News Millions of people will soon receive a reminder to register fridges, freezers and washing machines they have bought over the last 12 years and are still running in their homes. At a time when keen bargain hunters are registering new deals that they have snapped up in the sales, manufacturers want to ensure that their older, trusted, models are not forgotten and can be swiftly located if, over time, a free safety repair becomes necessary. Appliance recalls are very rare but there are more than 100 million large appliances in the UK helping handle the daily chores. They are kept for a long time but only around a third are registered. Unlike cars, this leaves thousands untraceable if a safety action becomes necessary. Usually a simple, free, in-home fix by a qualified technician is all that is needed to put the product back on track for a long, safe life. Register My Appliance Day, on January 21, is the brainchild of the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances, which is investing thousands to keep all householders in the loop on product safety. Visit registermyappliance.org.uk for more info. OSBOURNE QUIZZED ON CUT TO TEAM CASH An MP has asked Chancellor George Osborne why the Illegal Money Lending Team is facing a cut to its budget of one-third, despite its success in helping 24,000 loan shark victims get £63m of illegal debts written off. The question was posed in the House of Commons by Richard Burden, MP for Birmingham Northfield, in December, who said: ‘The Chancellor will know that, as Christmas draws closer, people who are having difficulty in making ends meet will not experience much goodwill in the season of goodwill if they fall into the clutches of loan sharks, so why is he choosing now to cut the budget of the Birmingham-based England Illegal Money Lending Team by a third?’ Osborne said the issue of illegal loan sharks is taken ‘very seriously’ and that the government is considering imposing a levy on the industry to meet the requirements that Burden had identified. megaflopp / Shutterstock ProStockStudio / shutterstock White goods registration reminder to reach millions A gang with links to Syria has been convicted of one of the biggest courier fraud investigations ever carried out by British police. Three men were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud and another was found guilty of money laundering at the Old Bailey. Five others had already pleaded guilty to either conspiracy to commit fraud or money laundering offences – all as a result of a 10-month investigation by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter- Terrorism Command. The gang was involved in an ‘industrial-scale’ conspiracy to commit fraud by targeting elderly and vulnerable adults in courier fraud-style scams, with around 140 offences identified by police, and more than £1m defrauded, or attempted to be defrauded, from their victims. The scam involved various members of the group working together to gain the trust of their victims and persuading them to hand over cash to their ‘couriers’, whom the victims believed were working for the police on secret investigations. In one of the cases, a 76-year-old woman from Poole, Dorset, was targeted by the group and defrauded of £135,000. In another, a 94-yearold man from London had £130,000 stolen after handing it over to the fraudsters. The investigation was launched in December 2014 by detectives from the National Terrorism Financial Investigation Unit, after detectives carrying out a separate counter terrorism investigation noticed irregular bank transfers for large sums to an individual, who was later identified as having travelled to Syria. When specialist officers investigated further, they linked the payments to other members of the group. Through their enquiries, officers began to link several courier-fraud offences across the country and discovered 16 telephone lines the group had been using to carry out the frauds. When they analysed the lines, officers found that a total of 5,695 calls had been made to 3,774 different numbers across the UK. The nine men – Fahim Islam, 20, of Stepney; Achmed Abdulaziz Ahmed, 23, of Holloway; Makzhumi Abukar, 23, of Holloway; Anrul Islam, 24, of Dagenham; Mohammed Youssfi, 37, of West Brompton; Mohammed Sharif Abokar, 28, of Islington; Sakaria Aden, 22, of Stoke Newington; Mohamed Dahir, 23, of Finsbury Park; and Yasser Abukar, 24, of Holloway – are awaiting sentence. Ibrahim Farah, 23, of Holloway, was found not guilty. Nine convicted of ‘industrial-scale’ scam linked to terrorism The UK’s competition watchdog is launching a probe of online storage clouds, following complaints from consumers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had begun a review, prompted by consumer concerns about price and service changes for cloud storage. Cloud storage is used by a growing number of UK consumers to store photographs, music and documents. It is estimated that 40 per cent of UK adults use such services. The CMA says it has received reports from consumers who have been surprised by significant price increases and by reductions to unlimited storage capacity deals after contracts had been agreed. There have also been concerns about the loss or deletion of some consumers’ data. The review will assess how widespread these practices are, whether they breach consumer law and how they are affecting consumers. The review is open for responses until 15 January 2016. The CMA wants to hear from businesses about their practices and from consumers and industry experts about their experiences. Storage cloud probe launched by CMA Company fined £850,000 for millions of nuisance calls A company esponsible for bombarding people with nearly six million nuisance calls in just six months has been fined £850,000 by the Claims Management Regulator (CMR). The National Advice Clinic, based in Lancashire, which also trades as the Industrial Hearing Clinic or the Central Compensation Office, made nearly six million calls between October 2014 and April 2015 about noise-induced hearing loss claims. Many of those called were registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which tells companies they do not want to receive such calls. This resulted in almost 2,000 complaints being received by Ofcom, which is responsible for the TPS. CMR head Kevin Rousell said: ‘This company’s cold-calling campaign was deliberate and sustained, and a flagrant breach of our marketing requirements. ‘They showed an alarming disregard for the misery their tactics can cause, particularly to elderly and vulnerable people.’ The fine comes six weeks after the CMR issued another large penalty of £570,000. The CMR regulates companies that offer to help people claim compensation for issues, such as personal and criminal injury and mis-sold financial products. Since 2010, the regulator has removed licences from more than a thousand claims-management companies. This is the fourth and biggest fine issued so far, bringing the total collected to £1.6m. Justice Minister Lord Faulks said: ‘Nuisance calls are a real scourge to households, and people have simply had enough. ‘I am pleased the regulator has imposed such a substantial fine for such blatant and shocking behaviour. ‘The government is committed to protecting the public from this nuisance that, at best, wastes people’s time and, at worst, causes significant distress.’ Which? launches nuisance calls crackdown in Scotland Which? latest research has found that nine in 10 Scots received nuisance calls on their landline in a single month. The consumer champion has revealed that 91 per cent of Scots received a nuisance call in November, while three-quarters had actually been discouraged from picking up their home phone when it rings. People said they received an average of 10 cold calls on their landline in November, with the most common being about payment protection insurance (66 per cent), silent calls (55 per cent) and the Green Deal or energy efficiency measures (52 per cent). Which? is now recommending the UK government lead a cross-sector business awareness campaign to ensure companies know their responsibilities when it comes to making marketing calls and texts, and changing legislation to make senior executives more responsible for the actions of their company. Since its research was published, Which? says the Competition and Markets Authority has committed to reviewing personal data and the UK government has agreed to fund an awareness campaign. landmarkmedia / Shutterstock