Why is passport cheat’s website STILL online?
This man was exposed by the MoS and then given a prison sentence for duping customers out of £1.6million. So two months later...
HIGH profile convictions of the charlatans behind websites that mimic official agencies online have failed to stamp out the menace of the copycats. The Mail on Sunday is still fielding complaints from readers tricked into using imposter websites that charge them for services that should be free through official channels.
Last week, it emerged that a website run by one of the most serious perpetrators – found guilty of unfair trading in August – is still peddling his wares online.
Richard Howard – who changed his name to George Orwell when Trading Standards officers began investigating a flood of complaints against him three years ago – was given a one-year sentence suspended for two years and told to pay £200,000 for duping customers into paying for worthless services.
Howard admitted charges involving aggressive and misleading commercial practices. The 32-yearold’s rogue tactics were first exposed in this newspaper in 2015.
In March, National Trading Standards also secured convictions against seven defendants and prison sentences totalling 38 years and seven months. The guilty parties were involved in setting up websites mimicking those of several official organisations. In total, they swindled £37million from people making orders online for birth and death certificates, driving licences, driving tests, car tax discs and the London Congestion Charge.
The penalty Howard paid pales into insignificance when compared to the £1.6 million he siphoned from consumers when they mistakenly believed his business was the genuine Government portal for ordering or renewing passports.
Howard charged extra fees of at least £117 to apply for a passport with additional costs of £10 to book an appointment with a local passport office – even though this can be done by any customer direct for free. This was on top of the official fee of up to £85 for a passport. He also ‘fined’ people who went on to complain about his service. Despite Howard’s sentence, internet users are routinely tricked into paying for official documents usually issued for free or, if they do carry a charge, pay an inflated price.
As well as passports and driving licences, copycats hoodwink travellers into paying extra for electronic visas for countries such as the US, India, Canada and Australia and for the free European Health Insurance Card. Search engine companies pledged a crackdown on copycats – yet online searches last week for renewing a driving licence and passport showed copycats are alive and kicking. A search on Bing produced copycats near the top of the listings – including on page seven of a search for ‘British passport renewal’ the discredited website British Passport Services – suggesting Howard still pays a web-hosting firm.
In the smallest of his website’s small print (complete with spelling errors), Howard even mocks wouldbe customers: ‘Encase you have missed the bullet points, independent advice and services, no government affiliation, our fee’s separate to passport fees’… Duh.’
On Friday, the Mail on Sunday began booking a passport appointment via his website but stopped short at the ‘proceed’ button. A search on Yahoo for ‘driver’s licence renewal’ produced a website charging for the privilege on page one. Google fared better – and says it has worked hard at clamping down on copycats. But an advert for British Passport Services was still listed on Google on Monday and only removed when we pointed it out. Reader Kenneth More (his name has been changed) revealed he has been caught out twice by similar cheats – buying an Esta travel visa for the United States and renewing his driving licence.
Kenneth says: ‘Fortunately, I was able to recover the excess I paid for the Esta via my credit card company and when I complained to the driving licence website, it refunded its fee.’ He adds: ‘Something needs to be done to stop these copycats for good.’ National Trading Standards believes at least £40million has been taken from consumers through bogus websites it has investigated. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Not all copycat websites are working illegally. Many say they offer additional ‘professional services’ which they claim vindicates extra fees. They also use disclaimers, admitting they are not linked to the official organisation involved. This ironically provides an air of authenticity, but Trading Standards says this does not immune them from prosecution. Some copycats skate on thinner ice than others, using web pages with phrasing and designs that appear official.
In the past year, 215 complaints about copycat websites were made to the Advertising Standards Authority, embracing more than 100 adverts. The people behind copycat operations have flourished because they pay search engines to ensure their websites appear at the top of listings. National Trading Standards
says it is almost impossible to eliminate the scourge. But it is working with authorities such as the passport office and DVLA and search engine companies to stamp them out.
Mike Andrews, head of National Trading Standards’ eCrime team, says: ‘It is concerning that some online search engines are still displaying search results for these websites. They must make it a priority to monitor and remove them.’
Over the past five years, The Mail on Sunday has led the way in shining a light on the murky world of copycat websites.
Besides Howard, we have exposed companies that charged astronomical fees for the filing of tax returns with customers believing all along the line that they were dealing with HM Revenue & Customs. Most of these businesses are no longer trading as a result of our investigations. In many instances, we managed to extract refunds for readers who had been tricked into using a copycat service.
Our campaigning, supported by consumer groups such as Legal Beagles, has prompted the authorities to launch probes into many operators and for some search engines to clamp down on them.