RE-CAP: THE WANGIRI SCAM

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Wangiri call scams are calls from international numbers you don’t recognise and it’s a scam that could leave you seriously out of pocket.

WHAT IS A WANGIRI SCAM?
The word ‘Wangiri’ is Japanese and means ‘one ring and drop’. It’s basically what’s known in the UK, as a ‘drop call’. Calls usually cut off just as the phone rings, leaving a missed call notification from an unfamiliar number with the intention of playing on your curiosity. If you do happen to take the bait, you’ll be routed to an expensive, premium rate service.

Phone companies have taken the initiative to invest in intelligence systems to proactively screen incoming calls for fraudulent numbers and are automatically blocking numbers known to be used for fraud.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF?
If you get an unexpected call from an unknown, international or unusual number, here are some simple steps that you can take to protect yourself from Wangiri fraud:

1. Don’t answer any unexpected calls from unknown, international or unusual numbers.

2. DO NOT CALL BACK.

3. Contact your service provider with the number you’re receiving nuisance calls from.

If you’d like to know more about mobile phone fraud, visit Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre.

 

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FINANCE IN THE AGE

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PLEASE WATCH THIS CLIP AS PART OF THIS POST

As we move further into the re-emergence of technology, we must question whether these advances and innovations are in the best interests of humankind or are we being secretly and slowly herded into economic captivity.

It is common knowledge that our personal data and online activity is collected, analysed and used to “know us better” as individuals via AI (Artificial Intelligence). This way, advertisements are tailored to your everyday interests and among a host of other features, your mobile can predict your speech/typing patterns and styles.
Technology has become an addiction with people increasingly unwilling to forego their mobile phones. It has become our Proof of Identification, TV, Credit/Debit card, PC, Diary, supermarket, Personal Assistant & Best friend. Technology has replaced interaction are we are all in some part willingly becoming cyborgs in a system that will soon be solely based on technology. Cash will be phased out and payments will become digital. In a digital world, tax-payer power becomes obsolete because the man/woman pushing the buttons is god. If one push of a button can bankrupt you, what freedom will you have?

SOCIAL CONDITIONING VIA MEDIA AND FALSE FLAGS
If there were for example a sudden rise in bank and credit card fraud with criminals becoming more and more sophisticated in their approach, or targeted advertising displaying the inconvenience of having to carry around a credit or debit card, how many people do you think would willingly sign up for an implant that offers them 100% security. No more clutter or bother, just swipe

Imagine if money laundering were linked to terrorism, this would cultivate the perfect climate for a cashless world as fear is almost always followed by legislation

RELIGIOUS IMPACT AND THE REALITY OF THE MARK OF THE BEAST
Christianity has long held the belief that according to The Book of Revelation in the King James Bible, there will be a mark introduced to human kind by a beast system (some form of government). A large section of Christians believe that the RFID microchip implant is this very mark of the beast. For further insight on this subject, please click here

BENEFITS & DISADVANTAGES OF FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY
Please feel free to add to this list in the comments section

BENEFITS
Increased transaction speeds
Increased security
Open banking
Future value attached data: Your personal data should come at cost to businesses who make use of it
AI powered digital agent

DISADVANTAGES
Decreased personal interaction
Innovations in fraud & negative religious implications
Shared personal Information
Currently exploiting peoples’ data FREE of charge. This should NOT be the case
“You” are being stored on a database somewhere possibly indefinitely

FRAUD WATCH – Grab Finance/Seek Finance

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WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

Cognor international Finance PLC trading as Grab Finance
Company number: 08747323
Alleged address: 5th Floor, 6 St. Andrew Street, London, EC4A 3AE

This fraudulent firm is ironic as in their name ‘Grab Finance’ is exactly what they do. They grab the finances of unsuspecting start up businesses in need of funding.

Finding a grant can be tedious however, there is funding out there if you know where to look. Fraudsters like Cognor International Finance PLC have taken advantage of this market by offering FREE grants to businesses. The initial application process seems formal enough with:

1. An online form to fill in your basic details for a call back
This is relatively normal

2. A call back from a representative with a brief telephone interview
This is the fishing for information stage to see if you’re worth defrauding. The targets here are businesses that can afford to contribute a percentage of the full amount awarded, usually up to 30%.

E.g. if you’d be awarded a grant of £12,000.00, Grab Finance will supposedly contribute an initial £8,400.00 leaving £3,600.00 as your contribution.

3. A decision – Alarm bells start ringing.
If you applied for full funding without a contribution, at this point your application will be unsuccessful however, if you applied for the part funding option with a contribution, you will be overjoyed to know that your application has been approved for the full amount. At this point, most firms will be duped by the initial elation of being approved for funding and the promise of additional cashflow that basic due diligence is forfeit.

  • Did they request a business plan to access the nature and viability of your business?
  • Were you invited anywhere to meet regularly with a liaison to prepare you for panel?
  • When you call Grab Finance, is there ever any senior members or staff available to answer any of your queries or concerns?

4. Receipt of application pack
This is packaged in such a way as to… Well, see for yourself (attached page 3 of 5 page acceptance form. Full form is shown on our facebook and Google+ pages)

5. Set up online business pre-paid Mastercard account
You will be given a link to a fraudulent Mastercard website with an unofficial contact number to verify it. Here, you will need to set up an account (requesting your passport, date of birth, company name and your address with proof) to receive a special PIN which you must send to Grab Finance. Once they’ve received your PIN, they’ll upload the £8,400.00 onto the pre-paid Mastercard and as soon as you contribute your £3,600.00, they’ll… Grab Your Finance.

  • Call Mastercard’s official contact telephone number which you can find on the official Mastercard website. Get confirmation from a named representative
  • Mastercard will give you information that fraudsters cannot verify as in, the first 6 digits on the card and to confirm the card issuer for verification
  • Have you received your pre-paid business credit card? Or will you receive it only once your contribution has been uploaded? Does it even exist. Call Mastercard directly

If you have fallen victim to these fraudsters, please take the necessary steps to protect yourself by contacting:
1. Action Fraud
2. Your Banks / Building societies
3. Cifas (To avoid accounts being opened in your name)
4. Companies House (To avoid companies being opened in your name)

7 BIG MONEY MISTAKES

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1. Believing that wealth isn’t for you
We know the first step to becoming wealthy, is to believe that you can be – otherwise you won’t keep anything you make. The first step is to work out what you believe – and if you don’t know – keep a diary and when anything financial happens to you – you get paid or receive a bill, how do you feel – joyous or despondent? Once you work out what makes you feel bad then attack that belief by asking yourself – repeatedly until you have the answer and the belief changes:

2. Forgetting that pennies count
Money is like a plant on your kitchen windowsill – it will grow if you feed it and water it. Also most pot plants grow from tiny seeds– and money is the same. Small amounts of money properly planted and looked after WILL grow into a massive amount of wealth.

3. Putting your head in the sand
I meet people who tell me they haven’t opened a bank statement in many years and that all brown envelopes get put under the carpet, and sadly this ‘head in the sand’ approach to money is damaging, totally unsuccessful, and frankly ridiculous.

4. Not controlling debt
We may get overwhelmed with debt from time to time but as long as we maintain control then we can manage that debt without fear or panic. As with most things, if we are fearful we tend to make the ‘wrong’ decisions and create more challenges, but with a sensible, and controlled action plan, we can manage our way into calmer waters.

5. Not knowing or understanding your credit score
There are seven steps we can take to improve our credit score by getting control of the issue:
Turn detective
Turn cleaner
Be dull
Go solo
Get active
Be good!
Get Control

6. Ignoring the future
When you have got control of your current position now it’s time to look to the future as most people fail to plan for their financial future and if you fail to plan then sadly you are planning to fail! Most people in the UK, USA and most of the western cultures retire with insufficient means to see them through retirement – and in the UK that means that you have to try and live on the government pension which can’t be done because it’s pathetic!

7. Putting all your eggs into one basket
Doing this is risky. If that one thing gets lost, stolen or fails in any way then all the wealth is gone, so we must get used to the concept of spreading everything we have.

Click here to download the full guide

THINKING OF INVESTING IN YOUR FIRST PROPERTY?

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Gill Fielding’s Investment Property Purchase Check List covers all the positive and negative criteria for viewing properties and purchasing that first piece of prime real estate investment.

Click here to download the checklist

 

 

AN UPLIFT IN FEBRUARY

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Well what a cold and miserable time of year it is! It can also be expensive and I’ve certainly had a burst pipe at one of my properties. At times like this it’s important to focus on the bigger picture and the larger strategy and vision – and that helps to ‘see’ the minor winter challenges in ’smaller’ focus. The challenges are always there of course but it’s important not to focus on them – as when you do, they then seem to get a great deal larger. So here’s some good news! House prices increased by 0.6 per cent in January when traditionally they are static at best, even after taking account of seasonal factors. Also, Jeremy Leaf – a former RICS residential chairman – says: “At the sharp end we have seen an uplift in terms of viewings and more confidence than we dared to expect”. That’s all good.

The other piece of news that caught my eye was that the Office of National Statistics have revealed that the self-employed are more likely to own property than employed workers, suggesting that their prospects are less fragile than might have been thought. Figures show that 73.1 per cent of employees aged between 35 and 54 have property wealth. This figure rises to 74.7 per cent for the self-employed. The numbers also reveal that 27 per cent of the self-employed aged 35 to 54 have property wealth of at least £250,000, compared with 17.6 per cent of the employed.

Now that’s interesting news – could it be that people are finally realising that being self-reliant and taking responsibility for yourself, your work and your money is a much ‘safer’ route to financial success than having a ‘JustOverBroke’!

Happy Investing!
Gill

MEET GILL FIELDING

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Gill Fielding is a self-made millionaire with a no-nonsense, positive approach to finance and a personal mission to educate the nation in managing and improving their own financial position. She is best known for her appearance on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire when she gave away nearly £250,000 to good causes.

Gill Fielding’s Top Ten Tips for Wealth Creation
1. Understand where you want to be Everybody has wildly different perceptions about money and what wealth means – you have to discover what wealth means to you: one man’s riches may be peanuts to someone else. Think about what you really want in terms of money.

2. Work out exactly what you have

If you don’t know what you’ve got and what wealth you want to have – how on earth can you work out how to bridge the gap! Start recording your assets and liabilities and your regular cash-flows.

3. Understand your relationship to money It’s an obvious statement, but if you think you are bad at maths for examples, for sure you will be – because humans have a remarkable ability to bring their beliefs into reality. The same is true for money: if you think you are bad at it, or you are scared of money or don’t believe you are worthy of wealth – then you will never keep money until you resolve those issues.

4. Understand money flows Money is like water, it flows in and out. Unfortunately, most people let it flow out in a flood but only have a trickle coming in – so address that. Be aware of your cash flows, minimise your outflows – do you really need that gym membership for example?

5. Understand Debt There is a good debt and bad debt and understanding the difference is fundamental. Be aware of what you owe and why you owe it: dig out statements and force yourself to understand the rate you are paying on any debt and remember “Never borrow to spend – only borrow to invest”.

6. Understand the basics of compounding Compounding has the ability to make you a millionaire in your lifetime with 100% certainty – with just £2.25 per day – do you know how to do that?

7. Invest in Property Land is a scarce resource and apparently God isn’t making any more! Returns from property over time have been staggering – and often people make more money on the increased value in their own home than they do working for a living – make sure you capture some of that growth.

8. Be aware of the Governments proposals for wealth creation The Government has created many wealth making opportunities for those of us ‘in the know’, particularly in the pension’s arena. If you can overcome your ‘dislike’ of all things pensions, tax and governmental, you could get access to large injections in your wealth pool.

9. Invest in Business The key to massive growth in business value is to understand that the real success comes from making the business passive to you – any investment you can make where you don’t have to do any work but yet you reap the returns is worth investigating.

10. Celebrate and review As a nation we are very poor at celebrating our success and moving forward onto new levels. Set yourself performance goals and celebrate when you achieve them. At that stage move your wealth creation strategies up a notch – and go for it!

THE PROPERTY MARKET

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Following the EU referendum, one of the many implications  of ‘Brexit’ will  be an initial decline to the price of properties in the UK beginning in 2017.  The best investors in the world tend to buy low and sell high so 2017 would seem to be the best possible opportunity to capitalise on falling property prices. The property market can offer extremely high returns on capital but it is an increasingly risky industry to enter. Government blocks are creating new barriers to entry for would be investors so accredited industry qualifications are becoming essential.

Fielding Financial offer courses on how to successfully invest in property. Book yourself in for one of their FREE seminars for an in depth solution to investing in property.

for more information on how to invest in property, click  here