Shop Oldham

UPDATE (Nov 2007)

Report Oldham:

Tax evasion hotline (incl income tax, VAT and National Insurance):
https://www.taxevasionhotline.co.uk/forms/selfemp.htm
0800 788 887 (8am-8pm, Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm, Sat&Sun)

Benefit cheats (Job Seekers Allowance, Disability Allowance, Income Support):
(You do not have to give personal details)
https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/benefitfraud/

Trading Standards:
Email: alan.burnett@northtyneside.gov.uk
Tel: 0191 219 2634
Alan Burnett
Senior Trading Standards Officer
Environment, Regeneration & Housing
The Killingworth Site
PO Box 113
Killingworth
NE12 6WJ

Streams:
info@nr-online.com
0207 471 1731

———

Oldham’s details:

Full name: Duncan Oldham

DOB: 13th September, 1974

Married: Maria Hartley – 24th July, 1999 Now separated or divorced. He alleges that she has legal custody of their two children.

Education: Scalby Technology College in Scarborough, North Yorkshire until 1991

Tel nos:
07017 028 900
0151 324 1617 or 0151 324 1615 (Skype)
07962 367 537 (SMS)
966 876 471 (Alicante)

Addresses:
Murillo, 43
03530 – LA NUCIA – ALICANTE

KOPTALK.COM
PO BOX 441
YO11 9BZ
ENGLAND
(registered to: 36 Osgodby Hall Road, Scarborough, YO11 3PX)

Previous addresses:
1 St Oswald Road (appears to have been sold around June 2007. Location of KT “shed”)
Wallsend
Tyne and Wear
NE28 7HJ

5 Swan Avenue (Bought March 15th, 2002. Ownership seems to have been transferred to Maria Clare Oldham on July 22nd, 2003, according to current Land Registry records)
off Bede Crescent
Wallsend
Tyne and Wear
NE28 7JH

1 Swan Avenue (Mum’s address)
off Bede Crescent
Wallsend
Tyne and Wear
NE28 7HJ

Koptalk.com
PO Box 556
Wallsend
NE28 7WZ (= registered to 5 Swan Avenue property)

1 Princess Terrace
Scarborough
YO11 1QT

PO Box 145
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
YO11 1YD (= registered to 1 Princess Terrace property)

PO Box 145
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
YO12 7XU

Previous tel nos:
0191 209 1617
0905 028 0723
07962 475020

—————————————————————————————-

 

by Rupert Insider

 

(Draft – work in progress – corrections, additions and links very welcome)

PART ONE

We have shown that Duncan Oldham’s business success was based on outright begging for equipment and cash, and on skimming charities he set up for relatives, and on various forms of cheating that gave him an unfair advantage over what he calls the “rival sites” – in which he includes LFC’s “Official Site”.

Many believe that Oldham is so addicted to easy money from supporters of LFC he must try to come-back from the serious set-backs he has suffered since this blog began in the early summer of 2006. And because cheating has been characteristic of his entire history on the net, even from 1990’s when he used the name of Del Johnson to sell illegal satellite cards and then not deliver them, it is reasonable to suppose that his cheating will continue. Duncan Oldham’s Criminal Past as Del Johnson

We can go on tut-tutting, or we can do something about it. When your grandkids ask you what you did during the Kop v Oldham War – make sure you can say without hesitation “I did my bit”.

Some may be a bit squeamish – about shopping a benefits cheat, for example. We all know needy people, dependent on some form of financial assistance from the state, struggling in life with genuine burdens and disadvantages. And perhaps they “cheat” sometimes when they don’t declare all the minor fluctuations in their circumstances which might result in their losing some or all of the assistance temporarily or permanently. They live so close to the line that perhaps a little fudging is understandable and most of us look the other way.

Don’t confuse that profile with Duncan Oldham’s.

He flaunts his alleged wealth. Whether it’s in the form of his ₤37,000 (?) Mercedes and his Ford and the other vehicles he is talking of buying, and property he says he has bought for cash or is in the process of buying in Liverpool and Malta and New York, and numerous wide-screen plasma TV’s, computers, digital cameras and other accessories, foreign holidays, days betting at the races, overnight stays at 4 star hotels, days traipsing from Newcastle to fool around in the street outside the Melwood training ground, when the rest of us are working or looking for work, his embarrassing folly to Canada and the United States which cost upwards of ₤5,000 as well as cash hand-outs to the family members who helped him carry out his con.

And he taunts his “rivals” that his financial success is all the evidence he needs that his site is No.1 for LFC (when it is actually no higher than No. 12) and he uses his claims to wealth to convince the gullible to pay ₤30 for new memberships on the grounds that if he is doing so well financially he must be supported by many.

What we propose is bringing back Oldham to the same ground-rules that govern other businesses in the UK.

Any attempt to bring him to account must be supported by individuals taking it on themselves to inform the appropriate authorities.

Sometimes, an investigator may start a case but then drops it from overwork, or because it is too difficult finding the information. Sometimes, investigators wait for multiple complaints. So don’t think that because others from the blog are doing it you don’t need to. It is our experience that agencies and businesses sometimes do not respond to the first well-argued cases – but they are affected by them. And then, one day, another complaint comes in, perhaps not so well-argued, but it’s that complaint that triggers them into action. Complaints have a cumulative effect.

In some case the authorities take anonymous tip-offs. So do use that facility if you are nervous or intimidated by his threats.

But it is usually best to give one’s name and contact details. You can always insist that your name and address be kept confidential.

And remember you do not have to produce proof. After all, a swindler is hardly likely to leave proof lying around. In fact, he’s likely to make it as difficult as possible for investigators by failing to keep the records which are a legal requirement, and by using multiple personal names, addresses, and different web sites and by making contradictory statements and outright lies in order to confuse and cover his tracks.

All you are required to do is summarize your suspicion indicating your grounds. You should also make it as easy as possible for investigators to identify and locate him and to find his various claims on the net. Remember they do have superior legal tracking powers and any snippet of information you give them can help.

Many of Oldham’s statements can be found somewhere on this blog. You could always provide the link to the specific page or to this summary.

Your information can be about Oldham’s past practices. We know he has lost members since the blog started. But he has been taking in money for several years. And if he were to be found to have been evading tax and VAT and taking benefits while working in the past he will have to pay in arrears, with penalties.

These are the main suspicions about Duncan Oldham finances and business practices.

 

1. That he may have skimmed donations sent for childrens’ charities.
2. That he may have drawn unemployment benefits while working.
3. That he may have conspired with other family members to allow them to claim benefits while working for him.
4. That as an employer and as a self-employed person he failed to pay National Insurance contributions.
5. That he habitually infringed the Trades Description Act and the Data Protection Act and that he habitually made false representations about the goods and services he sold and the information he disseminated.
6. That he habitually stole copyrighted articles, photographs, videos and live links to broadcasts for profit and sold them as his own.
7. That he may have evaded reporting income for himself or his businesses to HM Revenue and Customs.
8. That he may have evaded the collecting and forwarding of VAT.
   

These are some of the reasonable grounds for suspicion

1. He has conducted business on the web under different names – Del Johnson and Duncan Oldham being just two of them.

2. He claims that Duncan Oldham is not his real name – it is.

3. He claims he does not live in Wallsend, near Newcastle – he does.

4. He claims he lives in Scarborough, Yorkshire – he doesn’t.

5. He claims that his family employees – his mother and his step-brother do not receive a wage from him – yet they spend most of their time working for him and have no other visible means of support. This also suggests he does not make National Insurance contributions. (He claims his wife worked for him full-time, in the past, and part-time, in the evenings , earlier in 2006 after she finished her main work as a teacher).

6. He claims he does not receive a wage but claims to live a lifestyle that relies on a substantial income to support it. This also has implications for National Insurance contributions.

7. He claims to have a debilitating illness (one which might be expected to qualify him for disability benefits) yet he also claims to work long hours every day seven days a week.

 

 

8. He has claimed that Koptalk has 6,000 members most of who paid subscriptions of between ₤26-30 per year. He offered discounts of 33% (₤10) for payments made in bank notes or other negotiable instruments, with no receipt required.

9. In July 2006 he claimed that recent revenues from betting referrals had increased 10 times in relation to the World Cup.

10. He claimed significant revenues from referrals to Adult Date Finder.

11. He claimed revenues from advertisements based on traffic to his sites, and has claimed that he received hundreds of thousands of hits daily.

12. He claimed significant revenues from the sale of LFC regalia, books, CDs and DVD’s.

13. He claimed revenues from advanced ₤5 “deposits” on his book “Anfield Exposed” payments over a two-year period. He also claimed that indications from these deposits are that the first run of the book will be 20,000 copies. He fails to refund all those who demand their money back because he has not started to write the book, two years after taking deposits. (He ssi reported to have made some refunds when legal or other action was threatened).

14. He did not collect VAT on any of these sales of goods and services. He uses many different sites as sales outlets which may be an attempt to disguse the total of revenues and thereby evade registration for VAT.

15. His public comments on his financial results are self-contradictory. He sometimes pleads poverty for tactical purposes. In September 2006 he closed his free forums on the grounds he could not afford to maintain them and had difficulty finding cash to pay a season ticket at LFC. This was a couple of weeks after claiming to have had record new signings of memberships and other revenues. And since then, he has talked a lot about buying properties and cars and foreign holidays.

16. In his MySpace profile he claims an income of ₤250,000 a year. In other public statements he claims an income in excess of ₤140,000. In other statements he says he is “unwaged” but has two or three good months a year after which he can “treat himself”.

17. In the spring and summer of 2006 he claimed that profits were so substantial that he could buy vehicles (a Mercedes Clk200 K Sport Auto, a Ford Ka Design and, prospectively, a van kitted out for broadcasting as well as an ex-army Landrover) properties (including a ₤300,000 a house and an hotel in Liverpool and a house in Malta) and plasma TV’s and other expensive audio-visual equipment.

18. To former confidants such as Dj_Sydney he claims his site is worth ₤5 million based on its revenues and membership.

19. He claims to have bought his home with cash and to have removed the mortgage on his mother’s home and to have bought his Koptalk HQ business office with cash. He also claims to be thinking of buying a house for his mother in Malta soon. (However, public records show that one of the houses he claims is his is in his wife’s name and has a mortgage and the Koptak HQ is on her land).

 

 

20. He has never denied suspicions that he does not report his income or pay personal income tax

21. He has chosen to “opt out” of revealing the ownership of his many sites with the Registrar. (But contributors to this blog have successfully requested the Registrar to make them public).

22. He has many web sites which are versions of those owned by “rivals” and in some cases he directs their traffic to his revenue-earning sites. They include the address of a charity – the Michael Shields campaign.

23. He always uses PO Boxes rather than street addresses.

24. None of his businesses are incorporated. There are no public records. He is unknown to Companies House.

 

25. He demands excessively detailed personal information from users but is not registered under the Data Protection Act

 

26. He makes use of personal information submitted in confidence to intimidate critical members by contacting their employers.

27. Members who cancel their membership in his sites or are banned by him for asking questions immediately begin receiving large quantities of junk mail, suggesting he has sold their personal information to marketing companies.

 

28. None of his charities are registered with the Charities Commissioner and he closed the web site for his main charity after a report was made to the police and questions were asked about it.

29. He fails to provide receipts or any accounting of donations to charities.

 

30. He draws annual membership fees automatically from the PayPal accounts of members who do not wish to renew and does not repay all of them on request.

31. He cancels life-time, honorary and full memberships on a whim. He constantly creates new categories and levels of memberships in order to force existing members to upgrade for a fee.

32. He claims to consort with “underworld friends” and to consult “hitters” about getting rid of his “rivals.

 

33. He habitually attempts to deceive users of his sites by posting under different pseudonyms, including the names used by his family, and by giving misleading information about his whereabouts.

 

34. He habitually makes false claims about his relationship with LFC and its players and former players, its directors, executives and potential investors.

 

35. He makes false claims about the scope and quality of the services he offers to members and the authenticity of the LFC regalia he sells. He illegally sells tickets to LFC matches above their face value.

 

36. He habitually steals the intellectual property and copyright of others to re-sell to those who buy memberships in his site.

37. He is preparing a trip to Malta, making enquiries about internet access from there and declaring his intention to buy a property there, ostensibly for his mother, and in general acting in a manner consistent with someone preparing a bolt-hole should it be necessary to evade investigation.

38. In more than seven years he has never provided the name or address of a bank account for charitable donations or payments to his business or himself. This suggests that he is deliberately avoiding normal business practices in order to evade examination of cash flow and may be mixing charitable, business and personal receipts and expenditures. He prefers to deal in cash.

39. He periodically announces that he has lost records. He claims he has no hard copy of records. This suggests that he is deliberately evading accounting to avoid contractual obligations to consumers and that he is failing the legal obligation to maintain records for the purpose of tax assessments and audits.

40.He offers a share in lottery tickets bought for members and other bets and raffles and fails to provide the numbers or other details in advance of the event. He uses raffles and competitions to sell memberships and more often than not never holds the raffle or awards the prize and on the rare occasions he says he has, it was a member of his family who conducted the draw.

___________________________________________________

 

PART TWO

 

Duncan Oldham – aka Del Johnson, Mr.Teflon and Mr. Manchester United

 

DOB: 1974 – 13th September

Married: Maria Hartley – 24th July 1999 He alleges that she has legal custody of their two children.

 

History: He first appeared on the internet in usenet groups circa 1997 (he falsely claims “the early 1990’s”.) In these groups he displayed an interest in police radios, Islam and its paraphenalia, terrorism, acquiring satellite signals illegally, selling illegal and non-existing Sky satellite cards, football, advertising for fit young lads as a sexual partner for threesomes with himself and his wife or pretending to be a girl wishing to sell he lingerie and sexual services to military cadets. He then developed an email list of football supporters – especially LFC.

Under his psuedonym “Del Johnson” he was investigated by Mark Lacey, Trading Standards, Standard House, 48, High Street, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL7 8Y. The issue was his sale of illegal satellite television cards through usenet groups, as well as his failure to deliver them to buyers and his skipping from his creditors.

Oldham used his address list of supporters to introduce himself to Koptalk as a part-time helper circa 1998/1999 assisting Colin Seaman, the founder and designer of Koptalk. (Oldham falsely claims that he, himself, started Koptalk). They worked together for a few months before Colin left because Oldham was more interested in money than football. Oldham assumed control and ownership and begged readers for free equipment and money. There were about three LFC sites at the time and Koptalk was the largest. (It is now one of the smallest). Its original reason for existence was to provide a free forum (but it has since abandoned the free forums and now charges ₤30 p.a. for membership). In those days when distribution of PC’s was not so widespread, most users would log in from their place of work and the first generation tended to be professionals, more literate than Oldham, and very influential in the growth and control of the site. By 2002/2003 more than 90% of that first generation had abandoned Koptalk and started other sites or joined the other existing sites in protest against Oldham practice of progressively turning Koptalk into a vehicle for his own personality cult and dodgy money-making schemes.

Prior to Koptalk, Oldham claims to have operated a security and contract cleaning business “UK911″ (details of their web addresses to be supplied). It appears this was himself and his mother cleaning offices and acting as security guard. He also worked in a chip shop. There were judgments against him in the CC and to avoid payment he claimed to be suffering from depression and anxiety.

Prior to that he claims he was in the army. (Incredibily, he claims to speak German. This may indicate an army posting on the Rhine).

Prior to that he attended Scalby Technology College in Scarborough, North Yorkshire until 1991. (His future wife also attended that college and left in 1990).

Address: 5 Swan Avenue, off Bede Crescent, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE 28 7JH

Oldham bought it for £29,950 on 15th March 2002. Map Ref:

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=NE28%207JH

 

However, the current Land Registry records show that it now belongs to Maria Clare Oldham, who it seems to have acquired it on July 22^nd 2003. It was worth “under £60,000” at the time. There is also a reference to Halifax PLC (a bank or mortgage company). The apparent transfer of title to his wife and the assumption of a mortgage may suggest that Oldham was converting some of his equity to cash (the proceeds of the loan/mortgage) while at the same time putting the title at arms-length in the name of his wife. This raises suspicions that he was trying to make it difficult for his creditors to place liens on it. Or it may be that he was ineligible for a loan against the property to buy a Mercedes because he did not have an income or refused to declare one, whereas his wife had credit rating because of her job as a teacher. It may simply be that he preferred his wife to be responsible for his debts. It might also have been a marriage settlement. Whatever the reason the facts seem to conflict with his public statements that he, personally, own the property and it is debt free.

A large shed was built in the garden of the house in 2006 as the “HQ” of Koptalk. Oldham claims it is his and he paid cash. But it is on his wife’s property. And he admits that it was not bought but built by his mother’s husband, his step-father, and that his mother had to finance the purchase of material with her credit card.

Oldham publicly claimed that he bought the house from the proceeds of a ₤50,000 judgement, with costs, that he won in the High Court against “rivals”. As far as we know this concerned a dispute about his sale of Koptalk to another company. Oldham wanted Koptalk back and he alleges that the legal dispute was about the original intent of the sales agreement. At other times he refers to “a windfall” coming as the result of dot-com companies throwing money around in the early 20oo’s and over-paying him for rights to Koptalk.

In December 2005, Oldham claimed that Koptalk had just moved HQ but did not say where.

Telephone: +44.1912091617 or 44.798004536 or 0905 028 0723

Autos: D1UNK is a Mercedes Clk200 Sports Auto M99ACA is a Ford Ka

Vans: Corsa and possibly Ford Transit
Business: Koptalk.com and numerous related internet businesses (see below)

Banking: PayPal (number to be supplied) He has never made reference to a bank, either for donations to his charities or for business purposes.

Position: Sole Owner, Executive Editor

Hours: Claims 7 days a week – 10 hours or more daily.

 

Address: Extension to 5 Swan Avenue, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE 28

 

Photo: Ariel Photo of Residence and Kop Talk HQ in Wallsend.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=wallsend&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=54.999891,-1.516961&spn=0.003545,0.011823&t=h&om=1

 

 

 

PO Boxes:

Wallsend

Koptalk.com PO Box 556 Wallsend NE 28 7WZ

Scarborough

PO Box 145, 1 Princess Terrace, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 1YD :

PO Box 145, YO12 7XU.

London: One blog contributor remembers that Oldham was using a box number in the West End of London 3 or 4 years ago, possibly in connection with competitions. (Number to be supplied?) Research also produced the following London address, but its link to Oldham is not confirmed. The SP, PO Box 7292, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DF

_______________________________________________________

NOTE: Oldham falsely claims to live in Scarborough at Cross Street, North Yorkshire, YO11 (possibly YO11 1BB but not certain yet).

But he actually lives in Wallsend “across the street from me Ma”, where he works full-time on his businesses in the “Koptalk HQ” which is a free standing shed – like a Portakabin – behind the house in the back garden. (It is clearly visible in the aerial photo above).

 

He sometimes implies that he lives in the same house as his mother, but she probably does live “across the street” as he said, with her husband. Her husband works occasionally in the KT shed. He built the Koptalk shed and also works on the business.

______________________________________________________

 

Psuedonyms: He uses various pseudonyms when posting on his sites: Dunk, Kop Talk Daddy, Koptalk.com, Anfield Mole, Wallet as well as co-opting the pseudonyms of his step-brother ST3 and pretending to be him (more pseudonyms to be supplied)

 

Related Duncan Oldham Internet Domains: (To be completed)

 

koptalk.co.uk
koptalk.org.uk
koptalk.me.uk
koptalkblog.co.uk
liverpoolfcplayers.co.uk
caboodlenetwork.co.uk
michaelshields.co.uk

Tottenham Hotspurs Site
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=spursarmy.co.uk

Newcastle United Site
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=upthetoon.co.uk

 

 

He also “squats” on many sites that are similar in name to “rival” sites as well miscellaneous other sites like “michaelbarrymore.com” Recently he squatted on all variations of the name Kop Football Ltd which is the UK compan owned by LFC’s two new American owners.

In some cases he directs the traffic intended for sites owned by others to his own sites and in other cases he just deprives the other sites from acquiring the domain names relating to their site. The blog has made a list of 19 of these”stolen” rival sites along with another 6 non-rival sites and it can be found here with a full analysis of what name and address Oldham used when he registered the sites:

https://koptalkinsider.wordpress.com/read-me/cyber_squatter/

To provide a flavour from the article here are the “rival” LFC football sites he has stolen by squatting on them. There may be more:

http://www.raotl.com/

http://www.liverpoolway.com/

http://www.shanklygates.com/

http://www.lfconline.net/

http://www.themissionstatement.com/

http://www.talklfc.co.uk/

http://www.ynwa.net/ and http://www.ynwa.info

http://www.ttwar.com/

http://www.kraptalk.co.uk/ <– Rather ironic!

http://www.koptalk-insider.net/ <– After someone kindly purchased the .com version for us!

http://www.michaelshields.co.uk <– Yes, he even bought this domain and pointed it to a part of his website containing all of his pop-up ads and the rest of it.

http://www.est1892.org (also est1892.net and est1892.org.uk) <– Bought within days of the launch of est1892.co.uk.

http://www.liverpoolfootballclub.org.uk

http://www.liverpool-fc.net

http://www.liverpool-fc.tv

http://www.tribalfootball.co.uk

Recently he squatted on the domain names of Kop Football Ltd, the holding company owned by Tom Hicks and George Gillett

kopfootball.co.uk

kopfootball.org.uk
kopfootball.tv
kopfootball.info
kopfootball.biz
kopfootball.net
kopfootball.org
kopfootball.com

In March 2995 he declared a new site http://www.kopfootball.com would be about the new stadium. He implied it was sponsored by George Gillett and Tom Hicks and its front page bore a photograph of Tom Hicks in Dallas flanked by Oldham and MacNeish. One of the main functions of the new site would be to allow KopTalk members and other LFC supporters to communicate directly with the two owners circumventing the Official Site.

 

Both owners have denied his claims.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Steve McNeish aka Steve Oldham

DOB: 1989 – 5th June

Address: Oldham claims Steve sleeps in the HQ office.

Position: Editor, delivery boy, general dogsbody. Also signs “certficates of authentication” for fake memorabilia, and draws money from members PayPal accounts, moderates the forums and bans members, and generally carries out supports Oldham’s wishes.

Telephone: 07962 475020

Hours: Claims 16 hours a day 7 days a week and night duties

Relationship: Alleged step-brother of Duncan Oldham but some question that.

_________________________________________________________

 

Jeanette McNeish

DOB: (To be supplied)

Address: 5 Swan Avenue, off Bede Crescent, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear NE 28 (but Oldham claims he lives “across the street” from his mother).

Position: Admin Koptalk membership: PR: Treasurer of Lauren Charity.

Hours: Substantial – possibly 25-40 hours a week, at times:

Relationship: Mother of Duncan Oldham and alleged mother or step-mother of Steve McNeish

Widowed: Oldham makes frequent public references to his claim that his father – Robert Arthur Fred Oldham – was a policeman with 33 years service who resigned with the rank of Inspector and committed suicide in 1993, leaving him money with which he bought a luxury car. He also claims that the Sgt Bob Cryer of ITV’s The Bill was based on his father. For a time Oldham then went under the name of Wadkin which is thought to be the name of his mother’s new partner. Eventually she married Andrew MacNeish. Oldham stated in a public forum that he has a conviction for drunk driving which occurred on the first anniversary of his father’s death.

_________________________________________________________

 

Maria Hartley (Also presented on the net by Oldham as “Maria Hargreaves”)

DOB: 1974

Education: Scalby Technology College in Scarborough, North Yorkshire until 1991. Then teacher training.

Career: Teacher

Address: Scarborough, North Yorkshire (Reserved by us to protect her privacy.)

Position: Admin. – Koptalk membership and general: full-time in the past and part-time for periods in 2006:

Hours: Currently not known for Koptalk – but worked evenings earlier in 2006

Relationship: Wife of Duncan Oldham – possibly separated or divorced. He alleges she has legal custody of their two children.

____________________________________________________

 

Kate

DOB: Allegedly 1988 but probably nearer 1978

Address: Wallsend

Position: Administrator Koptalk, moderator of forums, PR.

Hours: Evenings and nights – perhaps 30-35 hours (In December 2006, Oldham announced she was now working full time at KT)

Relationship: Not known – he has made reference to her begng a relative of his mother.

 

PART THREE

Charity Fraud

Oldham has organised a number of appeals.

The more troublesome was one for Lauren who he claimed was an 18 year old relative who had been paralysed. He made an appeal for her on Koptalk, followed by one for her parents – to pay their mortgage – and he then opened a web site for Lauren. The website was closed in the summer of 2006 after complaints were made to the charity commissioners about his failing to register the charity and to account for the money received and they recommended that it be reported to the police.

Anyone who collects more than £1,000 in a single year for any charity was obliged by law to register with the Charity Commissioners and produced audited accounts. He failed to do so. Since November 2006 the threshold has been raised to £5,000 but the new threshold does not take effect until sometime in 2007 and, in some cases, 2008.

It is clear that the Lauren appeal exceeded the threshold easily. It is possibile that it raised tens or even scores of thousands. But Oldham mixed revenues for the charity with his business and personal revenues.

There are other reasons for concern. When he launched the appeal Oldham said he could not donate because he was “unwaged” and all money earned by his site was reinvested for the benefits of its members. But during the charity he boasted of the £300 bets he placed on football and horse racing and dog racing and of the numerous expensive high tech gadgets he bought himself, as well as the Mercedes sports car upgrade (£37,000-£40,000) and several other vehicles and properties he felt he could now afford and foreign holidays.

In November and December 2006, Oldham organised an appeal for christmas gifts for Alder Hey childrens hospital. It was set up as a stunt for his site and the original plan was for him to deliver the gifts in a blaze of publicity with photos of himself and the children. This blog monitored the appeal publicly and his accounting was better than in previous cases but still deficient and troublesome. He still mixed charity, business and personal revenues and there was a suspicion he was using the appeal to convert to cash Argos vouchers had had already received for his business, or in other ways seeking to profit from the appeal. Again he announced a holiday to New York during the appeal although there is reason to think this was a front. (As a result of objections to Alder Hey he was not allowed personally to bring the donations or gifts and those from Koptalk who delivered them were restircted to an office and not allowed near the children). Like all his previous appeals it was unregistered. Meanwhile the donors to the appeal and its beneficiaries lost 28% that the appeal would have earned if the money had been donated directly to Alder Hey through the registered and trusted agency of Just Giving rather than channeled through Koptlak’s publicty stunt.

There have been many othe appeals ranging from Afghansitan orphans to a hospice for sick children. Often he would sell LFC memorabilia or auction it on the basis that the proceeds would go to charity. But there was never any accounting of this. The suspiscion is he used charities as means of raising higher prices. Much of the memorabilia he sold was fake.

If you contributed to the Lauren or any other fund and sent money to Koptalk, Oldham or his mother or if you bought goods and services from him on the understanding that the money would be donated to a charity, you can report the matter to the Charities Commission. This is advisable if you have never seen any accounting for the charities and if you never received a receipt for your donation.

There is an easy one-touch way of contacting them.

Click for the Liverpool office.

Click for an overview of all their offices and their rules.

____________________________________________________
TAX Evasion is Illegal

This is an excerpt from Wikipaedia:

 

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:RzdZK6UQ4qYJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion+tax+avoidance&hl=en&gl=mx&ct=clnk&cd=1&lr=lang_en&client=firefox-a

 

“Tax avoidance is the legal utilization of the tax regime to one’s own advantage, in order to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. Examples of tax avoidance involve using taxed deductions changing one’s tax status through incorporation or establishing an offshore company, trust or foundation in a tax haven.

By contrast tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, firms, trusts and other entities to evade taxes illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability, and includes, in particular, dishonest tax reporting (such as declaring less income, profits or gains than actually earned; or overstating deductions).

Tax evasion is a crime in almost all countries and subjects the guilty party to fines and imprisonment.”

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VAT evasion is illegal

This is taken from Winters, Chartered Accountants:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:QRZWGt6jekAJ:www.winters.co.uk/factsheets/vat.html+vat+regulations+uk&hl=en&gl=mx&ct=clnk&cd=1&lr=lang_en&client=firefox-a

“You are required to register for VAT if the value of your taxable supplies exceeds a set annual figure (currently £61,000).

A taxable person is anyone who makes or intends to make taxable supplies and is required to be registered. For the purpose of VAT registration a person includes:

• individuals
• partnerships
• companies, clubs and associations
• charities.

If any individual carries on two or more businesses all the supplies made in those businesses will be added together in determining whether or not the individual is required to register for VAT”

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Reporting Contacts

Illegal use of copyright downloads and streaming video

Oldham steals copyrighted material and sells it to members or offers it free as a pro miton for his site. You can report it all to a specialist company hired by the copyright owners. It would be useful if you could give links to the offending material.

Tim Cooper

info@nr-online.com

Call +44 (0)20 7471 1731

NetResult
Mulberry House
583 Fulham Road
London
SW6 5UA

The following information based on research done by a blog contributor – fat_boy_fat:

Tax and National Insurance dodgers –0800 788887 8am – 8pm Mon-Sun
A hotline for people who have information relating to Businesses or Individuals that are not paying tax and/or National Insurance. You don’t have to leave any personal information about yourself. Just inform them that you suspect Duncan Oldham and possibly members of his family/business are tax dodging or not paying National Insurance. Prepare a short list of reasons for your suspicion. It will take 5-10 minutes of your time.

I should think that in addition to registering information about Oldham and his family as individuals it would also be helpful to mention Koptalk.com as a business with relation to VAT and possibly corporate tax (although none of the business are incorporated).

Statements from Oldham that neither he nor his family employees earn a wage also suggest that he is not making National Insurance payments as an employer and he and his employees are not making them as self-employed.

Note: “Scouse” could not get a response from the above number. If someone can confirm it is not good I will remove it, but as far as I can tell it is good. After searching, scouse found that:

“There is also a specialist Tax Evasion Hotline dealing with income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, VAT and National Insurance:”

You can complain online at

https://www.taxevasionhotline.co.uk/forms/selfemp.htm

Benefit cheats – Job Seekers Allowance, Disability Allowance , Income Support

Again you do not have to give personal details. Simply fill out the form. Remember to note any suspicions you have about Oldham’s family members, too:

http://www.targetingbenefitfraud.gov.uk/on_to_you.html

Property Tax Assessment: Scarborough

If he is claiming to live in Scarborough when he actually lives in Wallsend, he must have a reason. It is reasonable to suspect that it may have to do with him qualifying for benefits which require him to be living in Scarborough. And such locality-tied benefits could be about housing benefits or property-tax waivers. That is a council matter.

You can inform Scarborough Council of his contradictory statements about his place of residence and your suspicions. Look above under Duncan Oldham to see the Cross Street address he claims as home in Scarborough, and also mention the two Scarborough addresses for the PO Box 145. But remember to mention his Wallsend address, as well.

http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=7828

Property Tax Assessment: Wallsend – Tyne and Wear – North Tyneside

If he is being deceptive about his place of residence as between Wallsend and Scarborough it raises suspicions about the possibility that the Wallsend housing authorities may also be affected.

This excerpt taken from the North Tyneside web site:

“In order to allow the public to report their suspicions of benefit fraud in a safe and confidential manner, the council operates a 24 hour Confidential Fraud Hotline. Tel n.: 0191 2006578 You can use this telephone line to report any suspicions of fraud which you may have. The line is staffed during the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. Monday to Friday. At all other times, a Confidential Answering Service is available.”

Planning Enforcement

His “Koptalk Office” in Wallsend would have needed planning permission since it is a very large extension to his house. Given that it is an obvious eyesore in the residential neighbourhood (even seen from satellite photos) and given Oldham’s general disregard for regulations, it might be worth asking the authorities if they are fully aware of the building and its use.

You could inform the Wallsend (Tyne and Wear) local authority that he runs several businesses from the building 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He employs several people there. It houses many computers and televisions and telephones. He uses the building exclusively for business (but one of his employees sleeps there during the night). The businesses are not incorporated or registered in any way. The businesses use at least three vehicles and he claims to be in the process of buying a large Ford Transit van fitted-out for broadcasting.

From those premises he sets up unregistered charities for relatives and collects donations, sells an internet broadcasting service, a podcast service and SMS service, football regalia sales and delivery service, adult date-finding services, betting services, pornographic services (his photographic model and his pornographic forums) news services, shares in lottery tickets and raffles and paid memberships (₤30 per annum) in an unregistered football-related club called “Koptalk.com” (he claims 6,000 members) and from where he publishes web pages devoted largely to his personal views about sex, race, immigration and football.

These factors have health and safety, traffic and parking implications not only for the participants but also for the neighbours.

This is an excerpt from the North Tyneside Council web page:

Planning Enforcement

Contact Planning Enforcement for matters regarding;

Potential breaches of planning control, unlawful development, high hedges, development not in accordance with approved plans.

Tel: 0191 219 2167
Fax: 0191 219 2185
email: planning.enforcement@northtyneside.gov.uk

Remember to include the street address.

Trading Standards

The North Tyneside Trading Standards inspectors do not deal with issues of VAT or Tax. They deal with complaints about trading practices.

This would include any false or misleading promotions like lottery tickets and competitions not honoured or not conducted in a fair and transparent manner. It could include any false claims he uses to sell memberships such as his claim to insider knowledge of LFC and contact with its investors, directors, executives and employees (including players). It might also include his stealing of copyright material and re-selling the product to his membership as though it were his own. It would include the issue of Oldham cancelling categories of memberships such as Silver, Insider, Lifetime, Honorary and creating new categories as a means of forcing existing members to pay more money to remain in Koptalk with friends they made there. It would include his cancelling individual memberships arbitrarilly, not observing his own published regulations or his contract with members or not dealing in a fair manner. His failing to pay refunds in whole or part of any memberships he has cancelled. His collecting through PayPal automatic renewal mechanism new annual memberships without giving notice to members that he intended to do this even in cases where the members had ceased being active or had indicated that they did not wish to continue beyond their current annual membership. His refusal to give refunds of these automatic renewals. His failure to issue receipts for charitable donations or for payments for goods and services. His failure to keep proper accounts for his members or the authorities. His losing or misusing personal details, demanding too many personal details and not observing the Data Protection Act. His selling or revealing personal information to marketing companies or in using it to deduce the telephone numbers of the employers of his members and calling members at their place of work to threaten them. His threatening the contributors to this blog and his critics with “hitters” and “underworld friends”. His selling of fake LFC and other fake and pirated football regalia. His taking deposits on his book “Anfield Exposed” for more then two years and his admission that he has not even begun to write it and hsi failure to pay refunds to everyone requesting one.

In short, anything that smacks of dodgy trading.

It is really important that individuals who have been personally affected by his trading practices report the specific incidents. Others who have not been personally affected should try to give examples which support their suspicions. This can be statements made by Oldham or by other people on the net – including this blog.

Please contact:

Alan Burnett
Senior Trading Standards Officer
Environment, Regeneration & Housing
The Killingworth Site
PO Box 113
Killingworth
NE12 6WJ

Tel:0191-2192634 Fax:0191

-2192642
e-mail : alan.burnett@northtyneside.gov.uk
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(This article is a sticky which can be found in the tool bar in the Home Page under “5. Shop Oldham” Hopefully, it will be a collaborative effort between all the blog’s contributors. Readers are asked to check all the information and offer corrections, additions and links. This can be done as a comment at the end of the article or sent in confidence by email to rupertinsider @ gmail.com. Check back regularly to see the updates).

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Left to Right: Koptalk “HQ Staff”: Steve McNeish, Oldham’s 16 yr old (at the time) step-brother. Charlotte, his daughter, at 12 yrs blanked out by us but used since she was 8 yrs of age by Oldham to promote his site and his business activities. Katie (tall blonde) whom Oldham repeatedly says is “only 18”. An unknown dark-aired woman, possibly Chloe, who does not work at KT but was brought in for the sake of this photo to give the impression of a large staff, and Jeannete, his mother.

 

 

Steve McNeish aka Steve Oldham in the Koptalk Office, Wallsend (his mother Jeannete in background and Kate in foreground)

 

 

Jeannette McNeish (Duncan Oldham’s mother)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve now 17 yrs and “Editor” of Koptalk. With him is “RichT” a wannabee slimming pills internet salesman who is a slavishly devoted Moderator on Koptalk.

Possibly Maria Hartley, Duncan Oldham’s wife, and possibly Steve’s father (who built the HQ shed) and Steve McNeish in Koptalk Office

 

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