A friend of a friend - lets call him 'Guy' - is a sommelier in a very expensive restaurant in the West End of London. He attended a...

My mate got stung with an £80 fine the other day for trespassing into London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in his 20 year old Toyota...

In order to launder their ill-gotten gains, fraudsters employ professionals to assist them. The accountant I used had a small number of...

I have a mate who has built a house at the top of his garden. His house is already large enough, however, he was also painfully aware...

As a young boy I was lucky enough to grow up in a home where food was always freely available and I can’t ever remember being told...

In a previous diary entry, I described myself as essentially lazy, something of an uncomfortable truth, and, in my opinion, the main...

I was cajoled into going shopping the other day with Lucy, a female friend; she wanted to buy something expensive for her husband James...

I have a mate who is a fantasy property developer - that means his property developments are pure fantasy rather than being the stuff of...

This scam relies upon a number of things, but they key is often a CEO’s willingness to boast. That might be anything from a posting on...

Given my chosen ‘profession’ and the ease with which I have been able to buy designer clothes, I do not feel the emotional connection...

For the benefit of any lawyers reading this, I think it best to point out that this is not a Cliff Richard reference! When people think...

We all want to live in a nice flat or house in a nice road, even if just temporarily. The bad guys obviously know this and reel in their...

If you have ever been stuck behind a caravan on a B road during the Summer holidays, you will understand why this is the unofficial motto...

Following on from my last posting A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing and Susan Grossey's post in her excellent 'I hate Money...

You can’t con an honest man - or woman - or can you? I vaguely remembered the article in a local newspaper reporting that a fellow...

Given the recent surge in dognapping cases, I thought this might provide an interesting take on how fraudsters and other criminals...

I've always been open to new ideas; if someone approached me with a new scam or a variation on an old one, as long as I could understand...

At first glance these character ‘traits’ appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, however, my personal experience is that they can...

Richard's previous experience at listening into his customer's own negotiating strategies paid for a nice house in a good area. His...

I met Richard, an ex-colleague for a chat the other day; he had heard that I had hung up my boots and wanted to hear it from the horse's...