CITIZEN ADVICE - The economic downturn is pushing consumers into the hands of con merchants and rogue traders who have "never had it so good", Citizens Advice warned this week. The national charity says the current economic conditions have led to an unprecedented boom in that exploit people's need to save money on bills, increase their income, and find work and affordable housing. It says there is a growing problem with unscrupulous employers advertising fake "jobs" that require fees to be paid in advance. Increasingly, it adds, "phantom flats" are offered to would-be tenants, who are then asked to prove they can pay the rent by transferring money to the landlord: money they never see again. It also warns that some money transfer services and classified ad websites can sometimes be channels for fraud. The warning chimes with Guardian Money's postbag, which is increasingly seeing complaints about bogus websites offering desirable products such as cameras at low prices. Fraudsters set up the sites, trade for a short time and then disappear with the cash. If a camera or pair of designer jeans looks too cheap, there is usually a reason why, say police. Meanwhile, as the summer music festival season gets underway, fans are being urged to be on their guard against sophisticated online rip-offs run by organised gangs of "cyber criminals", in which they are duped into buying fake or non-existent tickets. Experts at Get Safe Online, a government-backed initiative, are warning that the problem will get worse as the wave of events provides rich pickings for the fraudsters. More than one in 10 people (or their friends and family) say they have already been a victim of an online ticketing scam. According to Get Safe Online, criminals are increasing efforts to dupe consumers into visiting fake ticket websites. They are passing off their operations as supposedly genuine businesses, and are often willing to make significant investments for high returns. For example, they will often pay for search advertising (such as Google AdWords) so their fake sites appear at the top of event search results. And they even enlist professional web designers so that their sites appear genuine. One method used by scammers is targeting band websites, forums and social networking sites. Posts will be displayed from "fans" claiming they have bought tickets from a certain site and encouraging those not yet successful in getting theirs to visit it. More consumers are then driven to the fake site.
Access Investments-Building Awareness - European Union-ROMANIA
Monday, June 27, 2011
CITIZEN ADVICE - The economic downturn is pushing consumers into the hands of con merchants and rogue traders who have "never had it so good", Citizens Advice warned this week. The national charity says the current economic conditions have led to an unprecedented boom in that exploit people's need to save money on bills, increase their income, and find work and affordable housing. It says there is a growing problem with unscrupulous employers advertising fake "jobs" that require fees to be paid in advance. Increasingly, it adds, "phantom flats" are offered to would-be tenants, who are then asked to prove they can pay the rent by transferring money to the landlord: money they never see again. It also warns that some money transfer services and classified ad websites can sometimes be channels for fraud. The warning chimes with Guardian Money's postbag, which is increasingly seeing complaints about bogus websites offering desirable products such as cameras at low prices. Fraudsters set up the sites, trade for a short time and then disappear with the cash. If a camera or pair of designer jeans looks too cheap, there is usually a reason why, say police. Meanwhile, as the summer music festival season gets underway, fans are being urged to be on their guard against sophisticated online rip-offs run by organised gangs of "cyber criminals", in which they are duped into buying fake or non-existent tickets. Experts at Get Safe Online, a government-backed initiative, are warning that the problem will get worse as the wave of events provides rich pickings for the fraudsters. More than one in 10 people (or their friends and family) say they have already been a victim of an online ticketing scam. According to Get Safe Online, criminals are increasing efforts to dupe consumers into visiting fake ticket websites. They are passing off their operations as supposedly genuine businesses, and are often willing to make significant investments for high returns. For example, they will often pay for search advertising (such as Google AdWords) so their fake sites appear at the top of event search results. And they even enlist professional web designers so that their sites appear genuine. One method used by scammers is targeting band websites, forums and social networking sites. Posts will be displayed from "fans" claiming they have bought tickets from a certain site and encouraging those not yet successful in getting theirs to visit it. More consumers are then driven to the fake site.
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Mr. Shale, who was in his 50s, chaired the Conservative Association in Prime Minister David Cameron’s West Oxfordshire constituency, and in a statement, Mr. Cameron said he and his wife, Samantha, were devastated by the news.
“He was a great friend and has been a huge support over the last decade,” Mr. Cameron said. “A big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away. … Like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend.”
Mr. Shale was staying in a restricted, celebrity-packed area of the festival, which is held on a farm in southwestern England and has drawn some 170,000 people. He was discovered by police shortly after 9 a.m.
Festival organizer Michael Eavis said he was told the incident was a “suicide situation” but police have yet to confirm that.
RUSSIA
Khodorkovsky supporters detained at Moscow rally
MOSCOW — Moscow police detained about 10 activists who took part in a demonstration in support of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on his 48th birthday.
About 50 young activists wearing red T-shirts with Khodorkovsky’s portrait on them marched down the Old Arbat pedestrian street handing out shirts and balloons.
Suddenly, from the rooftop of a building along their route, a large plastic banner was unfurled wishing Khodorkovsky a happy birthday and freedom.
The detained activists were driven away in police vehicles.
Demonstrations also were planned Sunday in St. Petersburg and London.
Euro plumbs one-week lows versus the U.S. dollar
* Markets worried about Greek parliament vote this week
* Sterling hits 5-month lows, Aussie at 11-wk lows
By Ian Chua
SYDNEY, June 27 (Reuters) - The euro hovered just above a record low versus the Swiss franc on Monday and fell on the dollar, staying under pressure ahead of this week's decision by the Greek parliament on whether to back austerity reforms demanded by international lenders.
Greece's deputy prime minister warned on Sunday that rebel lawmakers may block some of the reforms, but added that parliament will probably back an overall austerity package to avert national bankruptcy.
"Most anticipate the vote will go through, but there is some uncertainty still," said Greg Gibbs, strategist at RBS.
"Markets understand that if this package isn't passed this week, it's going to throw European debt markets into disarray and cause global contagion. That fear alone is generating a bit of selling today."
The euro, which plumbed a record low against the Swiss franc at around 1.1800 on Friday, last stood at 1.1820 francs. Against the dollar, the common currency fell to $1.4107 , lows not seen since June 16.
This saw the dollar index , which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of major currencies, climb 0.4 percent to 75.971, adding to last week's 0.7 percent gains.
The dollar index has now risen above a downward trendline drawn from mid-2010 and its 100-day moving average. Traders said a clean break of these levels, along with a rise above the June 16 high at 76.015 are all positive signs for the index.
The firmer greenback took a toll on commodity currencies. The Australian dollar fell to an 11-week low around $1.0419, with a break of the May 25 trough of $1.0440 triggering more selling. This could pave the way to the $1.0390-$1.0370 pivot, before $1.0300, traders said.
Also under pressure, sterling skidded to a five-month low around $1.5915 .
Analysts expect markets to remain jittery ahead of the Greek parliament vote, but some believe the outcome would ultimately prove positive for risk appetite.
"We hold to our view that we will see successful (for now) closure on the Greek fiscal crisis, and if so then combined with our view that the market has become far too complacent on future ECB tightening risks, EURUSD could soon be back in the ascendancy," BNP Paribas strategists wrote in a note
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