Fraud investigators uncovered a ‘missing’ £85,000 from a failed letting agent that ran into financial problems after the supervising franchise closed.
Peter Swatton, 55, admitted fraudulent trading at Mold Crown Court, where he was jailed for 36 weeks suspended for two years, ordered to spend 300 hours on community work and to pay £600 costs. Continue reading £85,000 ‘missing’ as letting agent traded fraudulently
Financial watchdog is alerting landlords to watch out for property hijacking by fraudsters and crooked mortgage brokers.
The Financial Services Authority has circulated the warning to all small financial advice firms in the UK to pass on to clients. Continue reading Property hijacks prompt fraud alert from the FSA
Landlords have been warned of tenants fraudulently filling out tenancy agreements with fake names and barely paying rent.
Let Insurance Services say similar cases involving landlords are on the increase and the lack of available credit for some after the credit crunch could be to blame. Continue reading Landlords Need to be Wary of Fraudulent Tenants
"HMRC have issued reassurances over phishing emails"
Fraudsters are sending out thousands of bogus emails to try to trick taxpayers to give out their bank details in return for HM Revenue and Customs refunds.
HMRC fraud investigators are handling around 1,000 reports of scam email every day and close down 100 fraudulent web sites run every month.
The problem is escalating as the number of reports has surged by 300 per cent in the last 12 months.
The phishing emails look to come from HMRC but links lead to a clone of the tax man’s web site. Continue reading HMRC Handles 1,000 Tax Fraud Emails Every Day
"Lancashire Investor Club cons Investors"
Buy to let fraudsters lied about rental returns and finding tenants in a scam that tricked investors out of more than £1 million.
The property investment club sold 21 houses in Burnley and Pendle, Lancashire, to Irish landlords by offering false promises about the likely real returns.
In fact, Manchester Crown Court heard the sale prices of the homes were inflated and the investors could never hope to make the promised profits. Continue reading Buy to Let Fraudsters in £1 Million Property Club Scam
Thank you to Susanne, a landlord known to us via the Property tribes forum, for sharing the following story with us.
Please share this story with your tenants (or landlords if you are a property professional) and indeed your friends and family. We have a number of convenient sharing options including email, facebook and Twitter at the foot of this article.
Susanne’s email was as follows:- Continue reading SCAM ALERT – please tell your tenants and landlords
A property investor set up a web of false identities as ghost tenants at shared houses as part of a huge bank and credit card scam.
Paul Reppion, 49, funded buying two flats and two buy to let houses from his eight-year crime spree that involved 32 false identities, 200 credit cards and 50 bank accounts. Continue reading Landlord conman had 32 false identities
Buy to let landlords and first time buyers are in the firing line as the main perpetrators of mortgage fraud.
Credit scoring firm Experian is warning mortgage brokers and lenders to watch out for false mortgage applications after the number of fraud cases has doubled in the past five years. Continue reading Brokers warned about buy to let mortgage fraudsters
