Fraught with fraud: The last mid-week blog of 2010

In the run up to Christmas, the money sections this week witnessed the return of fraud and scam stories as the topic jumped from zero to 20 per cent of the mid-week tally.

As debt is the devastating side affect of overdoing the Christmas cheer, Esther Shaw (@EstherShaw79) in The Daily Express reminded readers to beware bogus doorstop lenders. Loan sharks are increasingly trying to levy vulnerable victims into expensive loans, sometimes with as much as 1,500 per cent interest rates.

Another scammer to watch out for is your car insurance, which made headlines in The Daily Mail and can be read on This is money (@thisismoney). Which? shows how motorists are being led to believe smaller premiums await them if they agree to pay claims themselves. Sadly for many, these false promises are nothing more than cons to trick customers out of their cash.

Whilst fraud stories climbed up the scoreboard, articles on savings jumped 13 per cent to push the topic to the top of the tally with 30 per cent of the mid-week stories.

Savings served up some tales of Christmas cheer, with Elaine Jenkins in The Mirror (@DailyMirror) praising the Credit Union for stepping in to save a reader’s wedding when she found her savings were £6,000 short. The union even helped guide her on the road to becoming debt free. 

Looking forward to the New Year, The Daily Mail (@MailOnline) centred on savings in light of the new FSA rules on protection. A higher level of protection will be offered for customers with savings in banks and building societies, with cover applicable to up to £85,000of savings.

With Christmas just three days away, there may be good reason to celebrate but there is always a scrooge. The savings “High Street Scrooges” come in the form of banks that are paying the paltry sum of just one penny for every £100 saved in a child’s savings account. Sylvia Morris in The Daily Mail (@MailOnline) recommends parents hunt around for the best rates, with Northern Rock and C&G noted as more generous banks for children.

Some interesting findings have come out of the 2010 money section tallies, and although these will be the last scores of the year MRM looks forward to the first results of 2011!

The rest of the marks were:

Charity                  10%

Credit cards        0%

Fraud/scams      20%

IFAs                       0%

Insurance            20%

Investment        0%

Mortgages          10%

Pensions              10%

Regulation          0%

Savings                 30%

Tax                         0%

Utilities                 0%