Month: June 2018

Since 2016, the Insolvency Service has wound up nine health supplement companies in the public interest after they scammed people, often the elderly and vulnerable, into unnecessarily buying their products.

The Insolvency Service estimates that there have been close to 36,000 victims who have been duped by these nine health supplement businesses, cheating them out of around £10.6 million, and during Scams Awareness Month is warning members of the public there could many more examples of these schemes in operation.

Consumer Minister Andrew Griffiths MP said:

These shocking supplement scams are targeting thousands of the most vulnerable people in our society. The Insolvency Service is playing a vital role in protecting consumers and cracking down on these cowboy firms.

During Scams Awareness Month I am encouraging anyone who has fallen foul of these scams to speak up and report it, so we can stamp them out for good.

In one case, Newbury-based Healthspring Wellness Product Limited contracted a call centre based in Mumbai to sale health supplements on their behalf. Specifically targeting people 55 and over, who were either housebound or had difficulty in getting to the shops, the call centre deployed aggressive sales tactics, as well as giving out false medical advice.

Following an Insolvency Service investigation, Healthspring Wellness was wound up in the public interest in the high court in November 2017. The activities of the registered director, Vidjan Wasta, were also investigated and as of 18 April 2018, he has been disqualified from running companies for 11 years.

And in another example, Nitesh Prakash Dhawan and Virendra Singh Thakur were the bosses of two linked companies – Greenlife Wellness Limited and Naturecare Wellness Limited. The two companies would purchase data lists containing details of people over the age of 65 with health concerns for arthritis and joint pain before using offshore call centres to make unsolicited calls to sell their target victims a range of health supplements.

Investigators found that call centre staff deployed a range of unscrupulous tactics, such as claiming to be ringing on behalf of doctors or other qualified health professionals while offering unregulated health advice, as well as phoning people registered with the Telephone Preference Service.

The two companies were put into compulsory liquidation in October 2017 following a petition presented by the Secretary of State and the two bosses have since been banned from acting as directors in the UK for 14 years each – effective from 19 March 2018.

Since 2016, the Insolvency Service has secured directorship bans totalling 53 years for rogue health supplement bosses and to prevent you or a loved one from being targeted by a similar scam, the Insolvency Service recommends:

• Don’t stop taking prescribed medicine in favour of health supplements without speaking to your GP or pharmacist first
• If you or a loved one think they have been a victim of a health supplements scam report it immediately to Action Fraud UK or get advice from Citizens Advice Consumer Service
• Don’t rush into buying health supplements just because the seller is offering a good deal and if you’ve already made a payment, contact your credit card company and/or bank and tell them that you may have fallen victim to a fraud

ENDS

Notes to editors

Statistics date from 2016 onwards and figures based on information gathered during investigations

Further examples of companies being shut down and victims’ testimonies can be found on the Health Supplements Scam microsite.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

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Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns will celebrate the enormous international contribution of Wales’ independent TV producers and creative industries in a joint reception with TAC (Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru) at Gwydyr House later today (Monday 11 June).

In his address to the trade association for Welsh television producers, Mr Cairns will acknowledge the importance of the creative industries to the Welsh economy, an industry which employs around 50,000 people across the country.

He will also speak about the UK Government’s continued support for S4C and the acceptance of an independent review of the Welsh-language broadcaster which suggested a package of reforms to better serve Welsh speaking audiences in the future.

The Welsh Secretary will be joined by Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries and Gareth Williams, Chair of TAC, in recognising the achievements of some of Wales’ most decorated producers including Boom Cymru, Rondo and Avanti Media.

The reception comes hot on the heels of the announcement that Cardiff will host next year’s Creative Cities Convention, beating off stiff competition from Bristol and Glasgow because of its international reputation as the home of Doctor Who and popularity amongst the 20 million people who visit every year.

Cardiff’s broadcasting and cultural excellence has also been recognised by Channel 4, who have shortlisted the city as a potential site for its new headquarters alongside Bristol, Glasgow, Greater Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and the West Midlands.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

In Wales we have some of the most talented TV producers and independent broadcasters in the world, creating jobs and opportunities for thousands of people across the country.

Our cities are increasingly becoming the destinations of choice for major investors who recognise the enormous impact our content creators have on the international scene.
I encourage them to continue producing such exceptional work which is growing the sector here in Wales and boosting our economy, and the UK Government is ready to support them in achieving that.

Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, said:

Our creative industries are an economic and cultural powerhouse enjoyed by millions around the world and it is great to see independent Welsh producers getting the international recognition they deserve for their incredible work.

We want every nation to contribute in these vibrant sectors and are working closely with the creative industries and broadcasters across the country to make sure this upward trajectory continues in the future.

Gareth Williams, Chair of TAC, said:

TAC is working hard to show what our sector has to offer, and we greatly welcome the Wales Office’s support in that work.

Dozens of active production companies in Wales make high-quality programmes in a wide range of genres, from drama like Un Bore Mercher/Keeping Faith and Bang to international factual co-productions; from children’s content to sport and live events coverage.

Wales’ stories, locations, perspectives and diverse voices can enrich any broadcaster’s output. With Cardiff hosting the Creative Cities Convention 2019 and shortlisted as a potential location for a Channel 4 hub, plenty of opportunities lie ahead.

ENDS

Police will be able to boost the number of detectives by up to 1,000 in the next 5 years following new government funding to develop a national training programme.

The Home Office will work with Police Now, an award-winning police graduate recruitment programme, to develop the scheme.

The Home Office is providing £2.8 million to support Police Now in 2018 to 2019 and will provide an additional £350,000 seed funding for the detective entry programme.

The programme will include digital training to ensure that recruits are equipped to deal with the changing nature of modern crime. It will also focus on problem solving, crime prevention and safeguarding so that detectives on the scheme meet the needs of forces and communities.

Minister for Policing and the Fire Service Nick Hurd said:

Detectives are the fact-finders of our police service. They play an important role in bringing criminals to justice and getting to the bottom of complex crimes.

I’m keen to get more new detectives trained up, so I’m delighted to support this innovative Police Now programme, which will bring in new talent, train detectives in a matter of months and complement other measures that the government and police are taking to keep the public safe.

The programme will include an expanded version of the innovative summer academy model which Police Now uses to offer accelerated neighbourhood officer training.

Together these steps will help to ensure forces are matching the capacity and capability of their workforce to the demands they face, while also recruiting more people directly into specialist roles via accelerated training programmes.

David Spencer, co-founder and chief executive of Police Now, said:

As a former detective myself, I understand the positive impact that detectives can have on reducing crime, increasing confidence in communities and protecting the most vulnerable in society.

Working with forces and the Home Office, we hope this new scheme will encourage a new group of diverse and brilliant individuals to enter the police service and contribute to the outstanding work being done by existing detectives up and down the country.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing are also leading work on providing a national assessment of detectives and developing sustainable solutions to ensure that forces have adequate investigative capacity.

Chief Constable Matt Jukes, the NPCC’s National Lead for Detectives, said:

Detectives do a vital job investigating crimes, apprehending offenders and protecting people from harm. The complex nature of investigations and our work to protect vulnerable people has made the role of detectives more challenging than ever.

In order to mirror the changing nature of crime, we need to recruit and develop a diverse group of individuals, who will contribute to this vital area of policing and its future, underlining the critical nature of effective investigations to public confidence and trust.

Police Now is a national police recruitment programme which started in the Metropolitan Police. The former Home Secretary granted more than £5 million to the scheme in 2016, which enabled Police Now to expand and become an independent charity supporting multiple police forces across the country.

Police Now currently operates across 25 forces in England and Wales, and was recognised as offering the best learning and development initiative in the public and third sector by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in September 2017.