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Private Notes
Fake Britain carries out the largest independent investigation ever undertaken in Britain of £1 coins given out over the counter by the high street banks - and we reveal how the banks are giving their customers a shockingly high percentage of fakes. We also follow the work of local police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Royal Mint as they join forces to track down the £1 coin counterfeiters.
We meet the man who was sent parking and speeding tickets but knew he wasn't responsible. We see how eventually the police discover that his car had been cloned, with disastrous results for the innocent purchasers of the cloned car - they lose both the vehicle and the money they paid for it as it is seized by the police.
We meet Julie Smith and her daughter Paige from Oldham and hear the sad story of how they were duped by a fake pedigree certificate into buying a very sick puppy. And we reveal the story of the fake vet who used a fake degree certificate to go into business near Liverpool - with appalling results.
Dominic Littlewood investigates the murky world of the loan sharks and follows the work of trading standards' illegal money lending teams.
There's the story of one heartbroken mother whose son committed suicide as his loan shark debts mounted. How celebrity autographs are being faked and sold on at exorbitant prices. How UK Border Agency teams are stopping millions of pounds worth of fake goods coming into the country via Felixstowe docks, and the sophisticated tracking devices used by criminals on their illegal consignments. Plus the fake parking tickets racket uncovered by Wolverhampton trading standards officers.
Dominic Littlewood reveals how families are being targeted by conmen when their children are on gap year trips abroad. We follow investigators from a leading pharmaceutical company who are hot on the trail of fake medicine dealers.
Plus, the terrifying story of the fake and highly dangerous hair straighteners, and how deadly fake chainsaws were sold to unsuspecting members of the public. And the tragic story of how the offer of a job - which turned out to be fake - brought one young family to financial ruin. And we show the scale of the fake electricals industry in China by following the work of a UK investigator.
With Dominic Littlewood. Birmingham's trading standards and West Midlands Police crack down on the crooks faking parking offences to fleece members of the public.
We follow the South West England scambusters team as they track down a consignment of fake fashion destined for the City of Bristol. We reveal the extraordinary story of the fake educational qualifications racket.
We show how a fake Lowry picture was sold to an unsuspecting buyer and how the seller finally ended in gaol. And UK Border Agency officers at Southampton docks inspect a suspect consignment and reveal fake Mexican beer - from China.
We follow a private investigator working with police and trading standards as he tracks down one of the largest hauls of fake gold and jewellery ever discovered in the UK. And we see the work of the London Assay office as they analyse what the fake jewellery is really made of - with shocking results.
We see how the UK Border Agency are stopping international forgers using air cargo to get fake ID into the country - how they reveal the fake holidaymaker and her 'crib sheet' of how to respond to immigration officials' questions. Plus, how they tracked down the fake footballer - the illegal immigrant who made a fortune by buying property using fake ID while he played football for local clubs.
We meet the woman who was told by her bank that a fake copy of her passport had been presented to them to withdraw a huge sum of money. We see how a London employment agency has had to install high tech anti forgery equipment to check on fake documents - as they are now presented with so many forgeries. We follow the work of the NHS counterfraud unit as they tackle 'hospital hoppers' - fake patients who tie up valuable resources pretending to be ill.
We show the work of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Maxim as they track down and arrest a master forger. We see Westminster Trading Standards officers and Premier league private investigators reveal the latest football shirt fakes on sale in London's West End.
Police and trading standards officers raid a house where the occupants are selling fake fashion. A complete mobile fake vodka factory in a lorry is discovered just outside Scarborough. A huge consignment of fake Persil is tracked by investigators all the way from China to Cheshire and the fakers end up in prison.
We follow the work of investigators from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and see them raid a fake medicines dealer. We see how tourists to London are tricked by criminals offering them fake holiday accommodation. And we follow the incredible story of how 108 million eggs were fraudulently relabelled in Britain's biggest ever fake food scam.
We see how Customs and Excise uncover a huge fake vodka and tobacco factory in London and see how shops sell fake booze. And we reveal how a grandmother helped bring down a multi-million pound criminal empire selling fake golf equipment.
We investigate the murky world of the loansharks and reveal the extraordinary case of the 78-year-old grandmother peddling fake loans. We meet Jane Badger, who was arrested in her own home and accused of fraud, even though she was entirely innocent, because a fraudster had made fake withdrawals on her credit card.
We follow the story of the fake car brake pads being sold in Northern Ireland and see how they dramatically fail safety standards on the test track. We see a trading standards team as they go undercover, setting up a fake hen night to catch a limo company putting lives in danger.
And we follow the investigators targeting the fakers who are making money out of one of the UK's most successful industries - computer games.
We reveal the extraordinary story of the secret consignment of fake oil drilling parts tracked down by trading standards officers in Peterborough. We follow Customs and Excise officers on the trail of fake diesel - agricultural fuel that has had its red tell tale dye removed - and the criminals who peddle it.
We meet the owners of so called mini pigs who have seen the fake perky porkers grow to be a lot bigger than expected. We meet the victims of an incredible scam; they have come home to find someone else living in their house - it's been rented out by a fake landlord.
And we show the work of the undercover investigators from a software corporation who are tackling the software pirates.
We reveal the extraordinary amount of fake electrical cable being found in the UK and put some of it to the test with alarming results. We follow the trading standards and police teams in the Midlands cracking down on the huge trade in fake and smuggled cigarettes.
We show how people are being conned into believing that works of art they bought as antiques are anything but - because they have been made recently in Chinese factories. And art forgery expert Curtis Dowling shows us how the conmen go about creating fake collectibles. We meet the woman who paid for stem cell treatment believing it would cure her multiple sclerosis - only to find the treatment was fake.
And we follow the extraordinary identity theft story of how a UK passport stolen on a stag weekend in Amsterdam put an innocent Brit in gaol ten years later in Lisbon - for a crime committed in Germany.
We follow the UK Border Agency teams as they reveal illegal immigrants using fake documents to get work in restaurants in Hampshire. And we see them working with police and a local authority counter fraud team to arrest a fake benefits claimant.
We reveal the extraordinary story of how fake wine was sold in a leading supermarket - and find out what was really in the bottle. We meet the two sisters who were victims of the fake ballet grades - their teacher was forging the certificates of dozens of her pupils. We follow trading standards officers as they discover the shop near London's West End stuffed full of fake designer goods and see how they also tackle the street traders openly selling fakes from market stalls.
And we go out with a local authority blue badge enforcement unit as they confront the people faking their entitlement to use the badges issued to road users with disabilities.
We reveal how fraudsters are counterfeiting the Euro. And we show how innocent British holidaymakers are being arrested abroad for unwittingly having the fake currency - like Carl Redden from Birmingham who was sentenced to 10 months in a prison in Cyprus and found himself locked up with hardened criminals.
We reveal the distressing story of the fake pet cremations. Owners found the pets they had loved and thought had given dignified individual cremations to, were in fact dumped in fields. And the ashes of their pets, which they had treasured, turned out to be fake.
We meet the woman who helped expose the fake DNA paternity test - as the father of her daughter tried to con his way out of his responsibilities. We meet the young woman who bought diet pills online only to find they included a banned substance that had a disastrous effect on her. And we reveal the extraordinary story of the fake buggy salesman who conned money out of young mums - but was tracked down by a campaigning grandmother.
We reveal the distressing story of how Alfred Mason's daughter Lorna discovered that her father had lost his entire life savings of 800,000 pounds after falling victim to conmen selling fake investments - and how she found he had ended up living in squalor.
We follow police and trading standards officers as they raid a suspected fake numberplates factory. We follow the work of the London Borough of Hillingdon's benefit fraud investigators as they search for fake claimants and discover a fraudster using fake ID.
And we follow the story of the young woman who was conned by the fake faith healer. He pretended to be a supportive advisor but was tracked down by local trading standards officers who discovered he charged huge fees and lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of his victims. And we meet Raymond Kaye and his wife Paula from Hull and hear the story of how Ray's desperation to win the holiday of a lifetime to Canada for Paula, led to his addiction to a fake prizes scam. It cost him their savings and almost their marriage.
We reveal the extraordinary case of the holidaymaker who was arrested in Jamaica after luggage containing drugs was checked in under her name on a flight to the UK. We also meet the woman who booked a ski chalet for herself and a group of friends only to discover that the chalet did not exist. We investigate fake withdrawals from bank accounts and show sinister new equipment that could allow criminals to carry out what appear to be genuine transactions - by faking our pin numbers. We follow the story of how one man's visit to his family abroad was ruined after he was sold a fake airline ticket, how a fake literary agent conned dozens of victims - including one woman who was told the book she had written about her father was going to become a big budget movie - and we show how the lives of thousands of workers all over the country are being put in danger by fake safety equipment.
We follow the UK Border Agency teams as they uncover illegal workers using fake documents to work in restaurants and take aways in Liverpool. We visit Newquay in Cornwall and show the increasing problem of fake IDs used by underage drinkers - and we see how a trading standards team shut down a company supplying the fake identification online.
We meet the Suffolk businessman who fell for the fake overseas inheritance scam - which ultimately cost him his home and his life savings. We follow the work of an undercover insurance investigator as he tracks down a woman believed to be faking an insurance claim. And we meet the mother and daughter who thought they were buying their dream horse.
We follow the UK Border Agency teams as they discover illegal immigrants using fake documents to get jobs in the capital. We meet the teaching assistant who believed her online romance was with an American soldier in Afghanistan - but it was a fake soldier and she was conned out of thousands of pounds.
We see immigration officers at heathrow airport investigate a woman trying to enter the UK on a fake passport she had bought for thousands of dollars in Africa. We show some of the bizarre fake documents that travellers try and use to gain entry to the UK. We follow trading standards teams as they crack down on the burgeoning business of fake champagne and we reveal how people are faking their entitlement to disability blue badges so they can park for free and save thousands of pounds.
