THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS | Watch out - web scammers can infiltrate your surfing |
Inside Out goes on the trail of the conmen who robbed a Scarborough
couple of a lifetime of holidays. Weatherman Paul Hudson meets Yorkshire's stormchasers.
And we join the last survivors of Huddersfield's fireworks industry at a major
international display. Beware - scammers online Online
auction sites like eBay are among the fastest growing businesses in the world
- it can be great fun and you can pick up a real bargain. But beware -
there are scammers using the sites too, who want your money - for nothing. Inside
Out looks at how a couple from Scarborough were fleeced by a gang of internet
scammers. Retired security officer Graham Norris says, "We paid 拢5000
for a camper van that doesn't exist".
"I thought I was dealing
on eBay and it was all safe. We weren't on eBay at all, and it was a con. It was
so easy for them." Graham's wife Pat adds, "It seemed to good
to be true - and it was too good to be true. We just hope that no-one else
falls for this scam". | Be web aware - scammers are on the increase |
Inside
Out presenter Nicola Rees managed to get in touch with the same scammers online.
With the help of a former computer hacker, she tries some 'scam-baiting'
- this is where you try and string computer scammer along to try and get information
out of them, or simply to waste their time. She says, "I set up a special
email account so the scammer wouldn't know I was from the 成人论坛 and I pretended
I wanted to buy the van". Nicola explains, "He took the bait
and we emailed each other for a couple of weeks. "He said he was an
Italian house builder called Robert and his story made sense. "I understand
how people are taken in - but if you know what you are looking for, you can spot
these scammers." Nicola added, "He did get a bit fed up with me
though when I sent him an email saying he was a miserable, lying scammer and he
was on the TV!" Cybercrime During the programme financial
crime specialist Tony Hetherington warned of the rapid rise in the number of these
types of crime. He says, "It's almost impossible to catch these criminals.
Cyberspace is a good place to be committing a crime at the moment because the
chances of getting caught are almost nil. "Police forces haven't the
time or the expertise to deal with these scams." Tony believes that
this particular scam stems from Eastern Europe and that the Russian Mafia are
behind it. "They are well organised and very hi-tech. They know how
to work the system and they target vulnerable people. "They know that
the chances are no-one is going to come after them." Graham and Pat
Norris are hoping that the programme will help warn other people before they are
taken in by the scammers. Storm chasers 成人论坛 weatherman Paul
Hudson has turned TV reporter to tell the amazing story of two Yorkshire stormchasers. Paul
teamed up with Sarah and Caroline Bain, post graduate students at Leeds University,
who spend their weekends tracking thunder and lightning and capturing it on camera. Inside
Out reveals their amazing footage of the once-in-a-lifetime storm that devastated
villages around Helmsley in June 2005. It is thought to be the only film
of the storm itself. The film shows hailstones the size of 50p pieces pounding
the area around the Chopgate, followed by torrential rain. | Stormchasers can get caught by fast changing weather |
Seventy centimetres - a month's average rainfall - came down in an
hour. Sarah had to seek shelter moments after capturing these scenes when
her car broke down and becks and streams overflowed. She was led to safety
by a villagers across a narrow bridge over floodwaters that reached 12 feet deep. Hudson
says, "It's remarkable to see the actual weather that led to such terrible
damage. Although there was a lot of footage of the aftermath, to see pictures
of hailstones that big is astonishing." The Look North weatherman took
Sarah and Caroline back to the town, where some of the worst flooding took place.
He later helped them chase the storm which brought chaos to this summer's
Glastonbuiry
Inside Out also meets Sarah Norris and Caroline Bain,
meteorology graduates, and Yorkshire's most fanatical stormchasers. They're
adrenaline junkies who go hunting extreme weather. But in June this year,
this storm almost proved too much for Sarah. On the North York Moors, she
and her camera came face to face with a once in a lifetime superstorm聟 Thousands
of people were running for their lives as the River Rye burst its banks and a
wall of water thundered down into Helmsley.
Surrounded by rising floodwater,
Sarah's car had broken down, its engine flooded. Mike Birch is the man
who could have saved her life - by leading her to safety in his home near Chopgate. Note
- safety first Storm Chasing can be very dangerous if undertaken by
inexperienced individuals. Storm chasers should always have a safety plan
and follow safety rules.
Firework champions?
Inside Out looks at one of the world's best pyrotechnic teams at
work. | Up in smoke - will Huddersfield make a big bang? |
Huddersfield's Kath Schofield and Graham Wilkinson are in Prague -
they're setting up a huge display they hope will literally blow their international
competition away, and put Yorkshire back on the firework map. They are
competing against pyrotechnic teams from all over the world. Graham and
Kath have shipped in 1陆 tonnes of explosives. They've got two days to lay
them out by hand - and it'll all go up in smoke in just 20 minutes.
But
will they win best firework display? 听 |