Category Archives: scams

More from Sam Chambers in the chamber …

More from the Stornoway fuel meeting from Maciver TV

More footage of how a string of Scottish Fuels flunkies tried in vain to defend their pricing policy in the Western Isles.

Scottish Fuels sister company caught overcharging

A sister company of everyone’s favourite fuel distributor Scottish Fuels has been caught out overcharging its customers.  Home heating company Maxol Direct has apologised to customers for the error. It has apologised to 2,200 customers who were charged double for oil.

The firm has blamed a computer error for direct debit payments being taken twice. It said all customers would be refunded within the next few days.  The heating oil company was recently taken over by DCC Energy, the parent company of Scottish Fuels, GB Oils and Brogan Fuels.

DCC has also been fined tens of thousands of pounds for overcharging customers in Wales. The company was also found to have set up bogus price comparison websites for heating oil. The sites were fixed to make sure that only quotes from DCC-owned companies were shown.

Update on the fuel petition

Aite mo Ghaoil? For some people, it’s very far from that.

Just imagine if you went into a shop for beans. I’ll have a large tin, you say. When you get home, you find they had deliberately given you a small tin of beans. Would you complain? Me too.So how do you think people feel when they think they are buying a place with land and then find out it’s not the three acres advertised by the estate agent, but just two.

That’s exactly what happens in some villages on Lewis where unprofessional solicitors and power-mad grazings committees are working together to rip off new arrivals. There is a foul  anti-incomer sentiment among some supposedly decent people which allows this to happen. Some areas are worse than others. People have fled in the face of this bullying. However, at last, because other villagers are disgusted, a clear picture is emerging of exactly who’s at it.

The acceptance by allegedly-professional individuals that it is OK to advertise something and later, after the sale, reveal to the buyer that they didn’t get what they thought is reaching epidemic proportions, according to my sources. Corrupt grazing clerks keep turning a blind eye when immoral villagers – usually a cousin or neighbour, of course – attempt to turn the ignorance of buyers to their own advantage.

Knowingly selling croftland as a fixed acreage and later claiming that no map or other records exist to confirm the boundaries is not only morally wrong but criminal. Yet it is happening regularly on this island. Buyers should be told before the transaction if there is no map-based register or other proof of boundaries so they have the facts in advance. It should never be up to whether random grazings committee members agree, or can remember, or think they can get you into bed.

The Crofters Commission has been aware of the problem of inaccurately-described parcels of land being flogged by slightly-dodgy lawyers for some years and wants to stop it, but hasn’t. The police know and have done nothing … yet. The Scottish Crofting Federation knows and has done nothing. A victim went to the MP who has done absolutely nothing. A victim went to the MSP who did absolutely nothing. Even the great campaigner for truth, The Stornoway Gazette, knows all about the conspiracy of grazings committee bullies and their legal sidekicks but has decided … well, you guessed it.

Claims that arguments over crofts and boundaries have always gone on is simply not a valid excuse. Victims are bullied if they object to the kangaroo court system of grazings management. One whom I know has had her sheep stolen. Intruders regularly go onto her property. Gates are mysteriously opened to let her sheep out. She and her children are regularly abused, usually with very unchristian obscenities, by the children of committee members. One such young yob tried to run her down.

Now though, there are decent residents in the village where racism and discrimination are rearing their ugly heads and they do speak privately about what is going on and who is doing it. Someone may have to start naming names soon. It may be me.

I don’t know what’s happened to some people over there. I always thought Aite Mo Ghaoil was a nice place.

Crooks behind Scottish Fuels rip-off exposed – so who is still loyal to them? And why?

UPDATE (Monday) – I’ve had a few calls. If people want a public meeting to decide the next course of action, fine. I’m up for it. We cannot do without fuel but we can, for example, stop buying confectionery, groceries, alcohol, etc., from filling station operators who are in bed with Scottish Fuels.

We can organise regular protest lines near them. We can also exercise our right to peaceful protest with frequent demonstrations at certain depots, if we decide that is the way to go. Ordinary members of staff must not be targeted. Senior management, of course, who dance to the tune of evil Irish crooks, are all fair game.

Let me say one thing – I would welcome elected representatives to be involved on condition they don’t use it as a platform to berate other parties and politicians. All recent governments have promised action but failed to stop us being ripped off. Everywhere I go, people say enough is enough and that it’s time for direct action since learning that Scottish Fuels are just unscrupulous crooks.

We must focus on an agreed outcome and strive for that – not on tiresome political mud-slinging. Otherwise, I’m out.

Well done to Brian Wilson for exposing the crooks behind Scottish Fuels in the West Highland Free Press. See here.

The former energy minister also made those claims to me live on a radio programme more than a week ago and I know that certain local listeners were utterly gobsmacked to hear about the company bosses of DCC, as they are properly known – as well as all their other names like Scottish Fuels, GB Oils Ltd, boilerjuice.com and the 41 other trading names they use, and their crooked dealings.  Good on Brian for putting it in print too.

The heat is on

I offered a radio slot to Scottish Fuels/DCC bosses since then too but they decided that answering difficult questions about their past illegal practises and alleged current racketeering on fuel prices was the last thing they wanted to do. However, it’s truly excellent journalism by Brian and the Free Press which certain other supposedly truth-seeking publications should have spent time on too instead of regurgitating the sickening guff and flannel that the dodgy Irish oil barons pumped out knowing that weak, lazy, ineffectual editors would run it unquestioningly.  We hope these publications weren’t pressured not to investigate by the Free Church stalwarts who work for them and the ones who are also on the Irish crooks’ payroll. That would be just awful.

It is no accident that that the cheapest petrol and diesel in the islands is from the one retailer at Barvas who has steadfastly refused to deal with the Irish crooks – unlike the other cowardly retailers elsewhere on the islands – some of whom have this week been trying to defend the crooks whose over-priced fuel they peddle. I have heard horrific tales of dirty tricks against the Welcome Inn in Barvas by Scottish Fuels minions. They really want to get rid of Mr Derek Macleod. Of course, they do. If they get rid of him then Scottish Fuels will have complete control of our fuel supplies and can charge whatever they like.

DCC were fined tens of thousands of pounds for 17 counts of overcharging in Wales. The local councils tore into them. The comhairle here of course is appalling – doing nothing, as usual. They should be leading the fightback. There is a rumour going round that a Scottish Fuels infiltrator is embedded in the comhairle at a high level to ensure they stay paralysed.  As I say, it’s just a rumour. It would be just too ridiculous to contemplate, so it’s probably not true.

It is extraordinary that our supposedly-honest fuel retailers – some of whom openly told me and other journalists how ghastly Scottish Fuels were just a few years ago – then caved in and signed new long contracts with them. Apparently, they were offered “incentives” like Christmas cases of booze, new pumps and, in the case of at least one remarkable alleged bribe, secret foreign holidays with an open tab, whatever that means.  One of the retailers told me face-to-face in a workshop in the industrial area of the town that he had been “threatened”. Now he is smugly on board with Scottish Fuels. Wonder what that sweetener was?

Finally, we have official confirmation of the type of company DCC really is and what hoodlums their people are – from insider trading, conning banana companies and their shareholders out of 41 million euros, setting up fake price comparison websites like boilerjuice.com that always led unwitting users back to DCC companies and products and, well, God only knows what else.

Royal Family hoodwinked the media

Campaign group Republic has urged politicians and the media to be more sceptical of royal PR after the Office for National Statistics revealed the royal wedding had a negative effect on economic growth.

Shortly after the wedding was announced in November last year several media outlets – including the BBC and The Daily Telegraph – confidently predicted the event would provide a “shot in the arm” for Britain’s economy. In a press release issued at that time, Republic described the predictions as “a lot of wishful thinking and make-believe”.

Republic spokesman Graham Smith said: “It was obvious the royal wedding wasn’t going to boost the economy – that was just cheap spin from the Palace. The really worrying thing is that so many people fell for it.
“There is absolutely no evidence that the monarchy is good for the economy in any way. This is a myth created to justify the royal family’s huge drain on the public finances.
“I’m sure we will see more outlandish claims about the diamond jubilee over the next year. I hope in future journalists and politicians will demand clear evidence before repeating the Palace line.”

NOTES

Articles predicting that the royal wedding would have a positive effect on the economy included:

* BBC News online, November 16 2010, “UK economy set for royal wedding feel-good factor” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11766777

* The Daily Telegraph, November 17 2010, “Kate Middleton and Prince William’s wedding ‘will boost British economy by £620m’” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8139845/Kate-Middleton-and-Prince-Williams-wedding-will-boost-British-economy-by-620m.html

No fake banknotes found in islands

WHEN his bank returned £20 notes to a Western Isles businessman saying they were counterfeit, he tore them up and put them down the toilet to prevent them getting back into circulation.

Now police on the Isle of Lewis have announced that forensic examination of the currency shows the dodgy notes were actually all genuine.

Business owners are furious and are demanding to know why the banks on the island gave them wrong information.Police inquiries were launched amid fears of a well-organised counterfeiting operation three weeks ago.At one point, two people were detained by police during the operation which began when the banks in the main town of Stornoway began refusing notes which they claimed were counterfeit. Some of the town’s shops stopped accepting £10 and £20 notes.Now the supposed duds have been scrutinised by experts for the Serious Organised Crime Agency who have notified Stornoway Police the notes are, in fact, all absolutely genuine.The news they are not fakes has baffled island shopkeepers. They had quickly bought ultra-violet scanners following warnings by police to be vigilant. They had been told the notes were clever fakes which could not even be spotted by a swipe with the banks’ own detector pens.

Only ultra-violet scanners could spot the duds, they had been advised by banks, as speculation grew the notes, which seemed so real to sight and touch, had been made by a well-organised gang.

Bill Robinson, owner of the town’s Willowglen Garden Centre, said that he and his wife Ann, who runs a town centre flower shop, had bought ultra-violet scanners after the Bank of Scotland returned some notes as fakes.

Alarm grew as a pub and an Indian restaurant were said to have been each conned by the counterfeiters of many hundreds of pounds.

Last week, there were rumours in the town that a local man had been arrested. Police denied that but later confirmed that two people were detained for questioning. They were released later.

At the weekend, Inspector Robbie Macdonald of Stornoway Police confirmed they sent some supposedly-dodgy notes refused by the banks to the Serious Organised Crimes Agency, the UK-wide body now responsible for major crime such as human trafficking, money laundering and large-scale counterfeiting.

Insp Macdonald confirmed: “To date, all the notes examined by SOCA have been found to be genuine and will be returned to the complainers.”

Barmaid Donna McKay scanning notes in the Clachan Bar

Further notes await examination but it is understood that no further fakes are expected to be found.

As recently as Thursday of last week, businesses in Lochmaddy on North Uist were told by the Bank of Scotland branch there that they too had been conned and that some of their takings were fake notes. These notes are also expected to be checked by SOCA soon but a similar result is expected.

On Saturday, Mrs Robinson was amazed at the news. She said: “If they are not fakes, we have been holding customers back needlessly to check all their notes. We have spent money on scanners for no reason because we were given the wrong advice. Why has this problem only emerged in Stornoway?”

At one stage they were considering refusing all £10 and £20 notes as another shop on North beach Street did for a while until their UV scanners were installed.

Bill Robinson said: “We had two notes today which showed as fakes on our scanner. We were told if we did not see a lined pattern, it was a fake. We turned two of them away.
“The Bank of Scotland is still scanning all the notes they get and that is why the queues are out the door. However, the RBS and the other banks aren’t bothering. It was obvious something wasn’t right.”

Another businessman, who asked not to be named, said: “This is a right mess and it was caused by the RBS and Bank of Scotland. I am fairly sure this is all about their failure to properly train their local staff on how to spot fake notes.
“I tore up the £20 notes returned to me by the bank as fakes and I put them down the toilet to stop them getting back into circulation. I thought that was my public duty. How do I prove that and who is going to compensate me?”

He declined to say what value of notes he had flushed away until he had discussed the matter with his bank.

Stornoway shopkeepers say they are still baffled why two of the banks in Stornoway began refusing genuine notes at the same time yet there is no evidence of such over-cautiousness in the rest of Scotland.

No explanation came from RBS but a spokesman for Bank of Scotland said: “We found what we thought were inconsistencies with some banknotes and as a precaution we set these notes aside so they were no longer in circulation.
“We have robust procedures in place which are standard across the industry. Where we believe there is a chance banknotes are counterfeit, as a precaution we will always remove these from circulation until further testing proves they are genuine.
“We have always followed the security guidelines from the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers website.”

How to tell if a banknote is a fake

I will have an update on what is happening in the investigation into the wave of counterfeit notes in circulation in Stornoway very soon.

Remember, it is a criminal offence to knowingly pass on a fake. Incredibly, we hear of islanders who could find themselves facing serious charges. Why do they risk a court appearance for fraud?

The detector pen that shops and banks use to detect counterfeit notes is not reliable in fakes which are this good. The notes will not change colour because high quality paper is used.  The best bet is an ultra-violet scanner. They can sometimes be bought on eBay for less than £30.

Meanwhile, below is the Scottish Clearing Banks link to the security features on all Scottish banknotes. The notes being found here are among the most clever ever found. So, unless a banknote has all these features, it is an absolute fake.

Click here.

Super-injunction footballer hoodwinked over Twitter action

I feel so very, very sorry for the footballer trying to sue Twitter.  The fact that the American constitution safeguards freedom of speech (unlike the UK), he doesn’t have a cat in hell’s. Their attitude is publish and be damned – but only if it is inaccurate, not just embarrassing.

The solicitor who advised him should know that. He should have been advised it is all a waste of time. Therefore, the poor ball-booter is wasting oodles of his hard-earned (sic) on chasing something that simply cannot happen.

And because of “the Streisand effect” – going to law causing more attention than ever for something someone is keeping quiet – the action he is taking is going to incinerate his case. Interested? You should look up Streisand Effect on Wikipedia – it may even a certain footballer’s name still listed there …

All the time, the solicitor’s meter is running. Of course solicitors Schillings will always advise the footballer to sue. They are charging a whack by the half hour “plus disbursements”.  A cynic may suggest that an unscrupulous solicitor may have no interest in winning but a lot of interest in a fat fee for shoving a daft wee snowball into the sulphurous fires of hell.

The net, not politicians, bit through Andrew Marr’s bar

In a police state as exemplified by the former South Africa, North Korea and even Cuba, which still has “difficult” journalists in jail for the last eight years, some facts cannot be discussed openly without permission of the authorities. Exactly what is now happening in the UK.

Marr's sick-making bar

So well done to everyone working behind the scenes to shame jug-eared hypocrite Andrew Marr, who is handed more than £600,000 of licence-payers’ cash each year, into admitting he paid for a super-injunction to bar reporting of his own inability to control his trouser zip. The drip-drip online campaign was superb.

As long as neanderthals with no interest in openness like the flawed Mr Justice Eady, a seriously out-of-touch judge, are allowed to rule on cases involving the rich with the morals of  alleycats and who buy official secrecy to hide their wrongdoings, they cannot rest. We cannot rest.

This has been the case for several years. What will be banned next? The stakes are so high they are the stuff of nightmares. Our windbag politicians only make empty promises to fix the broken system. They do nothing. They’re in the same clubs as the worst of the worst.

Let’s be clear; anyone who uses their wealth to get fancy lawyers to put the case for a super-injunction is doing something that is not available to the rest of us. They are hiding something grim. We are entitled to see them as liars and cheats and to treat them as such.

Marr says he is “embarrassed”. Funny how the Great Inquisitor only got queasy when the full details of his bare-faced deception were put on a certain website by people far more committed to unearthing the truth than himself.

Facts are facts. It is the internet, so often derided by those who care little for freedom of expression and want us all to toe their line, that will ultimately protect the victims – whether of brutality by Middle East dictators, abuse in the corridors of power in Washington and Pyongyang or deeply-damaging decisions by the pox-ridden unaccountable half-wits who preside in British courts only because of the schools they went to.