· Tired of a Britain
· Want to fight back but don’t know how?
· Well read on …
This blog is dedicated to all the fine people who make war on the conmen.
Remember Friends
Those of you who want to hunt down or name and shame criminals should STRICTLY ADHERE to the same rules set down by Amazon and eBay.
So if you decide to be an Internet Vigilante then what you should do is create a very simple blog and paste up the facts about the offender with his photograph and criminal record. Don’t make the blog libellous, defamatory or otherwise illegal and avoid profane, vulgar, obscene, or racist language or adult material.
YOU MUST BE 100% HONEST AND USE ONLY FACTS WHICH ARE SUPPORTED BY ONLINE MEDIA AND COURT REPORTS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE INTERNET
DIE BY THE INTERNET
Spring 2010 Awards
GOLD STAR – PETER ELCOCK
GOLD STAR – JOE HARVEY
HELP FOR HEROES STRIKES BACK
The most nominations for a 2010 Gold Star were for two old soldiers who just weren’t having it. A pub landlord who pretended to be a war hero for 20 years could be prosecuted after the two former members of the Parachute regiment publicly exposed him in a military-style sting. Billy Dailly, 58, wore home-made medals and said he had been a hero soldier in the Genuine parachute heroes Peter Elcock and Joe Harvey wore disguises to hide their identity and tricked the landlord into telling a tissue of lies. Then when he was out of the room, the pair unveiled their uniforms and revealed that Mr Dailly's name had never appeared on the list of medal winners. When his lies were exposed, the landlord was overcome with embarrassment and admitted the deceit before running away in disgrace.
Mr Elcock, who is a fundraider for Help for Heroes, likened the fraudster to fantasist Walter Mitty "It's just the lowest of the low. It's despicable. 'I knew guys that had won the Military Medal and been forced to sell it when it when they fell on hard times and others that had died winning one. "For him to go around claiming the kudos of a war hero was utterly wrong and my friend Joe who had served with me in Berlin in 1974 and on several tours in Northern Ireland felt so strongly about it he travelled from Wales to help me confront him. "
THANK YOU PETER AND JOE
Cybercrime victim every 7 seconds in the UK.
More than 420,000 scam emails are sent every hour in the UK
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER
"England
GOLD STAR – SCAM DETECTIVES
When it comes to stealing from charities SCAM DETECTIVES attitude is: We hate these scams with a passion! They win a Gold Star for closing down a despicable, unforgivable scam designed to convince you to give your hard earned cash to the children affected by the Haiti
THANK YOU SCAM DETECTIVES
Oh dear – poor lamb!
A career conman who posed as a leading government lawyer to attract women has been found guilty of fraud and theft. During the trial, serial conman Paul Bint, 47, admitted to impersonating successful professionals over the past 30 years. Bint, dubbed King Con by the tabloid press, told the court he was abused as a child and said he took on other identities because he cared what others thought of him. "It makes me feel very good that someone thinks I am a good person and I'm successful” The poor abused Bint was also convicted of stealing a bracelet; burgling the robing room at St Alban's Crown Court and stealing a barrister's laptop.
GOLD STAR – SOCA
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) recently revealed that mass marketing cons by criminal gangs via broadband is costing Britons £3.5 billion a year. Examples of these stings include romance frauds, fake lotteries, share frauds and inheritance scams. Soca has now teamed up with the National Fraud Authority, the Office of Fair Trading, the Metropolitan Police, the City of The details of fraudsters are to be released online to encourage the public to monitor them and prevent them reoffending. Soca is releasing the details of particular criminals for the first time. More than 20 career criminals will be identified on the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) website in a controversial new move to keep tabs on their activtities. The plan, which will see more than 100 criminals listed this year, will help the public keep an eye on them and report any signs of acquired wealth or living beyond their means.
THANK YOU SOCA – YOU ARE DOING YOUR BIT - ARE WE DOING OURS?
A Nation of Nervous People?
A recent report by the think tank Reform concluded that the British were less likely to intervene to stop a crime than the nationals of every other European country. Not a record to be proud of.
Guardian, 1/10/2008
GOLD STAR – IAN SMITH
Old age pensioner Ian Smith, 72, has been nominated by members of ARSSE. Ian was having a pint in his local when he spotted Liam Kissane, 28, in a Marine uniform claiming to be collecting donations for the Help for Heroes charity. Ian spotted he was not wearing military-issue boots and alerted the police – goodbye Liam.
7/5/2010
Fake Royal Marine hero foiled by his non-military boots
A crook who posed as a Royal Marine to pocket charity cash tripped himself up - with his non-military boots. Liam Kissane, 28, kitted himself in camouflage and trawled pubs claiming he was collecting for Help for Heroes. But eagle eyed pensioner Ian Smith, 72, noticed that his boots were not regulation forces issue and tipped off the police. The serial conman is facing prison for the second time after admitting fraud. In 2004, Kissane was jailed for six months after posing as a Royal Marine who had been awarded the Victoria Cross. He pretended to be raising £20,000 to send a friend's terminally ill son on holiday.
Using the name Graham Eckerman, he also carried out a £985 fraud with a stolen bank card. On his release he moved from
WELL DONE IAN – OLD SOLDIERS THANK YOU
Charity fraud can have a considerable impact upon a range of victims in a variety of ways. Ultimately we all pay the price for fraud perpetrated against the charity sector; charities lose money, donors lose confidence in giving, beneficiaries lose access to services, employees lose jobs and wider society loses the important contribution that charities make to the quality of life in our local, national and international communities. Fraud Advisory Panel, 2008
GOLD STAR –
EXTECHSTMN
An anonymous forum poster called ‘extechstmn’ suspected that a charity called Wounded Warriors Project UK was a scam. He wrote about his suspicions on the Army Rumour Service Forum. He discovered that the scam was being run by a small time conman called Michael Knight who was posing as an ex-serviceman on the Help for Heroes website. "We are 2 ex soldiers that have decided to set up a professional fund raising company and donate Profits to charity. We feel that as ex soldiers we are in a good position to empathise with your charity and also feel that there is no better cause than help 4 heroes". When Extechstmn checked on Knight he discovered that he was lying to Help for Heroes and had never served in the armed forces. Our hero went to the police and the Garstang Courier in Blackpool .
Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:40 pm Author: extechstmn Location: middle England
Wounded Warriors Project UK
Has anyone ever heard of these, and if so, are they a legitimate UK Coventry City UK
Would I be correct in thinking that this is a scam which is defrauding Help for Heroes and the like? I have contacted the police and they are investigating.
Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:21 am Author: extechstmn Location: middle England
Got the Police, the council, the charities commission and the city centre management company on the case now. It clearly states on their banners that they support "Army, Navy and RAF". It's not possible to officially support the RAF without being registered as a UK
TEN DAYS LATER EXTECHSTMN SUCEEDED IN
OUTING THE CONMAN
05 March 2010
Probe into cash for soldiers
Trading Standards chiefs have launched an investigation into Wounded Warriors Project UK Church Street Blackpool businessman William Knight (picture right).
Peter Callow, leader of Blackpool Council, said: "It would be scandalous if the money they have raised didn't end up going to the official charities that help heroes." Although it has only just been formed, Mr Knight said he planned to give funds raised by Wounded Warriors to individual soldiers in need, without the red tape which binds charities. Neither of the businesses are registered with the Charity Commission and do not have to comply with the conditions of charitable status. A British Army spokesman told The Gazette: "The armed forces support charities which link into Confederation of British Service and Ex-Service Organisations. Wounded Warriors is, by its own admittance, not a charity." RAF officer Captain Bryn Wayt added: "I would hate to think people's money was being prostituted and not used for our real heroes."
EXTECHSTMN - WHOEVER YOU ARE – THANKS
FACT
Recent research by PKF (UK) LLP in association with the Charity Finance Directors’ Group found that 18% of charities reported being a victim of fraud at least once during the last two years, and that the incidence of fraud was higher in larger charities (34% had experienced fraud once). The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has estimated that fraud could cost the charity sector as much as £680 million per year. Fraud Advisory Panel, 2008.
Facebook and Twitter used by conmen
Criminologists have observed that serial conmen see people as objects (in the same way that child sex abusers and rapists see their targets as objects for their gratification) and often display interpersonal behavior that is ill-advised, especially with a sexual overtone, and invasion of intimate zone, with gestures or comments which include inappropriate sexual references or innuendo.
Nearly one fifth of Brits have received phoney Facebook messages claiming to be from friends or family. One in 10 fear that fraudsters are using Twitter to follow them and a third are concerned their social networking account could be hacked. Ed Milliband’s Twitter account was infiltrated by hackers who posted details of a fictitious sex life.
New! Beware the sociopath: no heart, no conscience and no remorse: how to spot a sociopathic love fraud con artist
GOLD STAR – LORD BRADFORD
Lord Bradford spends much of his time outing the conmen. After his son Viscount Newport, was impersonated by a con man he set up his own website to fight the fakers www.faketitles.com. His website is now one of the best examples of an outing method for conmen and, as he says, there is a long, long list of conmen who have pretended to be real British Lord’s in order to commit their frauds. Most serial conmen suffer from some degree of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. This is indicated by their repeated lying, use of aliases and fraudulent use of titles. It is believed that by assuming these titles the average criminal conman assuages his subconscious feelings of worthlessness and inferiority, in many cases caused by illegitimacy. The hereditary title creates a whole new childhood, with a noble and present father rather than a poor or absent one.
It is well known that serial conmen will use false qualifications and titles as a matter of course. Most of them just make it up but some buy their titles online for as little as £10 plus post and package. It is a strange fact that the sale of worthless titles is quite legal in Britain
The majority of the people who have purchased such lordships see them as a novelty; a joke, and they would never dream of trying to pretend to people that they were a real lord or lady. Unfortunately, some of the purchasers are Walts and fantasists and some of them are conmen. That’s where Lord Bradford’s website comes in. In the course of his crusade Lord Bradford has received endless threats of legal action from the nobles he has outed. When he gets their threats he laughs because he knows they can’t sue him. They could only issue a writ for libel in their real name. As they aren’t real lords the writ would be issued as ‘Mr’ or ‘Mrs’ – end of case. So, if you out a conman, Walt or fantasist and they scream lawsuit, do what the Earl of Bradford does – laugh in their lying faces.
JOLLY GOOD SHOW LORD BRADFORD – THANKS
GOLD STAR – FOHLG
How about this for outing a serial conman who steals from an army charity? They don’t come any lower than that, particularly when our soldiers are getting killed and maimed every day. I really cheered to hear from Annie ‘get your gun’ Shuttentag that one of these creatures has been very publically outed by his long-suffering neighbours who followed the advice of Sharon Hodgson and the example of the police and other law enforcement agencies and went for the posters. A Gold Award goes to an action group in Addlestone, Surrey , who call themselves The Friends of Henry Lloyd George. When a dole-cheating, violent, Addlestone conman called Christopher Fulke-Greville was sent to jail in 2007 for deception while posing as a lord, the story was reported by 2009 Gold Award winners Penman and Sommerlad in the Daily Mirror. After publicity like that, his neighbours naturally thought that when his lordship got out of jail he would just crawl away and die. Not a bit of it. When they heard that he was out of jail and using internet forums to pose as a public-spirited fundraiser who had raised nearly £30,000 for Help for Heroes, they decided to act.
They checked the Help for Heroes website and phoned the charity. As they suspected, H4H had never heard of his Chris Fulke-Greville, who operates a car club and event scams from his modest semi in Addlestone. I was delighted to learn that they had read my blog and decided to follow the advice of MP Sharon Hodgson, who won a Gold Award last year. Sharon
FOHLG printed and distributed hundreds of posters all over town warning local people not to fall for the serial conman’s unpatriotic scam. They also pasted it on flickr. His Lordship hasn’t been seen since.
When I was contacted by the group’s spokesperson Annie, I asked her who Henry Lloyd George was. She told me that Henry was a disabled old soldier who had the terrible misfortune to live next door to the phoney Lord Fulke-Greville of Alcester and had got his lordship charged with benefit fraud. As reported in The Independent (6/2/93), one day, when Henry was nearly 80 years old and in poor health, the cowardly Greville attacked him and stuck a pitchfork in his head. But Henry fought back and gave the convicted dole-cheat a good hiding. When the police arrived Greville had a cut face so without a blush he claimed that Henry had attacked and injured him. Henry was arrested. The next morning the old man appeared in court and was bound over to keep the peace. Greville later got 6 months. If only all Englishmen were as brave as Henry Lloyd George there would be a lot less criminals in our midst.
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN - THANKS
AND GOD BLESS YOU HENRY - WHEREVER YOU ARE
Everybody’s a Lord now!
From an assessment of the revenue of numerous ‘title of nobility’ purveyors on the internet it is estimated that there are now over 800,000 self-styled lords and ladies worldwide with an estimated 30,000 of them in Britain alone.
Are you married to a psychopath? Robert Matthews writes in The Sunday Telegraph,
10 May 1997
MORE POSTERS
In Gosport , police officers are putting up posters in the street with images of a suspect. Detective Sergeant Barry Ward said: "We will be distributing posters and we want to stop this person before anyone is injured. 6 October 2009
FACT
The most common adjectives used by victims to describe conmen include cunning, conniving, scheming, calculating, cruel, sadistic, ruthless, treacherous, exploitative, pernicious, malevolent, obnoxious, and, in the case of armed forces frauds, unpatriotic.
GOLD STAR – SERGEANT TERRY SCOBLE
Sergeant Scoble has been nominated by several 
30/10/2009Sergeant Terry Scoble promised a no-nonsense approached in dealing with the criminals who were giving Crow Lane
It was a brave policy.
Yet as a consequence, crime in the area has dropped by up to 50 per cent.
Of course Sgt Scoble and his colleagues are not working alone in Henbury. They work alongside and with the full backing of the vast majority of local people.
GO GET THEM SERGEANT
IF THEY CAN DO IT - WE CAN DO IT
Fraudsters are to be identified on the internet today, a move that will shine a spotlight on the criminal underworld. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) will identify fraudsters to try to prevent them from reoffending. The agency intends to publish the names of more than 100 criminals this year. The Times. June 10, 2010
GOLD STAR - WHISTLEBLOWER
A football fan nominated the unknown spectator at a football match who was amazed to see that the referee was a man who he knew was claiming disability benefit. The very fit looking ref was claiming that a bad back meant he could barely walk 25 yards without the aid of a stick and he had such severe chest pains and dizziness that he needed help to get in and out of bed and get dressed.The spectator made one phone call to the local benefit office and the result was national newspaper headlines such as “Whistle blown on benefits cheat”. Stephen Southern, who is repaying five years of benefits at £150 a month, was ordered to do 300 hours' community work.
THANK YOU ‘WHISTLEBLOWER’ WHOEVER YOU ARE
DOLE-CHEAT WHISTLEBLOWERS SAVE US
New reports show that better intelligence in the form of whistleblowers, are having a strong impact on Incapacity Benefit fraud. More than two-thirds of applicants for the new sickness-related benefit are failing in their claims. 36% of claimants have been judged capable of work, and a further third of the initial claimants dropped out before completing the claim. So what does this mean for benefit fraud? Incapacity benefit has been running at £6.6bn a year. If even just one third of claimants were taken off incapacity benefit, that alone would represent benefit payments of £2.2bn a year.
GOLD STAR - JOHN PAGE
 I have had several nominations for John Page who runs the Benefit fraud blog which reports what he and many others believe are the laughable penalties for dole-cheats. A dole-cheat is a person who steals public money by pretending to be sick or disabled. The money they steal comes out of the budget needed to treat people who are really ill and in pain. Dole-cheats are serial liars. Sometimes they will keep telling the same lies for years on end. The national press only reports the worst dole-cheat cases but John has created a huge database of other cases on the benefit fraud blog, which is based on reports from around |
· A good example of professional dole-cheats are partners-in-crime, Kevin McCarthy, and Martina Carroll from Luton . Luton Council’s investigations team discovered the couple had committed a series of benefit and mortgage frauds spanning nearly 16 years and involving over £200,000 in dishonestly appropriated mortgage advances and benefit payments. McCarthy fraudulently claimed £62,477 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support and also obtained £50,661 through several mortgage frauds. Carroll fraudulently claimed £17,656 in benefits from the Council and the DWP, and £100,000 through a mortgage fraud. The two defendants played different roles, which saw Mr McCarthy planning and organising a set of frauds over several years using a false identity and false documents. Ms Carroll willingly participated in these actions. Posted by John Page 31/7/2009
· David Crellin has been sentenced to 20 months in jail after claiming the 'highest rate mobility component' of Disability Living Allowance. He had said he had severely restricted mobility, and could only walk a short distance with the aid of a stick. Crellin claimed a total of £29,141, but as a waste disposal officer for Knowsley Council, he would load up to 2.5 tonnes of rubbish into his truck each day. And his evening job saw him walk up to two miles a day guarding premises - on one occasion, sufficiently able to beat a man.
Posted by John Page at 8/7/2009
THANK YOU JOHN
FACT
It is a key identifying feature of a person with a personality disorder or psychopathic personality that, when called to account, they will accuse the person who is unmasking them of being the one with the personality disorder or psychopathic personality from which they themselves suffer. Serial conmen harbour a particular hatred of anyone who can articulate their behaviour profile, either verbally or in writing - as on this page - in a manner which helps other people see through their deception and their mask of deceit.
GOLD STAR - LEON CHRISTODULOU
GOLD STAR - STEVE HUMPHREY
GOLD STAR - STEVE HUMPHREY
Sergeant Leon Christodoulou and Police Constable Steve Humphrey get an award for good old-fashioned street-policing after they were nominated by a local shopkeeper. The two officers were patrolling Bedford Road
The officers stopped the two men, aged 18 and 17, and found a fake sponsorship form claiming to be authorization the pair to collect money for a charity run in aid of Children in Need. The officers seized £17 from the pair, and arrested them for fraud by false representation. The boys both admitted the offence. The 17-year-old was reprimanded and the 18-year-old was cautioned.
Sergeant Christodoulou said: "Bogus charity collectors prey on people's goodwill. We advise residents not to open the door to strangers. However if you do get approached by someone claiming to collect for charity, ask to see their licence. If you have any concerns about the authenticity of the individual, call the police." LEON AND STEVE ON FOOT PATROL – THANK YOU
The Fraud Advisory Panel Calls for Outing the Conmen
There is still much scope for making the charitable sector an undesirable target for fraudsters. Collaboration and co-ordination are crucial to this process and charities, representative bodies and regulators all have a role to play in effectively combating charity fraud. Initiatives should be developed to raise awareness of the opportunities for fraudulent behaviour to occur within the charity sector. This situation needs to be urgently addressed. Dedicated email alerts could also be developed to keep the industry informed of current and emerging frauds that affect the sector.
A MESSAGE FROM THE METROPOLITAN POLICE COMMISSIONER
“Celebrate have-a-go heroes”, says Met Police Chief. People who put themselves in danger to tackle criminals should be celebrated as heroes, the A MESSAGE FROM DOMINICK GRIEVE MP
Dominic Grieve called for an end to the walk-on-by culture and promised that a Tory government would render have-a-go heroes immune from prosecution.
Guardian, 1/10’2008
GOLD STAR - DAVID GREEN
David Green, Director of CIVITAS gets an award for telling it like it is. “If they want more of us to be have-a-go heroes, two things are needed: the law needs reforming so that all but the most gratuitous violence is justified in cases of self-defence; and police reforms need to be carried through so that individual constables are allowed to use their own judgment to encourage a law-abiding society. Perhaps then we won't be so passive.”
THANK YOU DAVID
ANONYMOUS HEROINE GOLD STAR
I decided to award the first Anonymous Hero award after I was contacted by Bill Carstairs who told me about a brave teenage girl who deserved an award for wading in and stopping what could have ended in rape and murder. The unknown heroine was reported by Steven Thompson in The Bolton News on Monday, May 24, 2010:
Hero girl saved teen from
kidnap horror
A QUICK-thinking girl rescued a fellow teenager from a terrifying abduction by pretending they
were best of friends. Detectives now want to
trace the Good Samaritan after she stopped the 17-year old being dragged into a stranger’s car.
The man stopped at the kerb, got out of his car and tried to pull the youngster in. Luckily, the passer-by spotted the attack and marched up to the pair, pretending to know the petrified teen.
Worried he had been caught in the act, the would-be kidnapper fled the scene. Last night, police said the have-a-go hero had prevented a potentially serious incident and appealed for her to come forward.
Det Con Richard Willoughby, of Bolton CID, said: “I am especially eager to trace the woman who came to the aid of the victim”. “Had she not intervened, who knows what could have happened.”
Officers are keen to speak to the teenager who helped the girl. She is described as white, around 18 years old, 5ft 5ins tall and wearing a duffle coat.
WHOEVER YOU ARE LITTLE LADY – I SALUTE YOU
If you would like to nominate anyone for the Summer 2010 Awards please contact me: richard.beaker@gmail.com
WATCH OUT – THERE’S A CONMAN ABOUT
ABOUT ME.
I am a mental health worker. In the course of my career I have met many professional criminals and I had little respect for any of them. I found most of them presented as very cocky, even proud of themselves. I came to have less and less patience with the whining excuses of selfish recidivists who had no concept of the truth and no remorse for their actions.
One day I read about the death of a poor young girl who was targeted by the scammers and killed herself in despair. I then first learned about the ‘Internet Vigilantes’. I decided that the public-spirited people who are prepared to stand-up and ‘out the conmen’ should receive proper recognition.
If you would like to nominate anyone for the Spring 2010 Awards please contact me.
WATCH OUT – THERE’S A CONMAN ABOUT
Richard Beaker
HOW TO SPOT A SERIAL CONMAN
Nearly all serial criminal conman suffer from two mental illnesses: Antisocial Personality Disorder
AND
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
The DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder include:
A. A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since the age of 15 years as indicated by at least three of:
1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviour as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest; Older serial conmen almost always have long criminal records Remember, some crooks retire. Serial conmen never do.
2. Deceitfulness. Indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases and fraudulently claiming titles. The criminal conman is a convincing, practised liar and when called to account, will make up anything spontaneously to fit their needs at that moment. Criminal conmen excel at deception and should never be underestimated in their capacity to deceive; often use excessive charm; serial conmen are often described as smooth, slippery, slimy, ingratiating, fawning, toadying, obsequious, sycophantic
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead; often cannot think or plan ahead more than 24 hours; appears to have a short, selective memory and often cannot or will not remember what they said, did, or committed to more than 24 hours ago - but is always able to remember your faults, often from years ago; seems to live in a bubble of the present and when challenged will spontaneously make things up; genuinely seems to believe the fabrication; from a psychiatric viewpoint this could be called confabulation; from a moral viewpoint, it's called lying
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, annoyance, impatience, threats, and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper. However almost 100% of serial conmen are very cowardly and would only fight people much weaker than themselves. Very few conmen will offer violence to those who would hurt them.5. Reckless disregard for the rights of others; is convinced of their superiority; self-opinionated and displays arrogance, audacity, a superior sense of entitlement and sense of invulnerability and untouchability; quick to belittle, undermine, denigrate and discredit anyone who calls, attempts to call, or might call them to account; may pursue a vindictive vendetta against anyone who dares to hold them accountable. Often serial conmen have a hatred of a sector of society, e.g. ethnic minorities, disabled people, etc. Many low class uneducated conmen exhibit a writing style that is disjointed, lacks flow and consistency, tends to make contradictory statements, and has the feel of a young teenager trying to write like a grown-up.
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to honour financial obligations;
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalising having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another. When ‘outed’ many serial conmen revert to lots of loud but empty threats of legal action such as libel, slander, defamation etc. No CONVICTED serial conman has ever won a action for libel and their wild threats should be ignored.
B. The individual is at least 18 years of age.C. There is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years.
D. The occurrence of antisocial behaviour is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode.
The DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder are:
A. A pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy, as indicated by at least five of:
1. A grandiose sense of self-importance 2. Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, titles
3. Believes that he or she is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions) 4. Requires excessive admiration 5. Has a sense of entitlement, i.e. unreasonable expectations of especially favourable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations 6. Interpersonally exploitative, i.e. takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own-ends
7. Lacks empathy and is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
8. Believes that others are envious of him or her
9. Exhibits arrogant, haughty behaviours or attitudes
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE FAMILIES OF SERIAL CONMEN, WALTS AND FANTASISTS
We must spare a thought for the poor families of the average serial conman and habitual fantasist liar. His ashamed long suffering parents embarrassed siblings, and his humiliated wife and children.
They have to deal with someone who will lie unflinchingly and make inflated and inane claims about their sexual prowess, wealth, social status, connections, history, and achievements, couched in flourishing phrases, emphasised to absurdity, repeated unnecessarily – usually to the point of causing gross inconvenience to the listener.
All this is mighty embarrassing to the average serial conman’s nearest and dearest, and also to his colleagues, and even on-lookers. His stories are so patently absurd that he fast makes a nuisance and an imposition of himself in every company.
HOW TO CHECK OUT A BRITISH CHARITY
Here are some signs to look for: Genuine charities are registered with the Charities Commission and print their registration details on all documentation, collection bags, envelopes etc. Identity documents, people collecting money for a genuine charity must
carry documents from the charity confirming that they are collecting legitimately. Watch out for poor grammar and spelling in emails and other documents, collection envelopes etc. What you should do • Report charity donation fraud to the Charity Commission (http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk)
The Charity Commission will tell you if an apparent good cause is a registered charity and put in the name of the organisation into the "Search the Register of Charities" window on the home page. There's also a new watchdog called the Fundraising Standards Board that vets how much money charities use to help good causes, as opposed to spending on fundraising costs: Fund Raising
If you have done this but find that you still need to contact the Commission about a particular charity, please give us as much information as you can, including its name and registration number (see the Register of Charities).
The best way to contact us is by email. You can send us scanned documents this way too. We will normally accept scanned copies of documents and will not require originals to be posted in. http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/About_us/Contacting_us/default.aspx
Telephone
If you need to speak to someone over the phone you can call our contact centre on 0845 300 0218. Lines are open from 08:00 to 18:00, Monday to Friday, except national holidays.
Fraud Act 2006
The Act provides for a general offence of fraud. Section 2 makes it an offence to commit fraud by false representation. A two-stage test: The first question is whether a defendant's behaviour would be regarded as dishonest by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people. If answered positively, the second question is whether the defendant was aware that his conduct was dishonest and would be regarded as dishonest by reasonable and honest people.
Subsection (1)(b) requires that the person must make the representation with the intention of making a gain or causing loss or risk of loss to another. The gain or loss does not actually have to take place.
USEFUL SITES
Action Fraud - the new one-stop shop for scam victims
National Fraud Authority
The service being launched by the National Fraud Authority will provide a single point of contact where you can report fraud and get vital crime prevention advice. Action Fraud helpline is on 0300 123 2040 - here's hoping it can help make life hell for conmen in 2010.
Fraud Advice
Ticket Fraud
Fraud Advisory Services
Fraud Advisory Panel
Chantrey Vellacott DFK
Charity Commission
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Government Fraud Review
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
Public Concern at Work
 |
 |
