The Artful Lodgers
Crime Too Trivial? I have had several personal experiences of such low level fraud involving some of the tenants that have lodged with me over the years. Credit card fraud, theft, mail order fraud, deception to obtain monies, including money unpaid for rent. And in these cases I am not talking about people hard pressed, I am talking about people who were allocated money for rent through their job or the government, but chose to lie and deceive for the purpose of keeping it for themselves. It appears that this is currently seen as acceptable, or at least not important enough for the law to have the inclination or take the time to deal with such trivial acts. There are many instances in society involving individuals and businesses that blatantly take advantage of people leaving a trail of victims in their wake and society does nothing to prevent or deter it. It seems to be quite routine in society at present that some can behave in such a manner, and simply get away with it time and time again. Even though such crimes against individuals or companies can quite easily cause problems and significant stress for others, such people are often not considered to be victims, or not considered to be victim enough for action to be taken.
Barclaycard Very Easy Money! Barclaycard especially appeared to be an easy target. Even though, luckily, as landlord I was able to intercept pin numbers before they were used to withdraw cash, several hundred pounds had already been spent on one of two accounts, both opened fraudulently on line by one of my tenants from this address. Despite my phone calls and detailed correspondence to Barclaycard, plus undeniable evidence, they were not interested in following it up. And as Barclaycard weren't interested, neither was the law. This limp attitude effectively gives the perpetrator the green light to go and do it all over again. I was not considered to be a victim, nothing was done on my behalf either, despite the problems and the inconvenience it caused me and despite my address being used, effectively putting a black mark against it. The perpetrator went on to leave this address owing me several hundred pounds in rent also, which he had promised to pay, but of course didn't. When he had exhausted his opportunities here, he left leaving false contact details, and no doubt moved on to seek his next opportunity and victim.