Tuesday, November 4, 2008

High Court injunction for bogus tipster

Paul Eacott


A BOGUS tipster from West Sussex has been prevented from carrying out any more scams after being hit with a High Court injunction following action taken by the OFT.

Denis McCarthy sent out a series of mailshots under the name of D&E Associates offering a racing tipster service which, at a cost of up to £397, promised the chance to win "over £2,000 per week tax free". It is believed that more than 4,000 people sent money in response to the letters, netting McCarthy an estimated £300,000.

The OFT considered the mailings to be misleading as they gave the impression that the supposed experts behind D&E Associates, Peter Deegan and Christopher Emmerson, were real people with over 60 years combined experience in the racing industry who had access to inside information.

It was claimed that Deegan "had been involvedwith horse racing for nearly 40 years", and had worked as a "private handicapper for the biggest punter/owner in the UK", while Emmerson was "extremely well known within the racing fraternity". In fact, there was no evidence that either person actually existed.
Further misleading claims were made about the past success of the tipping service, including that members had made "over £350,000 clear tax-free profit in the previous six years". McCarthy failed to provide any evidence to substantiate these claims.

Mike Haley, director of consumer protection at the OFT, said: "These mailings used fictitious names and false claims to mislead thousands of consumers into sending money in the belief they would have access to a successful tipster service."

The High Court injunction prohibits McCarthy from continuing to be involved in the publication of misleading advertisements promoting tipster services.

The OFT, who were assisted by Brighton & Hove local authority trading standards service during the investigation, estimate that that the public lose at least £5 million every year to bogus racing tipsters.


- racingPost

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