West Midlands conman receives six-year jail sentence
In a stark reminder that fraud in the UK has increased substantially over the last few years, a West Midlands businessmen has been jailed for stealing more than £850,000 from HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland. The complicated fraud saw the money laundered by the businessman's wife and colleague and later used to acquire a large manor house and luxury cars.
What makes the fraud more unbelievable is the fact that the businessmen was bankrupt at the time and even when he was on bail for the Royal Bank of Scotland fraud, which amounted to £600,000, he was able to carry out a further £250,000 fraud on HSBC. While details are sketchy regarding how exactly he managed to pull off these large-scale frauds despite being bankrupt at the time, police confirmed it has taken more than two years to follow the money trail which finally led to Timothy Baker.
While it is a relief to see that the authorities finally managed to track down the man behind the fraud, the fact that he was able to get anywhere near £850,000 of funding despite being bankrupt is a concern to many banking customers. Now more than ever the UK banking community needs to be on red alert for potential frauds and criminal activity.
Share this..
Related stories
Will UK base rates go any lower?
As the Bank of England confirmed that UK base rates will remain at 0.5% for at least the next month, there is a growing feeling, despite a request from the British Chambers of Commerce, that UK base rates have bottomed out. It seems likely this could be the case unless there is a dramatic falloff in UK economic activity in the short to medium term, at which point you may see rates edge a little lo...
Read MoreUK credit rating safe for now
Moody's, the renowned credit rating agency, has today reiterated the fact that the UK sovereign credit rating is not at risk at the moment. While a number of credit rating companies are said to be monitoring the situation carefully it would appear there is no immediate risk to the UK government's debt pile. However, there are concerns about the future. One of the main concerns revolves around t...
Read MoreThe FSA looks to revamp complaints procedure
While the FSA (Financial Services Authority) continues to receive record complaints with regards to the UK financial sector, we could see a significant change in the presentation of statistics in the future. The FSA has announced plans which would see companies attracting more than 500 complaints per six months being forced to issue further details about these complaints, specifically how many wer...
Read More'Tackle bill defaults or miss out on cheaper energy', site warns
Homeowners have been urged to tackle defaults on their energy bills or risk missing out on the chance to make savings in future. Under existing rules, customers who fall behind with their payments for gas and electricity are prevented from switching provider. This means that they could miss the chance to secure a cheaper deal from an alternative energy provider. Sean Gardner, founder of MoneyExper...
Read MoreBritish Airways in deal to produce fuel from waste material
British Airways has announced a venture with American biofuel specialist Solena which will see the creation of a plant in the UK which will recycle 500,000 tonnes of waste material into 16,000,000 gallons of fuel which the company will use in its aircraft. Work on the plant will begin over the next two years, once planning consent has been granted, and is expected to create upwards of 1,200 jobs....
Read More