大象传媒

Christmas and New Year is the perfect time of year for friends and family to celebrate together. Many of us like to escape our everyday lives and have a party away from home 鈥� but that鈥檚 no easy feat when there are six different families to cater for.聽聽

That鈥檚 the situation Gemma Woolley from Bridgend found herself in when she tried to organise the annual New Year鈥檚 Eve celebration for her and her friends - 12 adults and 12 children, to be exact. She thought she鈥檇 found the perfect place not too far from home, so she contacted the owner through the Group Accommodation website.

Gemma received an email from the property owner to say that the house she wanted wasn鈥檛 available. However, 45 minutes later she had another email to say the owner had the dates mixed up and the property was available after all. They even offered a discount if Gemma and her friends paid straightaway.

She and her friends made their payments - 拢1500 in total - directly to the owner鈥檚 bank account via bank transfer. Or so they thought.

When Gemma called the property owner to confirm the payment had gone through, she was shocked to find out it wasn鈥檛 the owner she鈥檇 been emailing after all, but a fraudster who鈥檇 hacked into their conversation.

We showed the emails to Tony Neate from , who told us this type of scam is called 鈥淪pear Phishing鈥�. It鈥檚 a more targeted approach to Phishing, where hackers learn as much as they can about a potential victim in order to access their personal details online.

Tony says whilst the email Gemma received looks convincing at first glance, there are a few things that set off the alarm bells:

• The email address on the second email was different to the original one and ended with 鈥榚s鈥�, which suggests the hackers are based in Spain
• The written English in messages from the second email address is quite broken in places
• There was a sense of urgency when it came to payment and a discount was offered if payment was made immediately
• Payment was requested by BACS transfer, which offers no protection to consumers when things go wrong.

As for Gemma and her friends, they鈥檝e now lost the 拢1500 they handed over to the scammers and it鈥檚 unlikely they鈥檒l be able to go anywhere this year.

Group Accommodation say they are an advertising portal and insist there are no security issues with their website. They say it seems the property owners email address has been hacked and when they discovered this, they acted quickly to remove the property from their website.

Black Friday is a retail concept exported from the United States.聽 Across the Pond it鈥檚 the day after Thanksgiving, when retailers offer dramatic discounts to ensure their profits get in the black.聽聽

In the last few years it鈥檚 proved big business in the UK.聽 In 2014 we spent more than 拢800 million on Black Friday.聽 Experts are already predicting that this Friday鈥檚 bargain bonanza will be the UK鈥檚 first ever 拢1 billion shopping day.

But many of the deals are only available for 24 hours, leading to frenzied scenes where crowds jostle in store to get their hands on discounted items.

So what鈥檚 the best way to grab a bargain?聽

According to retail expert Henry Enos from the University of South Wales, the key is to identify the exact product you want and stick to a budget, as the discounts will only apply to specific items.

鈥淪ometimes you鈥檒l find that retailers are looking at the end of line stock, or there are newer versions that have come out,鈥� he explains.聽 鈥淪o they may have just a limited set of televisions, 30 for example, and there are 300 people queuing for them.聽

鈥淣ow, the excitement is: will you get that deal? But if you plan, and the stores will hopefully be more security conscious and organised this year, then it can be a great experience and you can get a bargain.鈥�

But what happens if you miss out on those Black Friday deals?聽 Well three days later, on November 30th, there鈥檚 another bargain bonanza heading our way.

It鈥檚 called Cyber Monday, the day when retailers unleash a wave of online only deals and discounts.聽 Last year, we spent a staggering 拢720 million on Cyber Monday 鈥� making it the second busiest shopping day of the year, after Black Friday.聽

Henry Enos has a few tips on getting the best web-based deals.聽

鈥淩emember, if you haven鈥檛 purchased in the store before you鈥檒l have to enter all your details.聽 You鈥檒l need to register to join their site.聽 Now, if you鈥檙e sitting there at midnight and thinking, 鈥業鈥檓 going to purchase this,鈥� and you鈥檝e still got to fill out all the details you might lose your bargain, so pre-register if you can.

鈥淎lso, look at the add on delivery cost,鈥澛� explains Henry 鈥渁nd just check that by the time you鈥檝e got the ticket discount item, that the delivery costs are not going to bring that item back up to full price.聽

鈥淵ou could order online and then click and collect, so that you can collect in store.聽 The benefit is that you can inspect the goods straight away and you can return in store straight away if it鈥檚 the wrong item.鈥�

A dodgy car dealer, featured on X-ray twice over the past couple of years, has been given an eight month suspended jail sentence after admitting six counts of selling dangerous cars.

A hearing this December at Newport Crown Court also banned Nasser Asfi from having any involvement in the car trade for the next ten years.

His businesses in Barry have gone through five different names in as many years, with Trading Standards describing him as the most complained about car dealer in the area.

Christina Hill, from Trading Standards, said: 鈥淭he business name was changing very often. This was a way of trying to escape investigation or prevent us, trading standards, from looking at them and tracing who was behind the company.鈥�

This isn't the first time Nasser Asfi's been in trouble聽 Four years ago Cardiff Crown Court ordered him to pay back 拢11,000 for selling unsafe cars.聽

But he didn't stop, 聽and customers who'd been ripped off by his garages began asking X-ray to expose his dodgy dealings聽

Linda Savory told us in 2013 how she paid eighteen hundred pounds for a Renault Scenic from what was then Trade Price Cars. But it still had an unpaid loan against it, which meant she didn't actually own it.

Linda said: "If I'd have known then what I know now, I would not have touched the car with a barge pole."

After we got involved, Nasser finally paid her back. The following year we heard more horror stories from customers like Richard Aboulachouaq.聽聽

Richard said: "I was coming off the motorway, off the slip-road and the car just cut out completely. Totally died. Driving round about between 50 and 60 miles an hour with my family in the car."

Trading Standards were by now building a聽prosecution against Nasser Asfi and his brother Asghar, who also worked at the garage. Their key witness was Mike Smith, from Briton Ferry, whose Renault Clio was a wreck.

Mike said: "My wife heard a noise coming from the back brakes.聽 She was obviously a bit concerned. It was supposed to have just passed its MOT."

Mike's car should never have been on the road. An expert inspection showed the brakes and suspension were worn and the exhaust had been patched up with a coke can.

Mike said: 鈥淚t looks like it had been standing in a scrap heap for two years and basically they threw the car together just to sell it.鈥�

Mike's case gave Trading Standards the evidence they needed to send in their inspectors. They checked five vehicles and found all were unsafe.

Christina Hill, from Trading Standards, said: 鈥淐learly they were bringing cars in, and just putting a sales ticket on there without carrying out any checks whatsoever."

Earlier this year, Ashgar admitted 10 charges of unfair consumer practices. But his brother Nasser was a harder nut to crack. He insisted the business was owned by someone else called Jamal Asfi. But that is Nasser's middle name, something which became clear in court.

Christina Hill said: 聽"Mr Asfi was granted bail, and produced a passport which was in the name of Jamal Asfi, which again pointed back to the director of the company, and eventually he pleaded guilty to the charges he was facing."

Nasser Asfi finally admitted six charges of selling unsafe vehicles.

This December the judge at Newport Crown Court gave him an eight month suspended jail sentence, banned him from the motor trade for ten years, and ordered him to pay more than 拢20,000 towards prosecution costs.

His brother Ashgar was given a four month suspended jail sentence, banned from selling cars for five years and ordered to pay just over 拢5,000 in prosecution costs.

The court also ordered them to pay Mike Smith 拢1700 in compensation for the car they sold him.