How to spot fraudsters and avoid becoming their next victim

By Rodney Hobson

These days fraudsters operate on a massive scale that was previously unimaginable. Thousands of people from all walks of life are relieved of billions of pounds each year. No-one knows the full scale of fraud because embarrassed victims often fail to report it.

Despite all the press coverage, people keep falling for old tricks that often re-emerge in new guises. Scammers are ingenious, utterly ruthless and without conscience.

Rodney Hobson, author of the best-selling beginners guide to stock market investing Shares Made Simple, has produced the first definitive guide to scams, categorising the different types, listing tell-tale signs and advising how to spot a fraudster and avoid becoming the next victim. This makes the basic principles behind each type of scam more recognisable and it shows how scams have evolved and re-emerged over time.

Danger lurks for those unwary souls who part only too readily with their hard-earned cash and this book will help you be alert to the risks. It is also meant to entertain, as we learn to grudgingly admire as well as despise the ingenious crooks who lurk in the shadows.

Rodney Hobson is an experienced financial journalist who has held senior editorial positions with publications in the UK and Asia and is currently Editor of Ipreo, an international financial services group.

Among posts he has held are News Editor for the Business section of The Times, Business Editor of the Singapore Monitor, Deputy Business Editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, Head of News at Citywire and Editor of Shares magazine. He has also contributed to the Daily Mail, the Independent and Business Franchise Magazine.

Rodney is the author of financial titles Shares Made Simple, now in its second edition (9780857192356), Small Companies, Big Profits (9781905641789), Understanding Company News (9781906659226), How to Build a Share Portfolio (9780857190215) and The Dividend Investor (9780857190963). He also writes the Detective Inspector Paul Amos Lincolnshire Mystery series of book (Dead Money, and Unlikely Graves).

He is registered as a Representative with the Financial Services Authority.

Rodney is married with one daughter.