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Millions caught out by "credit card" sting
12 Dec 2003 by Flash Gorman
Households all over the country are facing a miserable New Year after being caught in scams involving so-called "credit cards". Taking advantage of the need for extra spending during the festive season, the cards seem to offer a solution by allowing people to purchase goods even when they don't have sufficient money in the bank.
The sting in the tail comes when people attempt to repay the money and find they are forced to pay additional monies known as "interest", which can be twenty percent or more of the original sum.
We spoke to Mr D Ramsbottom, who is one of the many people caught out by this sharp practice. "I wanted to buy a whole lot of crap that I didn't really need, you know for Christmas like," he told us. "So when the credit card company offered to give me the money I was over the moon. Now that I find that they were just doing it to make money out of me, I feel cheap and used."
Police have urged people to avoid companies offering this service, warning that they pose as reputable businesses. In some cases the companies involved go to elaborate lengths to perpetrate their dodgy practices. In one instance a company, known simply as Barclaycard, went to the trouble of posing as a reputable company for several decades and paying a succession of television stars to plug their product.
Such warnings have, however, come too late for Britain's latest credit casualty; known simply as Mr Brown from London, he is rumoured to have run up £10 billion of debt.
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Look at this, moron.
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