JohnC6
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Yesterday on our way home from Cornwall I listened to 'You and Yours' on Radio4. I'm not given to hyperbole but I was shocked. More with the way the issue was dealt..or rather... not dealt, with.
It involves the Lasting Power of Attorney. (LPA) The link below is a podcast on BBC Sounds of the programme and I appreciate that quite often links posted aren't opened but this one is exceptional.
Just to give an overview but I'd urge anyone to listen to it. It involves a person called 'Julie' ..a fraudster..who contacts the Office of Public Guardian telling them that she has LPA regarding her 'demented' sister Marie who is 57 and lives in Middlesex. The Office made no checks to verify the claim, which was made up of false names and signatures and granted her LPA. This gave the fraudster total control over Marie's finances and home. The fraudster tried to sell her home. She contacted a firm of solicitors in Manchester who specialise in the sale of homes. They becamne suspicious and didn't go ahead. My thought was if they suspected a fraud was being carried out why didn't they contact the police and get this Julie person to go into the office on some pretence or get some way of the police being able to locate her ?
The programme-makers asked Dominic Raab, Sec of State for Justice Minister and Nick Goodwin QC, the Public Guardian (ie head of the OPG) to come onto the programme and both refused so they contacted the Shadow Sec. of State for Justice, Steve Reid who said he was 'shaken' after hearing the details and is writing to Dominic Raab demanding an immediate inquiry stating that the OPG is not fit for purpose. The police told Marie there weren't enough leads . A retired high-ranking detective said there were and should have been followed up. Unbelievably, when Marie contacted the OPG she was told that the best way to null and void the granting of LPA was to write to them stating that she had infact agreed to it with ';Julie' but has changed her mind. The production team got an employee to pretend to be in a similar position to Marie and was given the same advice. They often do this whilst investigating issues so that a company or official body can't claim it was a one-off and an error by an employee,which is what the OPG said anyway. A home visit was made to a man who was listed as a witness. He didn't know they were calling on him and the conversation was recorded. He had never signed any papers as a witness and didn't know the people involved. It doesn't end well because whilst the OPG have cancelled the granting of ther LPA to 'Julie' online this 'Julie' person has the original document ..the LPA document..Marie has been told that she's still a very high risk.
A related issue that is mentioned in the programme is that there are 5 million empty homes in the UK and some councils will, on receipt of a FOI request supply that list for empty properties within their jurisdiction so anyone with malevolent intent gets to know the location homes that are empty.
www.bbc.co.uk
It involves the Lasting Power of Attorney. (LPA) The link below is a podcast on BBC Sounds of the programme and I appreciate that quite often links posted aren't opened but this one is exceptional.
Just to give an overview but I'd urge anyone to listen to it. It involves a person called 'Julie' ..a fraudster..who contacts the Office of Public Guardian telling them that she has LPA regarding her 'demented' sister Marie who is 57 and lives in Middlesex. The Office made no checks to verify the claim, which was made up of false names and signatures and granted her LPA. This gave the fraudster total control over Marie's finances and home. The fraudster tried to sell her home. She contacted a firm of solicitors in Manchester who specialise in the sale of homes. They becamne suspicious and didn't go ahead. My thought was if they suspected a fraud was being carried out why didn't they contact the police and get this Julie person to go into the office on some pretence or get some way of the police being able to locate her ?
The programme-makers asked Dominic Raab, Sec of State for Justice Minister and Nick Goodwin QC, the Public Guardian (ie head of the OPG) to come onto the programme and both refused so they contacted the Shadow Sec. of State for Justice, Steve Reid who said he was 'shaken' after hearing the details and is writing to Dominic Raab demanding an immediate inquiry stating that the OPG is not fit for purpose. The police told Marie there weren't enough leads . A retired high-ranking detective said there were and should have been followed up. Unbelievably, when Marie contacted the OPG she was told that the best way to null and void the granting of LPA was to write to them stating that she had infact agreed to it with ';Julie' but has changed her mind. The production team got an employee to pretend to be in a similar position to Marie and was given the same advice. They often do this whilst investigating issues so that a company or official body can't claim it was a one-off and an error by an employee,which is what the OPG said anyway. A home visit was made to a man who was listed as a witness. He didn't know they were calling on him and the conversation was recorded. He had never signed any papers as a witness and didn't know the people involved. It doesn't end well because whilst the OPG have cancelled the granting of ther LPA to 'Julie' online this 'Julie' person has the original document ..the LPA document..Marie has been told that she's still a very high risk.
A related issue that is mentioned in the programme is that there are 5 million empty homes in the UK and some councils will, on receipt of a FOI request supply that list for empty properties within their jurisdiction so anyone with malevolent intent gets to know the location homes that are empty.
You and Yours - Lasting Power of Attorney Fraud - BBC Sounds
An exclusive investigation by You and Yours into Lasting Power of Attorney fraud.
www.bbc.co.uk
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