Most people are likely to become a victim of fraud at some point in their life and just because you may be a celebrity doesn’t mean you’re immune either. There have been many celebrities who have also been a victim of fraud and we look at some of the celebrities targeted by fraudsters here.

Celebrity fraud victims
Jeremy Clarkson – he was so confident that fraudsters would not be able to steal his details that he published them in a newspaper. It was later found out that someone was able to set up a £500 direct debit to the British Diabetic Society.
Lily Allen – a stripper somehow managed to get hold of Lily Allen’s personal details including her taxi account. She used it for weeks to get her to and from her job at a strip club. It was only a month later that Lily found out and put a stop to it.
Ricky Gervais – fraudsters cut out a picture of the comedian from the back of a DVD box and stuck it to an old passport. They managed to get nearly £200,000 out of his account before trying to purchase gold bars. They were only caught when the bullion dealer became suspicious as to why the comedian had to buy so much gold.
Alistair McGowan – he was fronting a TV campaign for fraud awareness when he threw unwanted items from his wallet into the bin. He didn’t know that a reporter was following him to make sure he was taking the advice he was dishing out to everyone. They found in the bin a debit card, an insurance card and membership to an actor’s union called Equity. Just goes to show that they don’t always follow the advice that they give out.
Harry Hill – he spotted some unusual transactions on his bank statements and made an appointment with the bank. They then spotted that he was a victim of a huge fraud plot that saw over £280,000 siphoned from his account. His personal details had been stolen and numerous accounts opened in his name.
Football star fraud – at the African Cups nation someone decided to put up all the players passport numbers along with personal details such as date of birth. Luckily it was spotted and soon taken down with no damage to the footballers.
Steven Spielberg – was among one of the victims of a £10million pound fraud. He was targeted by a dishwasher trainee who got the details from the Forbes rich list as well as internet research. He got enough information to open bank accounts and steal £10million from him before being caught.
Robert De Niro – his wife’s maid stole her credit card and passed it off as her own by buying upmarket clothing. When asked why she did it she replied because she wasn’t treated with respect.
Tiger Woods – when a man managed to get hold of Tiger’s social security number he managed to get a fake driving licence and credit cards to buy £10,000 worth of TV’s and stereos. Sadly for him this was his third offence and under California’s ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule he was given a 200 year prison sentence.
Will Smith – after an impersonator from Pittsburgh managed to open 14 credit cards in Will’s name he spent it buying £20,000 worth of goods. He was already on probation for stealing a basketball player’s identity after he stole £50,000 from credit cards. I guess he’ll never learn his lesson.

To protect yourself from identity fraud buy a shredder and shred all confidential paperwork which fraudsters could use to steal your identity. Keep track of your bank statements to spot any unusual transactions and never walk around with personal documentation unless needed.

Having bought my first DSLR camera for nearly £650 like a week ago and preparing to go on holiday now, I was very anxious that anything bad would happen to my precious camera and decided to look into some sort of insurance cover to give me peace of mind. Although you will take reasonable care of your digital camera during your holiday period, sometimes there are things which are just out of your control and you may find yourself in a situation where your valuable camera is lost, stolen or damaged.

Usually people hope for the best when they go abroad expecting the locals to be nice and very welcoming but as in every country, you sometimes get the bad guys and your digital camera may be snatched from you and leave you several hundred pounds out of pocket. Therefore it is important that you have proper insurance in place for things like that.

If you haven’t purchased extended warranty for your DSLR camera (standard manufacturer’s warranty only covers for faults), you may be taking a huge risk. You might drop the camera in water while trying to take a good shot and having accidental damage cover is therefore crucial. This is why you need to keep on renewing your camera’s warranty if you think the camera is still worth a lot of money.

As I was buying annual travel insurance for my holiday trip, I wanted to know whether my DSLR camera was covered under the policy. So I called up Virgin Money Travel Insurance and talked to an advisor who told me that if I go with their Silver package, I would be able to claim upto £1500 on baggage. Now since my digital camera would be considered as personal belonging carried in the suitcase, I should be able to claim it.

My other option was to have the camera as an endorsement. This means that it would be covered under a separate insurance policy just for that trip that I was going to make. The cost to insure my £650 DSLR camera would be around £30 for a single trip! Although it would cover it even if it is lost, stolen or damaged, this was too expensive considering that I could get annual cover for my camera for that price and settling for a holiday trip period would be silly.

So I was thinking of going with the standard travel insurance policy when I decided to read the policy wording. It states that you can only claim upto £200 for a single item (some companies allow upto £400). What this really means if that since my camera is worth £650, they would assess the usual wear and tear and come up with a current price tag and the maximum they would pay me is £200 even if the current price for the camera comes at £600. This is just insane and this is what the advisors don’t tell you. You can claim a total of £1500 for baggage but for any single item, you can only claim upto £200. This is not what I wanted and does not cover anything really because I wouldn’t be able to replace my DSLR camera if anything happened to it.

So if you’re thinking of insuring your DSLR camera under travel insurance, think again! You are better off purchasing extended warranty for your precious belonging if you’re really worried about it.

One of the unnecessary expenses we have to make in the home is replacing or repairing a washing machine. If your warranty has not yet expired, then you may well be able to have the machine repaired for free. If the warranty has expired then you may have to fork out the cost of a new washing machine. The biggest problem for washing machines is the risk of limescale that’s why all washing machine manufacturers advise using limescale remover for washing machines.

The chances are when you first purchased your washing machine you bought limescale remover such as Calgon. Many washing machine manufacturers do not recommend Calgon as it is proved useless in preventing limescale build up. Instead all repairers recommend their own brand that they have, it is usually specially formulated to work with their manufactured machines. Many customers who have bought own branded limescale remover for their washing machines have been pleasantly surprised.

For example Indesit and Hotpoint use a universal brand that they recommend to all their clients; when you speak to them over the phone they really push for you to buy 2 years worth of limescale remover. It costs cheaper to buy it over the Internet than over the phone with them. The limescale remover has had many satisfied customers who even say that it has gotten rid of foul smells coming from the washing machine drum.

Why should I use limescale remover
Limescale is the most common reason for buying a new washing machine
Limescale will prevent the drum from spinning along with other functionalities problems
The filter can also get clogged due to limescale preventing washing machines from spinning
Limescale remover will soften the water so less detergent is needed for optimal results

Overall using another brand such as the manufacturers recommended products can save you much more money. Calgon advises using a tab in every wash whereas manufacturers own brands can have better results by using just once a month. Washing machines including the detergent drawer are left gleaming. You may also find that the drum spins smoothly, there’s less noise and no bad smells. As well as manufacturer own branded limescale removers, there are other companies that also offer the same results using their products. The only way to know for sure is to try them out yourself or read reviews before purchasing. You could even email or write to the manufacturer asking for a small sample before purchasing, I’m sure they will comply.