same source are recognised/blocked; delete the scam box at regular intervals. Mostly importantly, keep virus protection up to date and change passwords regularly.”
Technology is wonderful, but it has its downside!
Janet Cato
January 2017