Costa del sol cons and scams
Jul 24th 2011, 11:56 am
#1
Not Banned (yet)
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Madrid
Posts: 6,400
Costa del sol cons and scams
This article may be of use to some. Pre-warned is pre-armed.
http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-ne...-scams-conmen/
http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-ne...-scams-conmen/
What you can do to protect yourself
• Protect your bank details. Never give any personal information to firms which cold call you. This information could be sold on and you will find yourself on other firms’ hit lists.
• Ignore spam text messages. Never respond to these messages. If you do, the firm at the other end will know you are a ‘live’ customer.
• Read the small print. Whenever buying goods or services you will often be asked in the small print if you are happy for your information to be passed to third parties. Firms often have separate boxes for companies inside and outside of their group with the questions set up so that you need to tick one and leave the other blank to avoid having your details sold.
• If you suspect a scam, call Action Fraud – run by the National Fraud Authority – in the UK on 0300 123 2040.
• Protect your bank details. Never give any personal information to firms which cold call you. This information could be sold on and you will find yourself on other firms’ hit lists.
• Ignore spam text messages. Never respond to these messages. If you do, the firm at the other end will know you are a ‘live’ customer.
• Read the small print. Whenever buying goods or services you will often be asked in the small print if you are happy for your information to be passed to third parties. Firms often have separate boxes for companies inside and outside of their group with the questions set up so that you need to tick one and leave the other blank to avoid having your details sold.
• If you suspect a scam, call Action Fraud – run by the National Fraud Authority – in the UK on 0300 123 2040.
Jul 24th 2011, 12:08 pm
#2
Not Banned (yet)
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: Madrid
Posts: 6,400
Re: Costa del sol cons and scams
Another article here that may be of interest.
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/expat/anna...%80%9D-conmen/
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/expat/anna...%80%9D-conmen/
Why indeed savvy retired Britons would invest their hard earned savings with a shady outfit operating from a sun soaked Spanish isle seems puzzling but most are seduced by the promise of high returns on investment and common sense seems to fly out of the window.
In Majorca, John Neil Hirst, an English resident and accomplished conman, effortlessly extracted over a seven year period about £20 million from a group of trusting British expats. All were only too eager to participate in a scheme that promised an unrealistic 20 per cent return on investment. Of course, the dividends never materialised but at first small regular payments were made to lure new investors into thinking that Hirst was genuine.
In Majorca, John Neil Hirst, an English resident and accomplished conman, effortlessly extracted over a seven year period about £20 million from a group of trusting British expats. All were only too eager to participate in a scheme that promised an unrealistic 20 per cent return on investment. Of course, the dividends never materialised but at first small regular payments were made to lure new investors into thinking that Hirst was genuine.
Jul 24th 2011, 2:08 pm
#3
Banned
Joined: Dec 2006
Location: Living in a good place
Posts: 8,824
Re: Costa del sol cons and scams
What really suprises me is the amount of people who have bought into the timeshare con then go on to being conned again. I think it was the olive press where some had been conned 3 or 4 times. Contacted to pay a fee for selling it which was a scam then called again to pay a fee for getting their money back. Some even fell again when they were asked to go to Tenerife (250 for crap apartment) where if they signed a document they would get their cash back...another con. Some people should have mug on their forehead!
Jul 24th 2011, 2:27 pm
#4
Joined: Jun 2011
Location: In the middle of 10million Olive Trees
Posts: 12,053
Re: Costa del sol cons and scams
What really suprises me is the amount of people who have bought into the timeshare con then go on to being conned again. I think it was the olive press where some had been conned 3 or 4 times. Contacted to pay a fee for selling it which was a scam then called again to pay a fee for getting their money back. Some even fell again when they were asked to go to Tenerife (250 for crap apartment) where if they signed a document they would get their cash back...another con. Some people should have mug on their forehead!
look at all those so called educated people in the states who put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Madoff schemes, confident they would be getting 20% return - when the best bank rate was abt 10%.
now he has been proved to be a fraud they seem to think it isn't their fault. Perhaps he should be sueing them for leading him into believing he could do it and get away with it.
I believe he said "it was fun whilst it lasted and it lasted much much longer than I could have imagined"
In the Nick Leeson affair, the bank was more than happy to take the money when he was making it but then got nasty when it all collapsed.
who is the most at fault - the perpetrator or the eejut who keeps spooning them the money ? ?
Jul 24th 2011, 7:27 pm
#5
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 985
Re: Costa del sol cons and scams
Many of us get conned sooner or later. I got burnt by some lowlifes a few years ago, wrote something rude about them on my webpage and now a trial looms. It'll all be in the local newspapers on the day...
Plus, of course, the agreeable opportunity to see Spanish 'justice' at first hand.
Plus, of course, the agreeable opportunity to see Spanish 'justice' at first hand.
