Derren BrownIan West/PA Archive/Press Association Images

TV magician Derren Brown saw £33,000 disappear from his bank account, after his cleaner stole two blank cheques from a drawer in his office.

So how did she cash in and just how common is it for stars to be ripped off by staff?

Crime


The crime

The cheques had been signed and left in the desk while Brown was touring, for emergencies. On his return, he did not immediately notice that the money had gone missing, until his accountant queried two payments for £11,500 and £21,550.35 - which were traced back to the cheques

Rocio Pavon-Navarrete, 47, of Bardsley Lane, Greenwich, south east London, pleaded guilty to theft at Southwark Crown Court. Judge David Higgins has not yet passed sentence, but said: "Whilst I adjourned for a pre-sentence report the high probability remains that she will be sentenced to immediate custody given that which is obviously the grossest breach of trust. I wish her to be under no illusions as to what the future is likely to hold given the very serious criminality."

Crime



Pavon-Navarrete did not bank the cheques. A second person is due to go on trial, charged with fraud after paying the cheques into his account. He denies the charges - claiming he took the cheques as payment for work he completed.

Celebrities ripped off

We will have to await the outcome of this particular case, but it goes to show how celebrities put their lives in the hands of others - and how easy it can be for them to take advantage.

In the last few days alone a bookeeper has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $650,000 from American celebrity trainer, Tony Little.

And you don't have to go far back to find examples closer to home. U2 guitarist Adam Clayton had an astonishing £2.2 million of his money stolen by personal assistant, Carol Hawkins, who worked for him for 17 years. She was found guilty of 181 counts of theft this summer - which she spent on 22 horses, a luxury flat in New York and expensive holidays.

He's not the only UK rock star to suffer. Sting lost over £6 million in 1995, when his accountant at the time, Keith Moore turned rogue. Moore was sentenced to six years in jail.

Could it happen to you?

Most of us don't have to worry about staff. However, with some households employing cleaners and nannies, these sorts of problems can occur.

If you are being stolen from, this is a police matter. However, they are very unlikely to be interested unless you have clear proof.

One option is to leave out a specific sum of money for when the staff member is in the house alone, and return to check it before anyone else could have entered the house. You also need to keep a clear list of specific items that have gone missing, which could help in any investigation.

In any case, it's vital not to be too quick to accuse someone. In any home, things do go missing, so it's worth checking very carefully and erring on the side of caution before making any accusations.

10 of the biggest consumer rip-offs

  • 1. Mobile data roaming charges
    <p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Using a mobile phone to make and receive calls, send texts and browse the web while abroad can be extremely costly &ndash; especially if you are travelling outside the European Union (EU), where calls can cost up to 10 times as much as at home.</span></p> <div> </div> <div> To avoid high charges, Carphone Warehouse suggests tourists ensure a data cap is in place, use applications to check data usage, turn off 'data roaming', avoid data-intensive applications such as Google Maps and YouTube and use wi-fi spots to update social networking sites.</div>
    1. Mobile data roaming charges
  • 2. PPI
    <p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is supposed to help people to continue meeting their loan, mortgage or credit card repayments if they fall ill or lose their jobs. However, policies are often over-priced, riddled with exclusions and sold to people who could not make a claim if they needed to.</span></p> <div> </div> <div> At one point, sale of this cover - which was often included automatically in loan repayments - was estimated to boost the banks' profits by up to &pound;5 billion a year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Now, though, consumers who were mis-sold PPI can fight back by complaining to the bank or lender concerned and taking their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (08000 234567) should the response prove unsatisfactory.</div>
    2. PPI
  • 3. The Lottery
    <p> It could be you, but let's face it, it probably won't be. In fact, buying a ticket for the Lotto only gives you a 1 in 13.9 million chance of winning the jackpot.</p> <div> </div> <div> With odds like that, you would almost certainly be better off hanging on to your cash and saving it in a high-interest account.</div>
    3. The Lottery
  • 4. Budget airlines
    <p> No-frills airlines such as EasyJet may promote rock-bottom prices on their websites. But the overall fare you pay can be surprisingly high once extras such as luggage and credit card payment fees have been added - a process known as drip pricing.</p> <div> </div> <div> Taking one piece of hold baggage on a return EasyJet flight, for example, adds close to &pound;20 to the cost of your flight, while paying by credit card increases the price by a further &pound;10.</div> <div> </div> <div> It may therefore be worth comparing the total cost with that of a flight with a standard airline such as British Airways.</div>
    4. Budget airlines
  • 5. Credit card cash withdrawals
    <p> Cash advances, which include cash withdrawals, are generally charged at a much higher rate of interest than standard purchases.</p> <div> </div> <div> While the average credit card interest rate is around 17%, a typical cash withdrawal of &pound;500, for example, is charged at more than 26%.</div> <div> </div> <div> What's more, as the interest accrues from the date of the transaction, rather than the next payment date, costs will mount up even if you clear your balance in full with your next payment.</div>
    5. Credit card cash withdrawals
  • 6. Supermarket 'deals'
    <p> Supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda often run promotions under which you can, for example, get three products for the price of two.</p> <div> </div> <div> However, it is only worth taking advantage of these deals if you will actually use the products. Otherwise, you are simply buying for the sake of it, which is a waste of your hard-earned cash.</div> <div> </div> <div> To avoid paying over the odds, it is also worth checking the price per kilo to ensure that larger <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/05/24/supermarkets-slammed-for-multi-buy-rip-offs/">'economy' packs really are cheaper</a> than the smaller versions.</div>
    6. Supermarket 'deals'
  • 7. Train fares
    <p> Buy a train ticket at the station on the day of travel and the price is likely to give you a shock - especially if you are travelling a long distance at a busy time of day.</p> <div> </div> <div> However, <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/03/13/how-to-cut-the-cost-of-your-commute/">you can cut the cost of train travel</a> by 50% or more by going online and making the purchase beforehand - especially if you book 12 weeks in advance, which is when the cheapest tickets are on sale.</div> <div> </div> <div> Other ways to reduce the price you pay include avoiding peak times and taking advantage of so-called carnet tickets, which allow you to buy, for example, 12 journeys for the price of 10.</div>
    7. Train fares
  • 8. Packaged current accounts
    <p> Most High Street banks offer packaged accounts that come with monthly fees ranging from &pound;6.50 up to as much as &pound;40, with a typical account charging about &pound;15 per month.</p> <div> </div> <div> Various benefits, such as travel insurance and mobile phone insurance, are offered in return for this fee. But whether or not it is worth paying for them depends on your individual circumstances.</div> <div> </div> <div> Before signing up, it is therefore essential to <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/01/14/maximise-your-current-account/">check that you will make use of enough of the benefits</a>, and that you cannot get them for less elsewhere.</div>
    8. Packaged current accounts
  • 9. Overseas withdrawals/card payments
    <p> Overseas money transfers or travel money purchases attract the same high rate of interest as credit card cash withdrawals.</p> <div> </div> <div> Worse still, most credit cards &ndash; and debit cards &ndash; also charge you a foreign loading fee if you use them to make purchases while abroad.</div> <div> </div> <div> You can, however, <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/02/17/how-to-avoid-overseas-bank-fees/">avoid these charges</a> by using a Saga Platinum or Nationwide Building Society credit card.</div>
    9. Overseas withdrawals/card payments
  • 10. Premium rate phone lines
    <p> Numbers starting 0871 cost 10p or more from a landline, while those starting 09 can cost more than &pound;1 a minute <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/03/21/call-0800-0808-and-0870-numbers-for-free-from-your-mobile/">from a mobile phone</a>.</p> <div> </div> <div> And the operators of these high-cost phone lines, some of which are banks, often get a cut of the call charges.</div> <div> </div> <div> Most 09 numbers are linked to scams and should therefore be avoided at all costs, while 0871 numbers can often be bypassed by searching for an alternative local rate numbers on the saynoto0870.com.</div>
    10. Premium rate phone lines


More stories