Holidaymakers Warned Over Online Scams

By Tadhg Enright, Sky News Correspondent

Police have warned holidaymakers to be wary of online booking scams after £7m was stolen by fraudsters last year.

A total of 4,500 cases of booking fraud were reported to police in 2013, with almost a third of cases involving consumers paying for holiday villas and apartments that did not exist.

A report by fraud investigators from The City of London Police said the other most common scams included fake airline tickets and some package holidays to sporting events and religious pilgrimages.

Detective Superintendent Pete O'Doherty said: "The internet has changed the way we look for and book our holidays.

"Unfortunately it is also enabling fraudsters, using online offers of villas, hotels and flights that simply don't exist or promising bookings that are never made, to prey upon those looking for that perfect break."

Laura and Seán Parks told Sky News about their ordeal after they were scammed while trying to book a Valentine's Day break while Seán, a soldier, was home on leave from Afghanistan.

Having seen an online advertisement for log cabins near Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands she was duped into paying £400 into the fraudster's bank account - only to find upon arrival that the cabins did not exist.

Seán said that booking service appeared to be legitimate: "The website looked 100%. Everything else, the invoices, they all looked genuine."

Laura added: "He was using a booking company, wasn't he? And I contacted the booking company to ask if they were aware of any of this and they weren't.

"But you have no reason to doubt anything when you have invoices coming through, and you're paying into a bank account."

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, the travel industry body the Association of British Travel Agents and the Get Safe Online campaign have urged consumers to be wary and prepared the following advice:

• Do your research: Do not just rely on one review, do a thorough online search to ensure the company's credentials. If a company is defrauding people there is a good chance consumers will post details of their experiences, and warnings about the company, online.

• Use your instincts: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

• Pay safe: Never pay directly into an owner's bank account. Paying by direct bank transfer is like paying by cash and the money cannot be traced and is not refundable. Where possible, pay by credit card or a debit card that offers protection.

ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "Fraudsters are conning unsuspecting holidaymakers and travellers out of thousands of pounds each year - leaving them out of pocket or stranded with nowhere to stay through fake websites, false advertising, bogus phone calls and email scams."

Get Safe Online chief executive Tony Neate said it was vital for holidaymakers to do their research before booking.

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Childcare 'Costs Families More Than Mortgage'

Families are paying more on average for childcare than they spend on their mortgage, a new report says.

According to the Family and Childcare Trust study, parents are spending more than £7,500 a year on childcare for two children - around 4.7% more than the average mortgage bill.

Its also says some families may be spending more on childcare than they do on their weekly shopping.

Information for the report came from family or children's information services at councils in England, Wales and Scotland.

Each local authority was asked to give the cost of 25 hours and 50 hours of childcare as provided by nurseries and childminders.

They were also asked to give figures on the average cost of 15 hours childcare in an after-school club, or for a childminder picking youngsters up from school.

It found a family with one two-year-old child attending nursery part-time and a five-year-old in an after-school club will be forced to spend £7,549 a year on average.

This is higher than the UK average annual UK mortgage, which the report puts at £7,207.

Education and childcare minister Elizabeth Truss insisted the cost of childcare in England had stabilised for the first time in 12 years.

"In fact, once inflation is taken into account costs for the majority have actually fallen," she said.

"This means more parents are able to access affordable childcare and support their families.

"These reductions contrast with rising costs in Scotland and Wales, highlighting the difference this Government's reforms are making."

The Department for Education said that the survey shows that the cost of nursery for a child over two was now £106.19, compared to £106.52 per week last year, which it said was a 2% reduction in real terms.

Dr Steven Toole, head of policy at 4Children, said: "The cost of childcare remains a major challenge for too many families, resulting in some parents getting into debt and others having to give up or being prevented from taking up work.

"Recent 4Children research shows the scale of the struggle parents face with childcare, with one in four saying that affordable, flexible and accessible childcare would make the most real, positive difference to their family life."

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Hotel Prices Soar At Top World Destinations

A survey has highlighted steep price increases in many of the world's top holiday destinations, though England football fans may have reason to cheer.

The study, by hotels.com, found that despite a general strengthening of the pound against many local currencies, room costs were on the rise in more than half the most popular world destinations.

Comparing prices in 2013 with 2012 in 116 cities, the average cost of accommodation rose in 69 and fell in only 40.

Britons paying for hotels abroad would have forked out the most last year in Monte Carlo, where the average price was £198.

New York is among the most expensive destinations for hotels

Second was Muscat in Oman (£194) followed by New York (£185), Key West in Florida (£171) and Rio de Janeiro (£167).

Encouragingly for England football fans intending to travel to Brazil for this summer's World Cup, the price in Rio actually fell by 5% though separate studies have suggested fans face steeper bills in host cities during the tournament.

London prices rose from £110 in 2012 to £121 on average but the biggest percentage rise last year was 22% for New Orleans, where a hotel room price shot up from £120 in 2012 to £146 in 2013 as the city continued its recovery from the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Price growth was steepest in New Orleans

The survey found that those looking for real bargains during trips abroad at the moment should head for Hanoi in Vietnam where average prices dipped 20% last year to £39.

Even cheaper accommodation can be found in Phnom Penh in Cambodia where prices last year fell to £33 on average.

The best-value European destination in 2013 was the Polish city of Krakow where the average hotel price was £62.

Kate Hopcraft, of Hotels.com, said: "There is no doubt that European hotel prices were some of those most badly affected by the economic fallout.

"Many of the destinations worst hit by the downturn have seen hotel prices stabilise, with some experiencing healthy rises."

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Virgin Money Backs Doubling Of Bank Bonuses

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Sir Richard Branson's banking arm will this week become the latest of Britain's high street lenders to say that it is supporting the payment of higher bonuses under new European rules.

Sky News has learnt that Virgin Money is to reveal alongside its full-year results that its shareholders have approved a request from its board to award up to 200% of the salaries of top executives as bonuses.

The disclosure, which goes beyond that required of the privately-owned Virgin Money, will come as the company says on Tuesday that it returned to profit for the first time since acquiring Northern Rock from the Government in 2011.

The bonuses decision, which reflects a 100% bonus-to-pay ratio cap without shareholder approval, was more of a formality for Virgin Money than listed rivals, which must put the move to their annual meetings this year.

People close to Virgin Money said that its results statement would provide detailed data akin to that of one of the major high street banks, each of which has announced its 2013 results during the last month.

Virgin Money's board has decided to do so in order to furnish potential investors with more information about the business as it prepares for an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in the medium term, one said.

A flotation is unlikely before next year at the earliest, they added.

The bank's results will show a strong performance in 2013 following the integration of Northern Rock, whose collapse in 2007 sparked Britain's financial crisis.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Virgin Money's chief executive, is expected to say that its savings book saw strong growth, reflecting its policy of offering customers the same rate across all channels and shunning teaser rates.

Last week, Royal Bank of Scotland said it was following suit in an attempt to win back the trust of consumers.

Mrs Gadhia's total pay package of about £950,000 in 2012 is understood to have risen to roughly £1.1m last year, an insider said.

Her base salary of £550,000 is likely to rise modestly in 2014, reflecting the Virgin Money board's  keenness to retain her as Virgin Money prepares for an assault on the UK current account market.

Its plans are being drawn up against a backdrop of growing political hostility to the dominance of the country's five major high street lenders.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, will ask competition regulators to recommend a legal market share cap for banks if he wins the next general election, which he argues would pave the way for the likes of Virgin Money to mount a more effective challenge.

Virgin Money recently began trialling a current account among the bank's staff, with early indications understood to have been positive.

The planned public launch of the product later this year could mark a potentially-significant phase in efforts to bolster competition in the market.

More than 80% of accounts are supplied by the five biggest lenders: the state-backed Lloyds Banking Group, owner of HBOS, and RBS, which owns NatWest; Barclays, HSBC and Santander UK.

Once the staff trial has been completed, Virgin Money will target consumers who are underserved by the major lenders, offering a basic account with no fees or charges and free access to the UK ATM network of cash machines.

It is also likely to say this week that it expects to be aided by the new seven-day switching system for current account providers which came into effect last autumn.

Virgin Money, which sponsors the London Marathon, now has more than 4m customers, having established a significant market share in loans, insurance and savings.

A Virgin Money spokesman declined to comment on Sunday.

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Ukraine Crisis: Investors In Flight From Risk

World stock markets have fallen while the Russian Rouble has hit its lowest ever level against the dollar as the crisis in Ukraine unfolds.

Investors are worried by the diplomatic stand-off between the West and Russia over President Vladimir Putin's decision to effectively occupy Ukraine's Crimea region in the wake of the change in leadership in Kiev.

The US threatened possible asset freezes and trade penalties as a response to Russia's military intervention.

The resulting flight from risk on the markets first saw stocks fall and gold rise in Asia, where the Nikkei in Japan lost 1.3%.

President Putin is risking economic isolation with the West

The Moscow stock exchange later lost up to 10% of its value when it opened for business while Russia's central bank reacted to a plunge in the value of the rouble by raising interest rates to 7% from 5.5%.

The central bank did not mention Ukraine in its statement, but said the decision was aimed at preventing "risks to inflation and financial stability associated with the recently increased level of volatility in the financial markets."

Gold is among the commodities to rise alongside oil and wheat

The rouble, which was already down nearly 10% this year, had fallen below 50 to the euro for the first time.

It began trading below 36.4 to the dollar, also a record.

Shares in Russian state-owned Gazprom were reportedly down more than 18% amid reports it will have to end discounted gas deals with Ukraine as tensions intensify over the debt-laden country's future.

European stock markets responded to the uncertainty in the region by falling more than 2% in some cases in early trading.

In London, the FTSE 100 lost 1.6% in the first few minutes of trading, with only two companies seeing any gains.

Commodities were also volatile, with Brent Crude oil rising 2% and a combination of the crisis in Ukraine and poor weather combining to push wheat costs up almost 5%.

Gold was another asset to see gains as investors looked to move their money towards the traditional safe haven.

The market instability played out as efforts to help shore up Ukraine's finances gained momentum.

It was confirmed an international Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will arrive in Kiev on Monday as the country seeks $35bn (£21bn) in financial assistance to avoid bankruptcy.

More follows ...

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Birmingham Owner Guilty Of Money Laundering

The owner of Birmingham City Football Club, Carson Yeung, has been convicted of money laundering charges in his native Hong Kong.

The 54-year old barber-turned-businessman had resigned from the parent company that owns the Championship side last month ahead of the verdict at the Hong Kong District Court.

He was found guilty of charges relating to his handling of $93m (£56m), described as criminal proceeds by prosecutors, using five bank accounts between January 2001 and December 2007.

Yeung had denied any wrongdoing.

Delivering his judgement, District Court Judge Douglas Yau said Yeung had lied about how he made his money and exaggerated the amount of profit generated by his hair salon business.

"I find the defendant not a witness of truth. I find that he is someone who is prepared to, and did try to, lie whenever he saw the need to do so," the judge said.

Yeung, who was dressed in a dark suit and striped tie,  will be sentenced on Friday morning.

The trial revealed the flamboyant businessman's close ties to Macau's casino world, both as an investor and gambler, and how that facilitated business investments that helped him amass his wealth.

The charges were unrelated to Birmingham City, which he bought in 2009 for £81.5m.

The club won the 2011 League Cup, ending 48 years without a major trophy, but despite the victory was relegated from the Premier League the same year.

Following Yeung's resignation from parent company Birmingham International Holdings last month, the company sold a 12% share in its UK subsidiary to a little-known Chinese advertising firm.

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Mt Gox Bitcoin Exchange Files For Bankruptcy

One of the world's largest bitcoin exchanges has filed for bankruptcy protection as it admitted hackers may have stolen all of its digital currency.

Mt Gox has revealed 850,000 bitcoins worth about $480m (£286m) are unaccounted for following cyber attacks and said it has 127,000 creditors.

Chief executive Mark Karpeles blamed a weakness in the exchange's computer system for the massive loss, which included 750,000 users' bitcoins and 100,000 of its own.

Debts at the company of £38m dwarf its total assets of £22.5m.

Mr Karpeles gave a grovelling apology in Japanese for the company's collapse, bowing in contrition and wearing a suit instead of his customary T-shirt at a news conference.

"I am sorry for the troubles I have caused all the people," he said.

However, he predicted the currency would continue to grow, claiming the industry is "healthy".

Angry investors are demanding answers over what happened to their bitcoins

Angry investors are demanding answers over what happened to their holdings of cash and bitcoins on the Tokyo-based exchange.

The collapse of the company has shaken the virtual currency world and heaped renewed regulatory attention on the bitcoin.

Created in 2009 as a way to make transactions across borders without third parties such as banks, supporters previously claimed security encryption made the currency immune to theft or counterfeiting.

Mt Gox took down its website on Tuesday after freezing withdrawals earlier this month in the wake of a series of technical difficulties.

Mr Karpeles said the company wanted to file a criminal complaint against what he said was a hacking attack but had no actual means of doing so.

It came as the Japanese finance minister said the collapse of the virtual currency was inevitable and Vietnam banned its use overnight.

Despite the problems facing the currency, the world's first bitcoin retail store has opened in Hong Kong.

However, Ken Lo, the CEO of ANXBTC, the exchange behind the store, said he believes an actual store will help break down some of the barriers to people adopting the virtual currency.

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Floods Fund: £2m To Support Tourism Firms

Tourism businesses affected by the recent flooding are to get a £2m boost from the Government.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller says the money will fund experts who will visit affected areas and offer practical advice to tourism firms such as how to access business support measures.

The advice sessions will be hosted by VisitEngland and run throughout March.

The fund comes on top of  the £10m set aside by Prime Minister David Cameron last month to help flood-hit businesses generally.

Ms Miller said: "We want to help all those tourism businesses that have been affected by the horrendous floods get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

"Experts will be put on the ground to help small businesses with practical advice and communications while a bespoke Easter marketing will bring people back to the areas hit."

Welcoming the funding, VisitEngland chief executive James Berresford said: "Our message to customers is 'Business as usual'.

"Despite many areas having been affected by bad weather and some travel disruption, the tourism infrastructure is largely unaffected."

VisitBritain chief executive Sandie Dawe said: "International tourism is worth around £1.5bn to the economies of south west England and Wales.

"We are already getting out the message that it is a great time to travel to Britain and will be intensifying that activity over the coming months."

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:: Watch Sky News' special programme 'Battered Britain: From The Air' about the effect of the recent storms on the UK's landscape on Sunday, March 2, at 4pm.

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EU Pay Cap Triggers Pay Rise For Lloyds Boss

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group is being lined up for a salary increase that could see his fixed pay almost double as it tackles new remuneration rules imposed by Brussels.

Sky News has learnt that Lloyds, which is 33%-owned by taxpayers, is likely to announce next week that it has decided to follow other big UK banks in awarding "allowances" to its most senior risk-taking staff.

Lloyds' board remuneration committee is understood to have met in the last few days to agree the move.

The decision still requires the formal approval of UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the Treasury agency which manages the taxpayer's stake in Lloyds.

If it gets UKFI's backing, the details will be announced as part of Lloyds' annual report, which is expected to be published on Wednesday.

From one perspective, UKFI's backing would not be surprising since George Osborne, the. Chancellor, has already mounted a legal challenge to the European Union rules.

Under the Brussels scheme, which affects pay deals awarded from this year onwards, banks can hand out bonuses worth up to 100% of an employee's salary without the consent of shareholders.

However, they must seek investors' consent to award up to double that sum in variable pay, which even at that upper limit is much less than many bankers have typically been paid.

The rules have prompted major banks operating in Europe - including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Morgan Stanley - to devise new monthly or quarterly payments which count towards an employee's basic salary for the purposes of calculating their annual bonus entitlements.

Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's chief executive, used the bank's annual results last Monday to attack the rules, pointing to the overwhelming backing its shareholders had given to its existing pay schemes.

Lloyds is understood to have identified approximately 50 executives who will be eligible for the role-based payments, which will be awarded in shares that recipients will have to hold onto for a lengthy period.

Much of the focus is likely to be on the allowance handed to Antonio Horta-Osorio, Lloyds' chief executive, who receives an annual salary of £1.061m.

Insiders said that while the plans had not yet been finalised, Mr Horta-Osorio was likely to receive an allowance of up to another £1m, which would mean that with the approval of Lloyds' shareholders, he could theoretically receive annual bonuses worth up to roughly £4m.

News of the bank's plans comes just a fortnight after Mr Horta-Osorio was awarded a £1.7m bonus for 2013 as an acknowledgement for his work in improving Lloyds' performance during the last year.

The payment will not vest until conditions relating to the share price or a further sale of the taxpayer's stake, and if they are met, he would not receive the bonus until 2019.

Sky News has also learnt that Lloyds' remuneration committee has decided to award Mr Horta-Osorio up to half of a deferred share award made in 2011 when he joined the lender from Santander UK.

That payout is likely to be worth in the region of £2m.

A Lloyds spokesman said that final decisions had still to be taken.

More contentious will be the decisions on pay made by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the other big state-backed lender.

Ross McEwan, its chief executive, said on Thursday that RBS needed to be able to pay "fairly" otherwise he would not be able to retain key staff.

Analysts and investors interpreted the remark as a signal that he also wants to make additional payments, although he insisted that RBS was still consulting with shareholders.

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Branson's Virgin To Pilot New Cruises Venture

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Sir Richard Branson is drawing up plans for a secret assault on the international cruises sector which will involve raising hundreds of millions of pounds in funding from external investors.

Sky News can reveal that Virgin Group has appointed the US-based corporate advisory firm Allen & Co to oversee the development of a cruise operation that would eventually aim to compete with industry giants including Carnival Corporation.

Virgin has been working with Allen & Co on a range of potential opportunities across the wider leisure sector, including an investment in a four-star city centre concept called Virgin Hotels.

The development of Virgin Cruises, which is expected to be the name of the new venture, is at an early stage, people close to the project cautioned on Friday.

However, Virgin executives and their advisers have already held detailed talks with banks about raising an estimated $1bn (£598m) of debt to finance the acquisition of the company's first vessels.

They also want to raise in the region of $700m (£418m) of equity by selling stakes in Virgin Cruises to outside investors.

Sir Richard and Josh Bayliss, chief executive of Virgin Management, are understood to believe the global cruises sector possesses many of the same characteristics which have led Virgin to build a significant presence in sectors such as aviation, rail and mobile telecoms.

The cruise market is dominated by fewer than a handful of companies, such as the FTSE-100 group Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. Between them, the three companies have a global market share of approximately 80%.

"Cruises is a classic Virgin market, dominated by two or three players and where the product needs to be refreshed," an insider said.

The industry is forecast by Cruise Market Watch, an industry research group, to grow from 21.5 million passengers this year to 22.2 million passengers carried worldwide in 2015.

Virgin Cruises is expected to be headquartered in the US, reflecting North America's status as the world's biggest cruise market, the source said.

Globally, the industry is likely to generate revenue of $37.1bn (£22.2bn) this year, a 2.3% increase on 2013.

The plans for the launch of Virgin Cruises emerge as Sir Richard targets a flotation of his domestic US airline, Virgin America.

The carrier, which recently undertook a debt restructuring covering roughly $300m (£179.8bn) of borrowing obligations, has hired investment banks to prepare the listing.

A successful flotation of Virgin America would echo the model used several times by Sir Richard to take some of his business ventures, such as Virgin Mobile, to the public markets.

He has also frequently sold stakes in his companies to outside investors, including the sale of shares in Virgin Money, his banking operation, to an entity in Abu Dhabi and Wilbur Ross, a prominent US investor.

Other plans involving Virgin companies this year include the opening of the first City Centre hotel in Chicago in the autumn, with other venues expected in US cities served by the group's airlines.

The plan to break into the cruises market comes weeks after the publication of a new biography of Sir Richard by the author Tom Bower.

Mr Bower claimed the company's maiden flight of its space tourism venture was facing further delays, while Virgin insists it is on track to take off this year.

A Virgin spokesman declined to comment.

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