VENTIN / SHUTTERSTOCK News Crackdown on skin bleach cosmetics Rates scam targets Croydon companies Croydon Trading Standards team is investigating scammers that promise business-rate rebates. In addition to warning local businesses, officers are telling them that a direct appeal to the council can be made free of charge. The scam came to light when an Addiscombe-based firm was approached by a company claiming that it could claw back business rates paid over the past five years. The scammers asked for an up-front fee to cover initial costs, followed by five per cent of any rates savings they could achieve. The conmen usually take the fee, fail to carry out any of the promised work and become uncontactable. On this occasion, however, the business was aware of the ploy. Councillor Mark Watson, cabinet member for safety and justice, said: Businesses should be aware that it costs nothing for them to lodge an appeal with the council against their rateable value. Before employing a rating adviser, you should check that they have the necessary knowledge and expertise, as well as appropriate indemnity insurance. GPOINTSTUDIO / SHUTTERSTOCK Trading standards ofcers from across London have taken part in a clampdown on unsafe skin lightening products. More than 100 different cosmetics were purchased from shops in 15 London boroughs and tested for mercury and hydroquinone. In total, 12 were found to have signicant mercury content and 20 found to contain hydroquinone. Hydroquinone can severely damage skin, and was famously used by Michael Jackson during the later stages of his life. Mercury has potentially severe effects on internal organs and bone strength. Stillmans Skin Bleach contained almost one per cent mercury, while Floris Duo skin lightening serum was 7.7 per cent hydroquinone. In follow-up raids across London, trading standards teams found banned cosmetics on shelves, under counters and hidden in store rooms. Barking and Dagenham Trading Standards alone seized more than 3,000 illicit cosmetics from four shops. Theo Lamptey, trading standards manager, is alarmed by the ndings: It is clear traders are still willing to take chances in selling dangerous products to consumers across London. Any business planning to trade in these goods should be aware they may face vigorous enforcement action by trading standards. The maximum penalty is a 20,000 ne and 12 months imprisonment per offence. A National Trading Standards-funded project to prevent the importation of illegal cosmetics resulted in 670,891 non-compliant cosmetics detained at ports in 2014, with 46,495 products assessed as unsafe. Warwickshire Trading Standards has stopped and destroyed more than 9,000 products labelled as containing hydroquinone being imported through the Coventry Airport postal hub. Regulations introduced in 2013 make it an offence to distribute nonapproved cosmetics. Cosmetics must have been tested and registered by their manufacturer or importer. The regulations prohibit a wide range of chemicals because of their potential adverse affects on health. Officers in Leicester are warning the public not to be reeled in by cold-calling doorstep sellers peddling unlabelled fresh fish. Rogue traders are offering salmon and cod at reasonable prices, but after they leave, Supermarkets accused of misleading shoppers customers find that they have not been given the correct species, they have been overcharged, or the fish is off. Which? has called for an end to misleading pricing tactics by retailers, and is using its legal powers to make a super-complaint to the regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The consumer group claims that many supermarkets are using confusing multi-buys and baffling sales offers to create the illusion of savings that dont exist. These tactics manipulate consumer spending by misleading people into choosing products they may not have picked if they knew the full facts. About 40 per cent of groceries (by revenue) in Great Britain are currently sold on promotion. With 115bn spent on groceries and toiletries in 2013, consumers could be collectively losing out to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds, even if only a very small proportion of offers are misleading. As a result, the group has raised a number of issues with the CMA: G Multi-buys prices increasing when products go on multi-buy, so that the saving is less than claimed, non-existent or products are actually more expensive when they are included in the multi-buy G Larger pack, better value where the individual item price of the bigger pack is actually more expensive than the original G Seasonal offers where the higher price only applied out of season Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: Despite Which? repeatedly exposing misleading and confusing pricing tactics and calling for voluntary change by the retailers, these dodgy offers remain on numerous supermarket shelves. Shoppers think theyre getting a bargain, but in reality its impossible for any consumer to know if theyre genuinely getting a fair deal. Were saying enough is enough and using one of the most powerful legal weapons in our armoury to act on behalf of consumers by launching a super-complaint to the regulator. We want to put an end to misleading pricing tactics and for all retailers to use fair pricing that people can trust. Rogue trader Bill Simpson has been sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court to 21 months in prison plus costs and compensation. Suffolk Trading Standards investigated repeat offender Simpson after he came to the attention of the police, following a rapid response request. Suffolk Police arrested him in the act of performing roof repairs without permission on an elderly couples house. IEF BR S IN NEW Amar Jawad, director of Carway UK, has been handed a 12-month suspended jail term and 150 hours of community service. He included a provision in the small print of his car sale agreement that waived statutory consumer rights and absolved his company of liability for the vehicle after the transaction. He also lied to officers about his name and date of birth. 1 2 3 Click numbers for more stories Bad news for Dorset builder A builder from Broadwindsor, West Dorset, has been prosecuted and ned for making excessive demands for payment after building an extension on a house in nearby Beaminster. An investigation by Dorset Trading Standards resulted in Peter Ward pleading guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court to ve offences of misleading a consumer under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Two of the offences involved letters sent by his business, Ward Stonemasonry and Roong, to the consumer. One letter added an unjustied 1,400 to the amount owed and another claimed that a 20 per cent discount that had been applied would be removed to increase the amount owed by a further 6,694. A further three offences related to the employment of a debt collection company, which led to a further three demands. Ward was ned 800 and ordered to pay 150 towards prosecution costs, together with a 40 victim surcharge.