‘Are these silk or gossamer?’

‘Phishing’ refers to fraudulent practices whereby online scammers attempt to trick you out of important bank details by nefarious means. These fraudsters use two distinct methods:

(a)   They pose as a bank or ebay/paypal, sending out sophisticated and authentic looking e-mails asking for account numbers, sort codes and other confidential information.

(b)   They pose as wealthy overseas businessmen (Nigeria, Sri Lanka and South Africa are popular destinations), and (effectively) ask you to launder money for them. Of course, there is no deal to be had, because all they want is your bank account number and sort code.

Online fraud attempts have tripled over the last 12 months, and banks are starting to take a hard line against victims of ID theft. Yes, you did read that correctly, against victims of ID theft.

I thought the outcome of the OFT test case would bite hard, but not as hard as this. It was abundantly clear banks would abolish free banking should they lose the ‘unfair charges’ test case, but they’ve now decided unless you have a personal firewall, antivirus software and an anti-spyware package, you don’t have a claim.

Harsh? I think so. A cynical attempt to recoup profits lost through the inevitable abolition of unplanned overdraft fees? It’s difficult not to draw that conclusion, isn’t it?

I assumed, rightly or wrongly, the majority of ID theft victims would be in the 55-70 age group, dotty old pensioners waving their debit cards around like it’s VE day. How wrong I was.

Two thirds of all ID theft victims are under 30. The under 30s (not me unfortunately, although I can still mix it with the…..oh whatever) it seems are particularly blasé when It comes to ID security, and have no qualms conceding bank details on social networking sites to complete strangers. Way to go kids.

The major Achilles heel of the under 30’s though is their nomadic lifestyle. Moving from place to place (halls of residence, renting, shared houses and sofas) and constantly having to update your address details can be a drag, hence bills and bank statements can often end up being sent to previous abodes. The opportunities for vital data to fall into the wrong hands are endless.

So, can I offer two pieces of advice? Firstly, your bank will never write asking you to verify your account number or sort code, ever. In the light of increased phishing scams, they avoid correspondence of this type as standard practice. Don’t ever feel tempted to reply, because you’ll become another statistic of the online crime revolution.

Secondly (and this one is aimed at you crazy kids), even if you’re moving 3 or 4 times a year, keep your bank informed. It could save you thousands and thousands of pounds.

Ten top tips to staying secure online can be found in the Credit Card Guides section of CreditChoices.co.uk.

Does anyone have any additional security tips, or has anyone ever been a victim of a phishing scam? If so, please leave a comment below, and tell us your story.

 Shiny Happy People? Not exactly…

There’s something I just can’t let pass right now, and it’s a three pronged attack.

My bugbear bleeds neatly into yesterday’s npower bashing on Times Online, and I know I wanted everyone to stay positive and concentrate on the pleasing aspects of their energy supplier, but it’s possible today’s post may degenerate into something of a rant (I’m just so complex).

I’m taking the line ‘I know that this is vitriol, no solution, spleen venting’ from REM’s magnum opus ‘Ignoreland’ as my call to arms, so forgive me. I’m so mad i could throw a yoghurt at someone, even though i haven’t been mixing sleeping tablets with alcohol, and i don’t have an ego problem.

Ok, so it’s three pronged……….

(1) npower announced a new eco-friendly initiative yesterday called the ‘Climate Cops’ scheme. Effectively, it’s a series of lectures and practical courses aimed at young students in order to make them more ecologically switched on.

The campaign is fronted by the professionally chirpy Fearne Cotton, and the gainfully unemployed Piers Morgan, with Mr Morgan choosing the winning school at the end of the twelve month course. The school judged to have applied itself most unswervingly to its chosen green project will receive a cheque for £20,000, which must be spent on improving the school’s ecological infrastructure.

I digest the press release, I believe it to be a worthy cause and, despite the recent troubles npower has experienced, I think it’s a step in the right direction. So I write a news article on this development (see the ‘Energy News’ section), and proceed to go about my business in a typically eager and dedicated fashion.

Until……..

(2) …….it’s brought to my attention around mid-afternoon npower has raised online dual fuel tariff prices by a whopping 20%. Great, thanks very much for that, I’m really glad I fought your corner.

Essentially, the Sign Online 10 tariff has been scrapped, and replaced by the new, more expensive Sign Online 11 tariff.  A quick bit of maths in the office shows the Sign Online 11 tariff is still the cheapest on the market (by £10 from British Gas Click Energy 5), so all is not lost.

Like a scratched record (and not even a good one, this is like a scratched copy of ‘How can we be lovers if we can’t be friends’ by Michael Bolton) the same reason has been trotted out for this price rise as those we heard previously this year: escalating wholesale costs and exorbitant crude oil prices.

Which would be fairly easy to stomach, if……….

(3) ……Shell and BP hadn’t announced combined first quarter profits of £7.2 billion this lunchtime.

How much money do they want? What can you even do with £7.2 billion? There aren’t enough consumables in the world to spend that amount of money on! It makes me want to throw up, and I’m not even an anarchist or especially right on.

Right, let me just take a breath for a moment.

That’s better. The BP profit represents a rise of nearly 50% on last quarter, whereas Shell can boast only a paltry 12% gain. The increase has been driven by higher petrol and diesel costs set by the companies in the light of (you guessed it) rising crude oil prices.

Just to conclude, rather than absorb some or all of the rising crude oil costs, petrol companies have elected to rip us off at the petrol pumps, and energy companies have chosen to rip us off in our own homes.

Gee, thanks. Again.

I think I’ll listen to ‘Everybody Hurts’ now, just to cheer myself up a bit.

Anyone else feel like venting?

  European Students with Backpacks - Cool

….particularly a Mr. M Ballack of Kensington, West London.

Ok, that’s quite enough of that; I obviously don’t want to labour the point (Chelsea 2 – Manchester United 1). It’s not just the Germans I’m enamoured by anyway; I’m quite keen on the Norwegians since last Tuesday.

Putting all football allegiances to one side just for a moment, I’ll tell you why I still love the Germans, and steadfastly refuse to switch from my current (German) energy supplier, E.on.

A blog posting on Times Online this weekend invited Times readers to leave feedback concerning their energy suppliers, a kind of ‘open forum’ if you will.

Perhaps they were expecting a few responses along the lines of ‘they keep coming to read my meter at pesky times’ or ‘I think I was slightly over-charged last quarter’, but what they got was fire and brimstone launched from the mouth of hell itself!

The first comment is quite ominously titled ‘WHY YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO BE A CUSTOMER OF EDF ENERGY’, all in capitals of course. The author of this post goes on to describe a horror story that visits inaccurate direct debits and shoddy customer service via a series of payment duplications. No energy supplier is perfect, but this consumer does seem to be especially cheesed off.

Ok, so if I’m a little down on EDF right now, how about npower? I’ve heard all the brouhaha surrounding allegations of an npower sales team miss-selling door to door, but that’s only one team, and the rest might be fair. So what sort of comments did they receive from their loyal servants yesterday? Well….

‘We unfortunately agreed to change to npower. This month I have received a statement from npower informing me that I owe them £706.00. We feel tricked.’

‘I found that they had charged me twice for almost the whole of one year’s supply of gas.’

‘I was recently approached by a salesman for npower in my local Woolworths. A promise of £100 pounds credit convinced me to switch and sign on the dotted line. Bad move. The wool had been pulled over my eyes.’

This is a sample of the more ‘polite’ comments. Let’s be honest, they don’t make for great reading. The revelation that npower reps stalk their local Woolworths looking for victims already bedazzled by cheap duvet covers is bad enough.

A number of other suppliers came in for criticism also, with Scottish Power accused of ‘appalling service’, British Gas lambasted for punishing Saver 7 customers, and Scottish & Southern scolded for blindly signing up new customers days before a planned price hike.

The most intense ire is reserved solely for npower though.

Having spent considerable time over the weekend sifting through a list of endless energy wrath, is it naïve of me to want to concentrate on the positives rather than the negatives?

I’d like to focus on all the aspects you find pleasing about your energy supplier. I’ll start the ball rolling with my own contribution to the Times debate this weekend:

‘E.on supplies me with concise and easy to understand billing information, and I’ve never had to take issue with a bill I’ve received. The direct debits come out of my account on a pre-ordained day, and I’ve just received my online ‘energy tracker’, which allows me to check my energy usage on a daily basis. Although they’re far from the cheapest in my area, I’m happy enough with the level of service to stick with them.’

It’s an honest account, and I’m aware that against a backdrop of fuel poverty and the credit crunch, I could be accused of focussing on trivial issues. But it’s my point of view on my energy supplier.

So how about yours? Does anyone have anything positive to say? Or are you all feeling right royally ripped-off at this moment in time?

Please let me know.

 …and that’s another 3 years for ‘Waiting to Exhale’

Tax Evasion: the general term for efforts by individuals to evade taxes by illegal means.

Boris Becker, Lester Piggott, Al Capone; it’s a real rogues gallery (and not to mention a lethal power trio to rival even The Jam for tenacity).

So who’s the latest high profile individual to join this heavenly throng? Well, that would be loveable action hero and all round Renaissance man, Wesley ‘Blade, Blade 2, Blade Trinity’ Snipes.

Between 1999 and 2001, Master Snipes racked up an almighty unpaid tax bill of $15 million (I believe that to equal £7.5 million sterling). Did he take the Lewis Hamilton route (who wasn’t even born then) and move to the tax haven of Monte Carlo, saving himself from legal proceedings and the inevitable trip to the big house?

Oh no, Snipes chose the ‘sit around at home and occasionally make a third rate disaster movie’ approach, also favoured by Vin Diesel. In fairness to Diesel, he is a tax payer.

The net result for Snipes? 3 years in the clink and a demand that all missed taxes be paid with legal fees and fines on top. Still, it shouldn’t be too trying for him, he got sent down for life in ‘Undisputed’ and still came back to be the reigning US penitentiary boxing champion.

What? It was just a film? I do beg your pardon.

My favourite courtroom shot of our troubled movie star shows Snipes standing solemnly in a black suit and dark glasses, with hands clasped and raised to the heavens. What’s he praying for exactly, that the judge is a massive ‘New Jack City’ fan?

Prison can be a lonely place so I’m told, but there are a number of ways one can receive tax breaks without resorting to Snipes-esque measures.

Indeed, as i reported in our news pages last week, UK consumers are costing themselves an average of £290 a year by paying needless taxes. This figure is composed mainly of the following:

• failures to take advantage of available tax credits

• fines for late tax returns

•  not using capital gains tax allowances effectively

• choosing not to shelter savings in tax free ISAs.

If you’re on a low income and struggling to make ends meet, contact HM Revenue and Customs to see if you might be eligible for either child tax credit or working tax credit.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is a charge levied on the sale of non-inventory assets bought at a lower price. All individuals are exempt from CGT up to a specified amount of capital gains per year. For the 2007/8 tax year this annual exemption is £9200. Profits made from ISAs are, of course, exempt from CGT. 

With careful prior planning, you can significantly reduce the amount of CGT payable, so consult your financial adviser if you’re aiming to make a big sale (your house for instance) in the near future.

Filing your tax return late, as Wesley Snipes discovered yesterday can land you in hot water. UK taxpayers who fail to submit their tax return on time face a £100 penalty. The way to negotiate around this of course is to up sticks and move to a tax haven. Selected havens include Andorra, the Caymen Islands and San Marino.

A little closer to home, the Isle of Man does not charge corporation tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax or wealth tax. On the other hand, if you want to buy a deck of cards in Alabama, it’ll cost you an extra dime in ‘playing card tax’. True story.

Emigrating seems a little extreme though; does anyone have any tax saving tips to share? If so, then leave a comment below.

During Ken Dodd’s tax evasion trial (for which, unlike Mr. Snipes, he was acquitted), he admitted to having over £300,000 in used notes stashed in his attic, primarily because he didn’t trust the practices of High Street banks.

In the light of the OFT versus big banks test case, maybe Mr. Dodd is something of the music hall Nostradamus?

  Tron’s Hair Extensions

I read this week the internet could soon be made obsolete due to a superfast alternative built by Cern, the particle physics centre who initially pioneered internet technology nearly twenty years ago.

The new network, know eerily as ‘The Grid’, runs at speeds of up to 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, and has been built with dedicated fibre-optic cables. Capabilities of The Grid include the power to transmit holographic images, and the capacity to allow instant communal gaming to groups of over 100,000 online gamers. That’s some round of Command and Conquer.

However, it was the following piece of information that really captured my attention:

‘The Grid will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.’

Impressive, very impressive.

I’ve just got one quick question: why the hell would you want to do that?

Granted, from 1964 to 1972 they were absolutely on top of their game, no question, ‘Exile on Main Street’ is a modern masterpiece. I’m even prepared to allow side one of ‘Goats Head Soup’ and two tracks from ‘Some Girls’ slip in.

But 80s and 90s Stones, are you insane? You would need a frontal lobotomy to appreciate that stuff, let alone a superfast internet network.

Why are we designing internet networks that can send 33 albums halfway around the world in seconds, when all you need is 6? Perhaps even just a sturdy Greatest Hits might do it? This statistic also pales into insignificance when I tell you it’s possible to download, burn, listen to, evaluate and discard the entire Kate Nash back catalogue in under a nanosecond.

My advice? Get yourself an i-pod that holds eight songs, and download ‘Master of Puppets’ by Metallica. It’s all you need. In previous years, you would have been able to download this album for free from Napster. Unfortunately, the Metallica drummer and co-founder, Lars Ulrich, elected to drag Napster through the federal courts and ultimately destroy them. Oh dear.

Rather than sending duff albums by flamboyantly dressed cadavers (and I’m back onto the Stones now) to Sepang, how could ‘The Grid’ be put to a more practical use?

Well, ironing out glitches in VoIP and IPTV would certainly be one great innovation, as would an increased capacity to run your home security system (CCTV and all) from your PC.

Looking further ahead, holographic video conferencing looks a distinct possibility, creating the illusion that every conference participant is present in the room at the same time. This feeling of physicality between disparate entities would significantly aid communication between businesses, and emphatically crystalise the saying ‘it’s a small world’.

The Grid will ultimately sound the death knell for desktop computing, with the majority of net users turning to online applications to store data. Landline phones (already under threat from the ‘dongle’) and mobile handsets could take a major hit too, with VoiP and social networking all set to replace them on a permanent basis.

Having been in development for seven years, this parallel network is now built, using fibre-optic cables that run from Cern to 11 nerve centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East and Europe. Testing begins this summer.

So, my question to you is this: In the light of iplayer, 4OD and other applications decimating our frail, existing broadband network, how would you use all this extra bandwidth if it was to be introduced tomorrow?

What could you do with 1000Mb?

Answers on a holographically generated e-card please.

  The ‘Adrian Chiles Effect’

Those of you up to speed with the latest superfast broadband happenings will be aware of two things:

(1)   The BBC’s iplayer service is an incredible tool, but it spanks your download limit into oblivion, particularly if you’re on a starter or low-user package. Even those with an ‘unlimited download’ agreement aren’t safe. ISPs have reported a significant increase in traffic and capacity problems since the iplayer was launched.

(2)   Despite an unremitting campaign by Tiscali to have the BBC make a financial contribution to help upgrade the UK’s creaking and overloaded broadband networks, Ofcom has ruled the BBC should not be held financially liable for this.

Well, you can hear the sigh of relief at Broadcasting House from here (although I will confess to being sat in an office less than a mile from Broadcasting House. If anyone living in Arbroath heard the sigh then leave a comment underneath. It’ll give the piece more resonance).

Last time I checked, my TV license (yes, you guessed it, I’m going down that road) cost £139.50. Apparently, you can still get black and white TV licenses for only £47, but who (outside of Leicestershire) owns a black and white TV these days? So those of us with a colour set are paying 38p a day for the following:

•  My Family – As funny as having all your vital organs removed and sold on e-bay by rogue Lithuanian surgeons.

• Adrian Chiles – All of a sudden, drawing on your eyeball with a rusty needle doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

• BBC News – So far behind they’re still reporting on the Cuban missile crisis.

• Jools Holland – Try playing another note for heaven’s sake.

• Neighbours – Nope, that’s gone to Five.

Turnover generated by the BBC through TV license fees rose to £3.1 billion last year; upgrading the broadband network would cost in the region of £830 million. Wouldn’t you prefer to see your license fee pumped into a project that will vastly improve every facet of your broadband connection, rather than criminally unfunny sitcoms? Although unintentional, there’s no denying the advent of iplayer has strained the broadband network, to the extent that non-iplayer users are experiencing knock-on effects such as speed caps and overstretched customer service centres.

Potential solutions include a content-led exclusivity tariff, where ISPs do deals with content providers to ensure their products run more smoothly across that particular ISP’s network. Hence you could see Orange sign a deal with the BBC, and as a result iplayer would run glitch free using minimal bandwidth on Orange only, with the other ISPs having to settle for standard, bulky iplayer traffic.

In terms of trying to persuade the BBC to chip in, was the wrong ISP doing the chasing? Perusing the list of customer reviews on Broadband Choices, it becomes apparent Tiscali haven’t quite had their house in order since traffic shaping problems and LLU mishaps blighted their service earlier this year. Perhaps Virgin Media, with their Samuel L. Jackson fronted ghetto mentality, would have been better placed to storm Broadcasting House and ‘wup some corporation ass’ (or some such other generic action movie colloquialism)?

So, who’s accountable for upgrading the broadband network to the point that it can cope with iplayer-style applications?

Is it the responsibility of the ISP to get busy, the content provider to box clever, or the consumer to download sensibly?

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s over to you.

 Marsh Warbler just out of shot

News this week that’ll keep Bill Oddie ‘twitching’ for all he’s worth (that’s bird spotting terminology by the way, although he may have an impediment, I don’t really know), involves proposals for a new onshore wind farm on the Isle of Lewis being rejected due to the harm it could cause to local wildfowl.

Plans for the 181 turbine wind farm were scrapped when, under European law (calm down Clarkson), the area in which the wind farm was to be situated has been deemed a ‘special protection area’ for rare and endangered bird species.

So, in the clamour to save the world from the evil clutches of noxious fumes, greenhouse gases and man’s own hell-bent need for self-destruction, it’s actually one of the living creatures we’re doing all this for that’s preventing the construction of a renewable energy source complex. Hmmmm…….

Don’t get me wrong; I’m by no means a Chelsea tractor toting, wildlife hating, myopic urbanite. I’m from the country and grew up in a house with a huge garden. It backed onto rolling fields inhabited by Friesian cows and retired ponies (who I talked to and befriended, in the absence of other children my age).

However, I have a confession to make. I love the way wind farms look. I think their aesthetic quality is second to none, and they make for a perfect marriage of nature and engineering. When suddenly they appear over the brow of a hill on a twisty country road, it gives me a buzz. The most breathtaking wind farms are those built at sea, particularly the one at Caister, on the Norfolk coast.

So where do I stand on this debate? Well, I’ll nail my colours to the mast. I’m a huge advocate of wind farm technology, and if a few birds have to be sacrificed in order for wind power to be harnessed, so be it.

Bird/animal/wildlife lovers, please lambaste me with your comments.

Just to throw another canister of diesel onto the fire (causing an o-zone busting mushroom cloud), I was given a free bag for life at Marks and Spencer ‘Simply Food’ last weekend, and when I visited the same shop yesterday night, I forgot my free bag for life and got another free bag for life. Now I have two free bags for life, one for this world, and one (if the environmentalists get their hands on me) for the afterlife.

  ‘We’re here to liberate your wireless router’

The common vigilante has, historically, been associated with an assortment of activities, ranging from reducing street crime and helping the elderly cross the road, to overthrowing governments, liberating suppressed communities and forming independent states.

However, a new, sophisticated breed of online vigilante is emerging, and if I told you that they reside on such sites as orangeproblems.co.uk and talktalkhell.wordpress.com, you might get an immediate feel for what I’m trying to describe.

The dawn of the ISP vigilante is among us, and these guys make the Cuban neighbourhood militias look like your local cub pack.

Having visited these sites myself, I was taken aback not only by the extreme, terrifying and contemptuous wrath some consumers reserve for their ISPs, but also the depth of information included therein.

As a one-stop remedy shop for all your ISP glitches, you need not look any further. Therefore, if you’re having no luck whatsoever with your ISP’s standard customer helpline, why not venture into a dedicated forum and see if you can find the solution to your problem there? The TalkTalkHell site gives ample information regarding difficulties with e-mail services, USB issues and DNS problems. They’ll also furnish you with direct phone numbers that allow you to bypass the usual human barriers in call centres.

Another added incentive, of course, is the opportunity these sites afford you to bitch, gripe and moan about your ISP while, at the same time, learning how to fix that problem router. Let’s not underestimate the ‘eureka’ factor either, when you realise there are another 75 people (in the south Loughbrough region alone) experiencing exactly the same problems as you.

I love a good moan, who doesn’t? Make mention to Andriy Shevchenko at the wrong time of day and I’ll go on for hours (and possibly end up punching myself in the face). The Virgin Media vigilante blog (cablehell.com, naturally), dishes out some of the best slatings I’ve read for many a year, some of these people can really write.

There are right and wrong ways to enter into formal complaints procedures though, and we’ve discussed this issue on Broadband Choices many times. Perhaps vigilante sites work best as an area to vent your spleen and relieve some of the frustration before calling your ISP and lodging a complaint. As we all know, screaming down the phone will get you nowhere.

Across all these sites, disgruntled users seem to have beef with three major issues, which arise time and time again:

(1)   Advertised speeds not matching their own received speeds

(2)   Customer Services offering inaccurate and unhelpful information

(3)   The current hot topic, fair usage policies and the cost of downloading beyond your allotted amount.

For those wishing to sock it to the man, take a step into this world. You never know, you just might make a difference.

If a more sanguine, mild-mannered rant is your bag, then get yourself over to the Broadband Choices reviews area.

 The Germans - Wunderbar

Last week’s ‘revelation’ that door to door sales reps lie in order to snare your custom, reminded me of an exchange I had very recently with a representative of one of the big six energy suppliers.

To set the scene, it’s around 7:30 on a weekday evening. The part of the sales rep will be played by what I can only describe as a generic mobile phone shop employee; we’re talking pencil thin beard (which members of the bearded community would dismiss as purely cosmetic), inexcusably wide tie knot, haircut by David Bentley’s mum, Ted Baker loafers, the lot. I believe he was also sporting a chunky wrist bracelet.

The guy was a consummate pro, this is undeniable.

I’ll be appearing as myself.

Envisage if you will a typical North London doorstep…..

Ding-Dong

Clump Clump Clump…….

Door Opens

Me:  Listen mate, I’m halfway through Gossip Girl and you’re not going to believe what Serena Van Der Woodsen has just gone and done, so make it snappy yeah?

Rep:  Are you paying too much for your gas and electricity?

Me:  I think I’m paying about the going rate.

Rep:  Who’s your current provider?

Me:  It’s E.on.

Rep:  How do you feel about having your energy supplied by Germans?

Me:  Well….err….I….umm….what?

Rep:  Your energy supply comes from Germany, doesn’t that bother you?

Me:  What are you talking about? I love the Germans. One of my best friends is German, she’s from Gelsenkirchen. Do you know what town hall is in German?

Rep:  No.

Me:  Rathaus. It’s Rathaus.

Rep: ……………..so you don’t mind being ripped off by Germans then?

Me:  Germans are great. Michael Ballack is a nice man.

Rep:  He’s not a nice man.

Me:  How do you know? Have you ever even met him?

Rep:  No, but I met Nigel Winterburn at Luton Airport once and he wasn’t very nice. He wouldn’t sign my shirt because he said he was late for check-in.

Me:  So?

Rep:  Don’t get stroppy with me just because your gas and electricity is supplied by Germans!

Me:  Listen, do you have a mobile phone?

Rep:  Of course.

Me:  Who made it?

Rep:  Siemens

Me:  How do you feel about sponsoring a company that openly played an integral part in the construction of world war two concentration camps?

Rep:  It came free with the contract.

Me:  You’re missing the point.

Rep:  Do you want to switch energy provider?

Me:  No

SLAM

Now, I found his eagerness to press the button marked ‘xenophobia’ in order to snag a sale mildly distasteful, but the implication that Erwin Rommel himself mans a direct pipeline between Düsseldorf and my flat pushed me over the edge.

I’d love to know if anyone else has been subjected to tactics of this kind.

The moral of the story is: do not interrupt me when I’m watching Gossip Girl, even if it’s the Thursday night catch-up that I’ve seen once already.