Newsbot Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 A politician is to ask a national paper to justify claims the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are a "hideout for fraudsters". Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/7410611.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 If anyone bothers to read the article CLICK they'll find that there is no mention of these places in it except for the 'advice' that some bone-idle journo has tagged on at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Public Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 "Beware of sellers from strange locations - the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are popular hideouts for fraudsters" Pretty naughty of him nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 There goes my feedback score... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 "Beware of sellers from strange locations - the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are popular hideouts for fraudsters" Hmmmmm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 It would be naive and irresponsible of the Minister to make an issue out of this since it would draw further attention to the original article. Much better to ignore it. The original article has now already been read by more people than would have read it had she not drawn attention to it. She has succeeded already in feeding a media story which would have otherwise died. I hope that wise voices in her department will persuade her that the best way to proceed with this is to go completely quiet about it. Say nothing else. It would be so much better if the Civil Servants would control their politicians better sometimes. You'd think that at this time of year especially they could all be packed off on overseas fact finding trips or something. Or better still, on some sort of course combining media studies and game theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragmatopian Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Certainly in fraud investigations and regulatory reviews it's not unheard of to use transactions through offshore jursidictions as a risk factor, but I don't see what relevance it has to online merchants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-in-man Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 I read that article and spat my tea all over my toast! Where is his proof? Lazy journo - probably the office geek - given an article to write on a slow news day. Lets hope he gets a pasting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 "Beware of sellers from strange locations - the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are popular hideouts for fraudsters" Pretty naughty of him nonetheless. but he may not be incorrect either?? despite local protestations of our squeakyness..... are there any brown envelopes in stock again yet?? they sell out real quick.,.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Voice of Reason Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 It would be naive and irresponsible of the Minister to make an issue out of this since it would draw further attention to the original article. Much better to ignore it. The original article has now already been read by more people than would have read it had she not drawn attention to it. She has succeeded already in feeding a media story which would have otherwise died. I hope that wise voices in her department will persuade her that the best way to proceed with this is to go completely quiet about it. Say nothing else. The Minister has a duty to represent and protect her Island from such unsubstantiated allegations and lazy journalism. It would be naive and irresponsible for her not to address such allegations. Pongo, if somebody accused you of being a fraudster (or even worse) would you do nothing and remain quiet about it in case the situation got worse?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 The Minister has a duty to represent and protect her Island from such unsubstantiated allegations and lazy journalism. It would be naive and irresponsible for her not to address such allegations. Pongo, if somebody accused you of being a fraudster (or even worse) would you do nothing and remain quiet about it in case the situation got worse?. If you respond to a media story you feed it. So in many cases it probably is best to ignore lazy and relatively obscure accusations. Being unavailable for comment is often the best thing (like Jersey was). If they phone up your department looking to contact you for a reaction to something that has been printed - then they are basically fishing. They want to provoke a response. You being upset and annoyed becomes the story if you respond. It's like feedback. Now there is the potential that a bunch of historical stories with some vague connection to the IOM will be dragged up and listed in connection with the original rubbish - which will then seem justified. It won't matter if they are not relevant. The connection only needs to exist in peoples' minds. There will probably always be stupid accusations like this. Personally I have no doubt that the IOM is much more tightly regulated these day than many jurisdictions - probably including London and the US. But because we are a funny little island we can seem a bit dodgy. The way to fight this kind of historical prejudice is with genuine good news and international finance agreements - which is very much what the IOM govt seems to have been actually quietly working towards and achieving over the past few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 The way to fight this kind of historical prejudice is with genuine good news and international finance agreements - which is very much what the IOM govt seems to have been actually quietly working towards and achieving over the past few years. I would agree with that. The island got some good coverage from the FT in recent months, the best thing to do is get as much similar good coverage as you can. People have to face up to the fact that offshores are getting a bad press, especially from socialists at present IMO as a ruse to up the tax burden on their residents. It's not hard to release a good news story, papers are always looking for fillers - but in general clearly a more coordinated effort is required by the island. Just watch, it'll be the same old crap printed for this years TT about how 'bad' it is, as they rake their filing cabinets for filler information - especially with a couple of wet days forecast for TT week. You have to pre-empt these lazy journos sometimes by putting out good news Press Releases first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mona Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 Regarding fraudsters on and in the Isle of Man A couple of weeks ago one of the political Parties was having a meeting. A quite well known local Manxman walked in from a well known local family and put his money down on the table asked to join the Party. He was seeking to be nominated for the then available seat being fought between Mrs Pam Crowe and David Callister. This highly plausible, well spoken and intelligent fellow has actually spent time in prison in the UK for fraud. He is a member of our church, so all this is quite factual. Perhaps very nearly, we could have had a fraudster in Tynwald. Fortunately the political party concerned did not go for it as I don't believe they support the Legislative Council as such. There again, we are a different independent country - what happens across stays across? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triskelion Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 Just watch, it'll be the same old crap printed for this years TT about how 'bad' it is, as they rake their filing cabinets for filler information - especially with a couple of wet days forecast for TT week. You have to pre-empt these lazy journos sometimes by putting out good news Press Releases first. Only too true. I saw on the BBC recently however that nine people have died in the last year in show-jumping events in England this year; scant contraversy there though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Ayres Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 "Fortunately the political party concerned did not go for it as I don't believe they support the Legislative Council as such." Alternately they had better scruples than most and saw through his scam, unlike your organisation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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