Latest news with #NationalFraudHelpline
Daily Record
04-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
New treatments offer the chance to consign dementia to the history books
In Scotland there are 90,000 people living with dementia. And increasingly this is a disease which affects not just the very old, with 3000 people under 65 also suffering. There can be few families across Scotland unaffected with many of us either facing the illness ourselves or looking after those in its grip. Our health and social sector also faces an ever-growing demand for specialist dementia care, with six out of 10 of those in care homes diagnosed with the illness. For sufferers and their families, this can be a devastating illness to deal with as loved ones must deal with distressing symptoms. But this has also become a major political issue as governments face the consequences of an ageing population. It is no exaggeration to say that dealing with dementia and its effects is one of the biggest challenges facing the entire Western world. But now, at last, there is hope on the horizon. There are more than 100 new drugs which could halt dementia's development. And a new scientific paper reported in today's Daily Record states that we are now at the 'start of a journey to a cure'. The study goes into detail on the treatments going through clinical trials, with many of them able to reverse or even eliminate symptoms. It may be some time before such drugs are widely available so it would be wrong to think we have won this battle. But all of us will be watching and hoping that one day soon dementia is consigned to the history books. Banks too slow to stop the scammers ONLINE scams are a massive growth industry for criminals around the globe. And they are constantly on the look-out for new victims. Today we reveal how one grandad, Raymond Lumsden, responded to an online ad offering high returns for investors. He used his life savings to plough cash into the scheme. It was all a scam, leaving Raymond devastated. But the most worrying thing about this story was that Raymond's bank was too slow to respond to multiple red flags that this was a big con. National Fraud Helpline solicitors are now on the case and they believe that banks need to be more alert to potential scams. We all need to be careful when online offers look to good to be true. But our bankers also need to up their game to keep our money safe.
Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Globetrotting fraudster who posed as landlord to scam victims facing jail
Samy Daim, 28, advertised properties he did not own and demanded substantial deposits before vanishing with the cash. The scam allowed him to live the high life and regularly jet off to exotic spots A globetrotting fraudster who posed as a landlord to scam desperate tenants out of thousands of pounds is now facing jail. Samy Daim, 28, advertised properties he did not own and demanded substantial deposits before vanishing with the cash. The scam allowed him to live the high life and regularly jet off to exotic spots. He then callously showed off his love of luxury in a string of boastful Instagram snaps. He shared images showing him feeding an elephant in Thailand and posing next to an infinity pool in a white spa robe. In another, he sits bare-chested on the roof of a Jeep next to a palm-tree-lined Florida beach. Daim admitted two counts of fraud by false representation on Friday after pocketing £1,9730 for plugging a London property he had 'no intention of renting out.' The conman is also charged with nine further counts of fraud relating to nine victims and totalling £164,720. He is being held at London's Wormwood Scrubs and is due to be sentenced in June. Last night Martin Richardson of the National Fraud Helpline said: 'It is so rare that fraudsters are caught and convicted so we are very pleased that justice has been done. "The crisis in the housing market, rent fraud is a growing problem. Wherever there is desperation, fraudsters will appear to exploit the situation. 'Daim's actions caused a dire financial and emotional toll on his victims. One of our clients had to leave London as a result of the scam and was forced to live in a caravan until we successfully recovered his money." Richardson, whose law firm represented two of Daim's victims, continued: 'We believe that this case also demonstrates that more needs to be done by everyone to fight the scourge of fraud. 'You have to question how Daim was able to sign up with a letting agency and have the property he didn't own posted for rent on online property platforms. Someone should have carried out a simple Land Registry check, which would have shown he did not own the property.' Some 9 million people were caught out by financial scams in the past year, with one in five across the UK falling victim to a scam. The most common scams involve marketplace frauds with fake sales or impersonation schemes, where scammers pretend to be someone else. It emerged emerged in March scammers had used fake Facebook and other social media ads featuring celebrities such as Zoe Ball, Ben Fogle, and Martin Lewis to promote a variety of investment schemes, resulting in British victims losing a combined total of £9 million. And in France, a woman was scammed out of £700,000 by someone pretending to be Hollywood star Brad Pitt, even leading her to believe they were in a relationship.
