Car Hire - too good to be true?

Gilly-ray

sussex1 wrote: »

Likewise I paid using the same method, BACS, having been advised as to payment issues using debit/credit cards etc, on 18/12.

The amount is also similar to the figure that I paid through to the account listed previously, can you post up the account details (was it the HSBC account I listed previously) that you used to enable the overall picture to be updated by gossi.

I also tried to call them this monring and got the call centre receptionist again who is still manning the phones despite the fact that previously they were reporting the office re-opening today.

We paid into the HSBC account, account number ending in 6117.

Gilly-ray

The police also advised us to speak to citizens advice bureau/solicitor as we may be able to get compensation from the newspapers who advertised rentmac... Although I'm not sure how far we would get with that.

Freesoho

gossi wrote: »

Here's my latest tracking update. Updates in green.

Different 'employee' names we have are: Anthony Stevens (director?), Lee Stevens (director?), Simon Tate (CSR), Derek (CSR), Jenny (CSR), Andrew Ryan (CSM), Jason Day (CSR), Terence Smith ("main shareholder"), Gary Smith (CSM).

The main company registration in charge of this is RentMeAnyCar.com Ltd

Registered No 07421608
Incorporated 28 Oct 2010
Registered Office 2ND, FLOOR BEREKELEY SQUARE HOUSE, LONDON, W1J 6BD
Owner Anthony Stevens (possibly fake)
Date of Birth 08/06/1967

Directors information - PDF download.

They also have no VAT registration.

So far all the financing appears to be through Diamonds By Design Ltd.

Registered No 07407417
Incorporated 14 Oct 2010
Registered Office 154 Eastern Road, Brighton, East Sussex BN2 0AE
Owner Mubassar Ahmed Mirza
Date of Birth 07/11/1978
Occupation Jeweller

Company formation document.

Photo of house.

We know they [RentMeAnyCar.com] are hosted from a 'virtual office', i.e. it doesn't exist. This is through a company called Regus. They're paying for virtual office assistant so some (all?) of the people answering the phone are actually not Rentmac employees right now. The package details are here.

Bank details

HSBC Account
Account name: DBD Ltd (Diamonds By Design Ltd)
Sort code: 40 43 26
Account details: 21866117

Natwest
Account name: Unknown
Sort code: 54-30-36
Account details: 39127753

Newspapers
I have confirmed with several that they too have been defrauded.

Police investigation
The Guardian confirmed they reported the issue to the police.

Despite people reporting to police, there does not yet appear to be an active police investigation ongoing.

Just to clarify, Its my understanding that there is a police investigation underway and that they have been in contact with the banks based on my conversation today with the police at Islington. Have I got this wrong as far as anyone knows?

The Guardian gave me the Crime ref of 2732801/10 and when I called to add my details to this crime ref (in addition to the my original police complaint) I was told the investigating detective at the moment is DC Russell at Islington.
I was also told (as a few others here have mentioned) that the case may be taken to Surrey police.
The officer i spoke with basically said its a shame all the investigations a undertaken separately based on the boroughs they are reported in.

Believe it or not, there is no national fraud investigation organisation within the police so there is no doubt going to be a lack of national co-operation within the police on this. Not encouraging.

I could hardly get this guy off the phone he was lamenting so enthusiastically about how these criminals get away with this because by the time any organisation or police force has properly investigated, they are long gone.
The crims know that the bureaucracy (police/banks) are so slow in moving on them that they have plenty of time to disappear and plan the next scam whilst we are all scrambling to convince the banks to freeze accounts and the police to investigate...Meanwhile in todays' Guardian..,
"A man who threw a snowball at a police officer faces a second court appearance next week after being charged with common assault.

Dean Smith had been playing with his family when he took aim at the officer. Three days later police arrived at his house, handcuffed him and charged him with common assault. He appeared before magistrates in Derby before Christmas and his case was adjourned until 12 January."
Excellent work guys.

Natwest have been completely useless. The fraud team and any other department I speak to will not help any further than to advise me to call the police (duh). They say they will look at this persons account but will not contact me with any developments, will not consider reversing the payment even in the event that they establish that it was fraud. They are simply not interested even though I have informed them that the police are investigating, and handed over all the info we have here.

It's clear to me (as far as the bank and to some degree the police are concerned) that I am relying on disinterested jobsworths who will not be acting anywhere near fast enough.
My greatest hope yet lies with the Guardian and other press that (by implication) endorsed the product. I hope they will offer compensation to those affected as I'm sure many of us would have acted on our doubts had the ads appeared in less reputable forums.

I remain hopeful that the police will eventually track down the human parasites that ran the scam and prosecute.

gossi

Yeah, apologies, that's my choice of words... I really meant a co-ordinated effort to investigate quickly before these people scarper with the money.

There is actually the NFIB (National Fraud Intelligence Bureau). You can report fraud to them at https://reportfraud.actionfraud.org.uk/fraudreport/ - or phone the freephone number they have.

StuieUK34

Freesoho wrote: »

I could hardly get this guy off the phone he was lamenting so enthusiastically about how these criminals get away with this because by the time any organisation or police force has properly investigated, they are long gone.
The crims know that the bureaucracy (police/banks) are so slow in moving on them that they have plenty of time to disappear and plan the next scam whilst we are all scrambling to convince the banks to freeze accounts and the police to investigate....

Yup, your right, thats what i said in my last post.....
Collapse of CCE (which i lost out too) and this scam work in a similar way, almost like a benchmark for Crims on how to exploit people and fold before anyone gets done!
Not wanting to take the attention away from the topic, but this is a prime example: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12110714
Council quick to want to fine a guy £1000 for putting up a poster of his missing cat, but given the council run Trading standards division, they arn't quick enough to want to fine/shutdown illegal run companies! Great hey !

Alan_Bowen

This is as bad as I thought it might be. Trading Standards are great people but with no resources to take legal action. It is a case of they would like to help but can't afford to do so unless there is a guarantee of getting something back. Both companies mentioned appear to have share capital of £1, so it is pointless taking legal action against them unless their own bank freezes the bank account pending the appointment of an administrator or liquidator, this of course requires someone to pay for that as well! One possible route is to contact the Insolvency Service, a government funded department and ask them in the public interest to take legal steps to have the companies wound up, this would enable them to freeze the bank accounts for the benefit of the creditors. The Companies Investigation Branch is based in London and can be contacted by phoning 0845 602 9848 or by email to [EMAIL="enquiry@cib.gsi.gov.uk"]enquiry@cib.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

There is a newspaper scheme of protection but I believe this is outside the scheme, you have to reply directly to a newspaper advertisement with a cheque and a coupon and the SHOP logo appears in the relevant advertisement. I have checked on the SHOP website and needless to say these companies do not appear anywhere.

I fear the money has long since passed through numerous accounts and probably out of the UK, if we had any real estimate of the size of losses, it might be easier to get the Insolvency Service involved because this was a very clever scam. If you look at the original advertisments, they were clearly intended to catch the Christmas market for rental cars and I am sure they made sure no contracts were agreed for delivery before the last week before Christmas. It would have been impossible to employ, let alone pay, enough staff to deliver all the cars 'rented' but of course the promise of delivery meant no one looked for any offices. I saw the advert twice in The Independent, a quick Companies Registry search told me that they were only a couple of weeks old and were very unlikely to have all the cars promised, but hindsight isn't much use after the event.

Good luck, I fear you will need it.

hushpuppy

My tuppence worth, is simply given the size of the fraud I would suggest that whoever has the best contact at the Guardian is to ask them to contact the City of London Police Fraud squad who (I believe) are now the national lead for large scale fraud, and ask them to take on the investigation.

I honestly think that it is your quickest and best chance of getting these scammers, as I suspect the poor DC at Islington will be way out of his depth, not to mention fraud is not a performance target for the 'local' CID, and the MET fraud squad is swamped.

gossi

Folks who booked - did you supply copies of drivers licenses and such for insurance, or did they not ask for that?

Lukey_luke

HI All

I too have been stung by these people (for lack of a better word) my story in short, as its all to similiar to everyone elses. saw the the advert in the guardian called up was told due to the bad weather a deposit must be laid down and that in must be done via BACS, received the online contract after speaking with simon tate, sent it back, transferred the money in acc. # ending in 6117, but the name on my back statement was rentmac, so i thought all was fine, xmas eve no car, refund will be in account blah blah blah, ive spoken with my bank (hsbc) and they are putting a trace on the account just to probably find all the information that you all have already found.
spoken with the police and gave them the crime ref number from above and by story, they are looking into it.

so now im here with you all trying to work for the same cause.

Gilly-ray

And just to add.... Was calling rentmac yesterday and going through to the girls in the 'out sourced call centre'.... But today it's going straight to voicemail just like over Christmas/bank holiday... I wonder if they have decided to cease taking calls as they've realised rentmac is a scam company?