Tag Archives: police
NLA warns students against scam landlords at start of UK university year
As students gear up for the start of the university year in the UK, the National Landlords Association (NLA) is reminding would be tenants to be vigilant when looking for somewhere new to live and to avoid getting scammed. The NLA receive complaints from tenants every year about fraudsters who operate online and the warning comes as many tenants scramble for available properties as the new academic year is about to begin. Such scams trick people into paying an advance fee to rent a property and in some instances fraudsters use NLA branding or fake letters from NLA local representatives in order to add legitimacy to the scam and lure their victims in to a false sense of security. Scammers often target those who are coming from abroad and are securing property online, particularly those looking for university accommodation. Typically once money has been sent the ‘landlord’ becomes un-contactable leaving the potential tenant defrauded. The NLA is reissuing guidance about avoiding online rental fraud which was drafted in conjunction with the National Union of Students and the National Crime Agency. They advise against sending money up front to anyone advertising online and to make sure they are genuine first and view the property if you can and also beware if you are asked to wire any money via a money transfer service, criminals can use details from the receipt to withdraw money from another location. Tenants are also advised to use government approved deposit schemes such as my|deposits and to contact the organisations the landlord claims to be associated with in order to verify their status. Tenants wanting to check whether a prospective landlord is a member of the NLA or accredited should ask them for their membership number, then go to: www.landlords.org.uk/member-verification . Overseas applicants needing to secure accommodation before they arrive in the UK should first seek the help of the employer or university they are coming to. Everyone should get paperwork and proof by asking for a copy of the tenancy agreement or safety certificates to confirm that the landlord has a genuine legal connection with property. ‘Rental fraud is one of the uglier aspects of private renting and it tends to rear its head this time of year as students, particularly those coming from abroad, look to secure rented accommodation for the academic year,’ said Carolyn Uphill, NLA chairman. ‘Tenants, no matter where they are from, should not send payment to advertisers before they are certain it is genuine and should contact their university who will have a list of reputable landlords and letting agents,’ she explained. ‘If you receive official correspondence from a landlord and are worried it might be a scam, often a good clue is that it will be written in poor English. Tenants should also remember they can check if a landlord is an NLA member,’ she pointed out. She added that any tenant that falls victim to such a scam should contact the relevant authorities in their… Continue reading
Four Asians arrested for posing as cops, kidnapping and robbery
Four Asians arrested for posing as cops, kidnapping and robbery Afkar Abdullah / 2 March 2014 The victim says the group of men who told him that they were police CID and kidnapped him when he was trying to get off his car with a case containing Dh100,000. The four suspects (supplied photo) Sharjah Police on Saturday arrested a gang comprising four Asians who posed as CID officers to kidnap a man and rob him of Dh100,000. The police CID official said that Sharjah Police, in cooperation with Dubai Police, managed to arrest the gang members — three Bangladeshis and a Pakistani — on charges of posing as CID officers, kidnapping and robbery of Dh100,000 that was in the possession of the victim. He explained that a Bangladeshi man lodged complaint at Al Gharb Police Station about a group of men who told him that they were police CID and kidnapped him when he was trying to get off his car with a case containing the amount. He said the suspects were wearing the Emirati national dress and one of them flashed a police identity card. They forced him to get in their car and them drove around in Sharjah City. They then drove to Dubai where he was asked to get off and hand over the case. The victim also told the police that two of the suspects assaulted him while he was in their car. Based on the information, the police formed a search team and found that one of the suspects was in Dubai. Sharjah CID officers, with the help of Dubai CID officers, identified the suspect Y.K.A. of Bangladeshi nationality. He confessed to the crime after being arrested and led the police to the other suspects — A.M.H. from Pakistan, and M.A.H. and M.A.A. from Bangladesh. Based on their confession the police referred them to public prosecution. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Egypt announces early election a day after carnage
Egypt announces early election a day after carnage (AFP) / 27 January 2014 Sisi was expected to declare his candidacy for the election, scheduled before mid-April, after a show of support including Saturday’s large rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Egypt on Sunday announced early presidential elections likely to anoint the general who overthrew president Mohammed Mursi, as the country reeled from a weekend of violence that killed dozens of people. Interim president Adly Mansour announced the poll in a televised address, a day after 49 people died in clashes between Islamist protesters and police and thousands rallied in Cairo in support of military chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Sisi was expected to declare his candidacy for the election, scheduled before mid-April, after a show of support including Saturday’s large rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. But the weekend clashes and bombings also highlighted the interim government’s precarious grip seven months after Mursi’s overthrow. The violence came as Egypt commemorated the 2011 uprising that overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak, leading to three years of tumult that many hope Sisi’s election will end. Over Friday and Saturday, six bombs exploded in Cairo and the canal city of Suez, killing six people and wounding dozens in an escalation of a militant campaign Mansour has pledged to eradicate. Separately, 49 people were killed in clashes when police clamped down on protests by Mursi’s supporters and anti-military activists, the health ministry said. As Mansour addressed the nation to announce the early presidential election, relatives of those killed on Saturday assembled outside a Cairo morgue, chanting anti-military slogans. “Down with the military! The people want to topple the regime!” they chanted outside the Zeinhom morgue as they collected the corpses of loved ones. A statement signed by nine Egyptian human rights groups accused the police of using “live ammunition” against demonstrators. Police said the protesters themselves had used weapons. Police in the capital bolstered defences outside their buildings and closed access roads after the weekend bombings that all targeted police facilities. In his address, Mansour, a judge the military appointed as interim president to replace Mursi, pledged to “uproot (terrorists) and show them no mercy”. The government says a series of polls that started with a constitutional referendum in January and will end in parliamentary elections will restore an elected government by 2015. A parliamentary election had been scheduled ahead of the presidential poll, but Mansour said on Sunday he had revised the timetable following many demands. A presidential election first may allow Sisi, if he stands, to influence the outcome of parliamentary elections by forming a party that would attract leading candidates. But Sisi, accused by Mursi supporters of carrying out a coup ending the Islamist’s single year in power, still faces a determined opposition and a semi-insurgency. Hours before Mansour spoke, militants ambushed a bus carrying soldiers in the restive Sinai Peninsula, killing four troops. And an Al Qaeda-inspired group in the peninsula claimed it had shot down a military helicopter on Saturday, in what the army said was an “accident” that killed five soldiers. The group, Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, had earlier claimed responsibility for the bombings in the capital. The attacks, starting with a car bomb that killed four people outside Cairo police headquarters on Friday morning, underscored the resilience of the Sinai-based militants who had tried to assassinate the police chief in September. Police sealed off several main squares in Cairo on Sunday and used metal barriers to block roads leading to police stations. In December, a car bombing outside a police building north of Cairo killed 15 people, prompting the interim government to blacklist Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement as a terrorist group. That bombing was also claimed by Ansar Beit Al Maqdis. The Brotherhood’s blacklisting, despite its condemnation of the attack, was seen as an extension of a crackdown on Mursi supporters that has killed more than a thousand people and jailed thousands more. Police said they arrested at least 1,000 protesters on Saturday alone. The government and the military now rule out dealing with the Brotherhood, which had won every election following Mubarak’s overthrow in the 2011 popular uprising. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
