Investment fraud - how to safeguard your life savings in the UK

Are your investments safe here in the UK?

You have searched for a company to invest your money. It might be shares or bonds or another type of investment. Either way, you need to be sure that the company you are dealing with is reputable. Not all companies are! Some of the premium brands are reputable and you should know who 'they' are. Here are some things you might want to think about when dealing with a lesser known company:

Ask yourself -
Q. Is the UK company a reputable brand?
Q. Has a company contacted you about investing with them?
Q. Do you know what you need to know about their business?
Q. How do you check the company is safe and secure?

If you are about to invest with a particular lesser known company here is what I suggest you should do (apart from making sure you make money of course!): (these are the RED FLAGS - so start being a detective!!)

1. Check the company exists and has a company registration number - you can do this at Companies House using a system called Webcheck - click link here:
http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/5e4b0574cc066f636e3291cfcce6a626/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

2. Check the company also has a VAT registration number - click link below: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/index_en.htm

3. Check whether the company has a website - most reputable companies should have one - verify the company registration, address and VAT details - check the address doesn't belong to another company - click link below:
http://whois.domaintools.com/

4. Check the FSA (Financial Services Authority) website for whether the company has an FSA licence - it should have one! Click the link below to find out whether the company has an FSA licence and that is matches the Companies House trading name - click link below:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/doing/index.shtml

5. If you have a contact name you might want to check whether the individuals (Directors) have been disqualified - click link below:
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ddir/

As a last resort you might want to find out what the company credit report is like. Click the link below to find out more. Note: Please be aware there is a cost to find this information.
http://www.experianbi.co.uk/Links.aspx

Lastly and a very useful tip at that: If the company has an FSA licence ring the number that the FSA has for that company. You can then confirm the company, contact and address details.

Remember these are my tips. You might find more... let me know if you do.

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Anyone noticed it is UK Identity Fraud Prevention week?

Right. Lets get straight to the point here. I actually believe the current news surrounding the banking crisis has probably hampered awareness of identity fraud here in the UK this week. However, there has been some traffic about relating to this awareness week. Here's my thoughts thus far...................

What is plain to see is that the press releases (not many might I add) all appear to have different messaging. What an earth is going on here? Why isn't there one message from the government outlining what they are doing and what they intend on doing? Sadly I personally know that we are some 5 years behind the USA, especially concerning awareness and the sheer number of companies within the anti-identity fraud industry, so no surprise that UK plc is somewhat lacking in interest surrounding the fastest growing crime in the world.

So far this week we have seen no less than a dozen press releases on what consumers and businesses should do to protect themselves from identity fraud. Sadly none of them clearly show the problems and provide the appropriate solutions (and all have different messages - how confusing???). How an earth do you expect people to be aware of the solutions (like credit monitoring) when they have no idea of the actual problems??

It's 100% frustrating indeed to also see that we here in the UK rant on about the risks of identity fraud and yet the UK population (I know this from our friends here in the UK) doesn't appear to care or maybe doesn't understand the 'actual' risks! Take a visit to the US and you will see an established market of products which include credit monitoring, internet security, profile tracking services, insurance etc. There is also a move to mobile banking - this sector is one of the fastest growing.... in fact identity fraud encompasses, internet security, mobile phone security, insurance, banking, vehicles, buying a home and so on.... in fact every part of your life!

I'm blowing my trumpet here because for some 2 years now I've seen no guidance for consumers on what the actual problems are (apart from us of course!!!).... in fact for those of you who have been victims, you will only know too well just how much trouble clearing your name is. I personally believe we should all be proactive not reactive. But for me I'm trying to change the way you think about your 'profile' - your lifestyle.... your very existence on this planet. Sadly this is a slow process... in fact much slower here in the UK than in the US. What do we do to change this? Well I'm not going to do a marketing pitch for ID Theft Protect - but it does provide a central portal for users to find out what the problems are and what solutions are available. No other website in the UK provides this support and advice. Not even the government! Do you trust the government? Would you trust us? Well trust is something you earn in my eyes. Google me if you want? Find out who I am working with? Find out who I have worked for? You'll learn many things about me including my passion for IDTP!

That's enough said from me. All I can do now, is wait for people to realize the problems with the hope of acting upon them in the not too distant future.

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Amazon offers shredder deal to combat ID fraud

Click the safe link below and you will be taken to www.amazon.co.uk You will then need to insert the promotional code to receive your discount.

20% discount on Fellowes shredders:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000221563

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

National Identity Fraud Week - Oct 6th - 12th

National Identity Fraud Prevention Week is a UK only awareness campaign designed to help you (the UK people) protect yourself and your business from identity fraud, one of the UK's fastest growing crimes.

ID Theft Protect fully endorse this campaign. For those of you who wish to learn more about how to protect yourself, we suggest you visit www.id-theftprotect.com

ID Theft Protect has partnered with a number of leading online and offline security companies to promote identity fraud and protecting your profile awareness. Julian Evans, founder says "the week is all about increasing awareness. I still want to see more effort on highlighting to people the actual problems. Then they will appreciate the solutions available."

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Scareware - beware what you click on!

Scareware is on the rise. Tactics used include fake websites claiming they can scan your computer for malicious programs. Better still the results they provide nearly always say you have a whole rack of malicious stuff residing on your machine. Well, let me tell you. If you do indeed click on one of these online scanners they will not only tell you, you have malicious stuff on your machine but it will also persuade you with pop ups that you must purchase to remove the nasties (if there is any spyware or other nasty on your machine at all!!).

For more information on the Antivirus menace doing the rounds click here:
http://julianevans.blogspot.com/2008/08/antivirus-spyware-ads-in-google.html

Shock horror - Scareware menace

Sadly you don't get much for your money (are you actually that surprised?). At best you'll get a keylogger (which copies each key you press) or some other malicious program that will install itself on your machine. It will either collect information on which websites you visit or worse still collect your keypresses.... so do not do any online banking if you believe you may be a victim of this scareware scam! Some of these nasty programs are appearing to slow computers down and crashing them and I've also heard people are also having problems loading Windows XP & Vista after one of these online scans.

Don't worry help is at hand...

I suggest you use our 'Find a solution' zone if you want to safely visit a website. Our analysts do the leg work for you, checking each website and their products for any unusual activity. If we find a problem, we contact the vendor and then if we are not happy with the reply we will remove the solution from our listings.

So for those of you wishing to run a FREE online scan, I'd suggest you click here:
http://www.id-theftprotect.com/solution.php then click on the drop down and go to "online scanners". We list a comprehensive list of online scanners that are safe to use.

Feel safer now? I certainly hope so. Remember we are here to help all of you! Come join us..

Further reading: http://julianevans.blogspot.com/2008/08/antivirus-2009-rogue-security-software.html

Safe surfing folks!
Julian