E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police have been investigating the disappearance of Carole Waugh.
LONDON -- British police fear a former oil executive has been abducted by a gang of fraudsters who have tried to sell her $1 million London apartment and may have forced her to hand over her bank codes, according to reports Thursday.
Detectives searching for Carole Waugh, 50, said that an unidentified man impersonating her brother had met people in her apartment in central London's upmarket Marylebone neighborhood in an apparent attempt to sell the property, The Times reported (site operates behind a paywall).
Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane also told Britain's Press Association that "very substantial amounts of money" had been stolen from Waugh's bank accounts.
Waugh, who has previously worked in the oil industry in London and Libya, has not been seen by family or friends since April, when they discussed a planned 50th birthday party for her in June. The case has been passed to the London Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crimes division.
'Completely out of character'
McFarlane told the PA that financial activity linked to her identity has also grown "incrementally more suspicious." Police have released images of a man outside a supermarket in north London on July 10, where one of Waugh's ATM cards was used, the PA reported.
London 2012: Hosting the Games on NBCNews.com
"Ms. Waugh is a successful businesswoman and her disappearance is completely out of character," McFarlane said, according to the London Evening Standard.
"Following her disappearance, there have been a number of fraudulent transactions associated with Ms. Waugh's bank account. ... There are also a number of her personal possessions that cannot currently be located," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Police officers told The Times that Waugh had been impersonated by at least three women at financial institutions across London. Earlier this week, two women, aged 48 and 50, were arrested on charges of conspiracy to defraud in connection with the case. The 48-year-old has been freed on bail, the newspaper said.
Three men and two other women have been arrested and bailed in connection with the case, reports said. A fourth man, named as 40-year-old Rakesh Bhayani, appeared in a London court via video link on Wednesday, The Times said.
Waugh's family, who are based in the north of England, said they did not know much about Carole Waugh’s life in London. She was able to work sporadically since moving to London in 2008 because she had been "very careful" with her money, her brother Chris, 53, told the PA.
Online dating link?
Waugh is single and police have been trying to trace men she may have met through dating sites, The Times said.
Chris Waugh told reporters that his sister had been planning a vacation in Las Vegas with her female friends. He appealed for his sister's friends, as well as any recent work colleagues, to come forward.
Complete coverage of the United Kingdom on NBCNews.com
"We are keen to track them down to see what was going on," the PA quoted him as saying. "If we could find the friends, just to see what light they can shine on [my] sister."
Chris Waugh said it was a "very distressing moment" when he heard someone was posing as him in a fraudulent attempt to sell his sister's apartment, according to the PA.
'Our imaginations have been running wild'
He said his family was "very proud" of his younger sister, who he described as "very focused, strong and driven," The London Evening Standard reported.
"The last time we saw Carole was at Easter when we all got together in (the northern English city of) Durham. We had a great time and we were all very excited about Carole's 50th birthday party in June. We were planning how we would celebrate and I was looking forward to making a fuss of her, as she did for my birthday," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
Full international news coverage on NBCNews.com
"There was nothing to suggest she would go missing. It was all very strange and completely out of character because my sister rings my mother every other day and suddenly, within days of getting together at Easter, the phone calls just stopped," the Evening Standard quoted Waugh as saying.
Members of her family told The Guardian newspaper that it was highly unusual for Carole Waugh not to check in regularly by telephone.
"Our imaginations have been running wild. I've considered several options, she could have gone on a quick holiday but that became less likely as the time went, and because she would still have telephoned mother," Chris Waugh told The Guardian.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Millionaire medalists: Does Olympic spirit live on?
- In Japan, a nuclear ghost town stirs to life
- Sea Shepherd founder skips bail in Germany
- Olympic security plan turns London into fortress
- Myth vs. truth in the Syrian conflict
- 'Building Tomorrow' -- one school at a time
- Spain teeters on the edge of a steep 'fiscal cliff'
- Going for gold: British workers cash in on Olympics with strike threats
- 'Building Tomorrow' - one school at a time in Uganda
- Ice melt found across 97 percent of Greenland, satellites show
- Afghan police commander leads defection to Taliban
- In Kenya, cell phones can do everything
Leave a Comment:
So she is still missing and the perps are out on bail? That doesn't sound quite right.
You have that right. So, in England if you kidnap and murder someone, steal all thier money and start selling off their assets, you can get bail and given their names, flee back to the middle east? England is getting wierder by the day. I used to want to visit it, but no more.
Rakesh Bhayani sounds like Indian name, not middle eastern.
That's what I'm thinking also. Is this supposed to be a form of fast and furious? Let them steal all her assets in hopes they can track the money? How many suspects does it take to lead to the perps? Just arrest them all and charge them with her disappearance. When you run out of suspects you will either find her or be able to charge them with murder. I'm sure one will crack to save his/her neck.
It should'nt surprise anyone, They tired to sell The Senators Seat in Chicage for a million too, lol.
They had 2 people in jail for fruad connected to this case, and they let one bond out? Ummm, can you say bye-bye?
All of a sudden having all that cash doesn't seem like such a good idea. That's right, better blame the system for allowing desperate people with no education to steal all your crap.
Who cares about oil executives? Really?!
I am a close friend with twooil executives and I am positive that if either of them went missing a LOT of people would care. Just because they are a whole hell of a lot richer then me doesn't mean they aren't good people, which they are. It's so typical for someone like you to be so jealous of someone elses money to not stop and think that they have friends and family too.
Actually it is not because they have money but it is because they made all those money by polluting all countries they extract that oil, and never cleaning up after themselves and always refusing to pay for the damage they have done, and because of the environmental disasters they committed millions of animals and birds were killed in a horrible way. So not only I don't care about them I actually consider them biggest criminals on this planet, and they deserve what ever happens to them.
Cassandra you are an ignorant twisted fool. Take a bath and seriously consider opting out of the human race, as you have lost by a mile. Or alternatively get a life. Nasty demented witch.
Talk about nasty, she can't have a valid opinion without upsetting your obviously shaky faith in what you're saying. You're right, we should all think like you..... Common sense is only found is those with uncommon smarts, you seem to have neither.
Cassandra, Im' just curious about something. Were you born stupid or is that something you picked up from your useless parents?
Cassandra - I'll bet that you don't mind using all of the luxuries/necessities that oil provides for you. The energy for that air conditioning that keeps you cool during heat waves is provided by oil. Do you drive, ride the bus/subway, etc.? What about that plastic from which your precious cell phone is constructed. Do you like to have a warm home when the temperatures drop? Find a way to live comfortably without relying on oil, then you can complain about oil executives.
scales, actually I do mind, i don't have a car, I don't use air conditioning, I take a bus which is preserving oil, I don't use plastic, no cell phone, there is a way to rely on oil and not to destroy the planet. First of all make all oil companies clean after them. I defecate every day but i don't do it in my kitchen. I use a toilet and flush it and the same can be done in nature. They should clean, but they don't, so they should be made to pay for cleaning, and the oil executives should be put in prison, some of them for life for crimes against humanity. Second, we have too many people on this planet. Birth control must be mandatory and all religious leaders should go in prison for promoting over-breeding. China is working on this but too late. Second, no more plastic unless it cannot be replaced, and cleaning all the plastic from the ocean. The oil companies must pay for it too. And no more fertilizers. Only organic agriculture, this will reduce the oil use. Reduce the number of people and it will automatically reduce the amount of oil. And since you care so much about oil executives how about nationalizing all the oil companies. Since humanity cannot live without oil in our days, than it is not a commodity but a necessity, so nobody should profit from it. Period. Why exactly I should let the oil companies kill all the animals and plans because they are making profit from a necessity?It is not the oil executives who gave birth to oil. I have never seen oil execs urinating and defecating oil. It is the nature who produced it. It should not belong to a private entity.
Cassandra - and just what device are you using to post your comments to this website? A computer? Which is full of plastic made from petrochemicals, metals, glass and should be properly disposed of as it also contains hazardous materials. I find it amusing when people talk about how green they are in posts on websites using equipment full of hazardous materials, electricity produced by burning some sort of fossil fuel (unless you have a bunch of gerbils running a generator to create your electricity) and everything else it takes to type and post a paragraph comment.
LAKid,
You beat me to it...
Well said.
It is a computer made from plastic. That's is why oil must nationalized because is a necessity of modern life and used very careful, since it is not replaceable. How ever this is not an excuse for oil companies not to clean after themselves. If you think is OK not to clean than they should dump all the waste in you house, inside so you can swim in it. We defecate everyday but would you like people defecating in your house? Just because it is a necessity?
Really: it is not well said it is senseless since I keep repeating that they must clean and you people keep saying we use. Use it, but don't throw in the ocean, recycle, and clean after yourself. Including oil companies. What part of "clean" you people don't understand? I am dealing here with complete idiots? Do you people have actually brain in your heads or a mixture of oil and manure?
Cassandra-2164063
"I don't use plastic, no cell phone, there is a way to rely on oil and not to destroy the planet."
What LAKid said was actually well said as you clearly state that you do not use plastic while you are typing on a plastic keyboard. Since when is a computer absolutely a necessity? If you hate oil SO much, don't use it, simple. Don't wish ill on others who help supply you with the computer you seem to think is an absolute necessity. What do you even know about this woman?
BTW, I recycle everything I can, my last laptop went to a school. But I accept the fact that the plastic in the keyboard I am typing on came from a company that drills for oil.. and therefore I am part of he problem regardless of how green I want to be. If you use it, you are no better then those who drill for it.
Why do the ones who bitch about overpopulation never set an example and take the express elevator?
Yes, I am so jealous of all the rich people and their expensive crap. Oh wait, who are we talking about again?
Don't like the oil industry? OK
Don't like the pollution? OK
Don't like rich people? OK
But you should not be OK with a society that gives free run to kidnappers and thieves.
Oh Cassandra, grow up. It's been done for far longer than you even know and wishing ill on people because of a stupid reason like that is just ignorant. We are a race of beings that consume, just how it is and will always be. Best get used to it.
I don't think they'll be much sympathy for this woman or anyone like here. It's human nature for most people to somewhat enjoy the demise of those who we see as the greedy destroyers of our world and people.
Personally I'd love to see many more taken from Monsanto, Nestle, Pepsi, Coke, Goldman Sacs, JP Morgan, etc... Send a message that can truly be heard and felt.
I think this type of crime will only be increasing as we create the divide between rich and poor all over the world.
T-Starr - But I bet she can read and write, which you apparently can't do.
So T-Starr....let me get this straight...You have no problem with an single woman getting abducted, defrauded possibly murdered etc...Just because you don't like the industry or her employer? You know absolutely nothing about this woman other than she has a family who loves her and well she is an executive for an oil company.
So if wishing people ill works that way then I could manage to have no sympathy for pedophiles, Rapists, those who prey on the elderly, human traffickers, drug dealers, drug smugglers, people who intentionally spread STD's particularly those strains that kill. Then we can open it up to Union members and their thug enforcers and well their lawyers too, at that level we can add those who participate in dog fights and cock fights and other abuses of animals, anyone from ACORN because well if we can just use one brush they should be included along with ID criminals.
Oh wait you aren't thinking about criminals or those who would steal the fillings from your teeth you are wishing ill on a middle aged woman who had done well enough in her life time to have a flat in a nice part of London. Who's family is concerned about her because she is loved.
Perhaps you nor Cassandra know anything about loving or being loved. Perhaps you are both riding a stationary bicycle to generated enough power to keep your compters running.
If you are a criminal, you won't face a moral dilemma stealing from someone who has stolen from everyone.
what's a "fraudster"?
An oil executive.
Sometimes it just doesn't pay to have too much money. There is always some @#%%#$@%$# trying to take it away from you. Poor Rich folks.
Word.
I hope newspapers would bother the same way to write about "normal" people as they do about "executives".
I'm sorry about that woman being kidnapped, and I hope she will get through this without big issues. Money is not that important, health is our most valuable asset.
You actually think that she's been kidnapped? Seriously?
wow
Wow...really?
No matter what, this sounds heinous and no-one should have to be the victim of something like this. No matter how rich they are or how they got it.
It's a shame that someone successful, with their whole life in front of them, can end up being the victim of a despicable act such as this.
Anyone who would hate on this woman and say she deserves what she got is a low life piece of sh!t.
Bail? Bail for suspects involved in an active missing person case? Suspects caught impersonating a missing woman while stealing the victim's money can get bail in England? Really? Do they expect the criminals to lead them to the victim? Wouldn't it be better to keep them locked up? Wow!
NB, I also find it puzzling that the courts would let such individuals out of jail on bond.
And for those of you posting snarky comments about rich oil executives "deserving" what happened to this woman, remember she has a family - and a mother. You wouldn't want any of your family to disappear like she did, would you?
No wonder the World is the way it is. You all sit here spitting vermin at one another. What does that have to do with this case? That she is an oil executive and deserves it? Or that people are so crass, devious and uncaring? It is obvious that the woman has been kidnapped and probably dead. Low life scoundrels are now attempting to raid everything in her Estate. People also do not get letting possible murders go on the lamb using money possibly used in the scam.
Why haven't they frozen her accounts instead of permitting ongoing suspicious transactions?
Cassandra
No one cares if you don't use oil, plastic, ride a bus or take a dump in a outhouse with a hole in the ground except you. If your waiting for that Blue Ribbon to be slung around your neck I'd NOT wait to long. Your actual feelings that people should be murdered or harmed because of oil which is consumed by MOST everyone World Wide is by someone Out of Reality. Your perfect World is for the demise of 6.8 Billion of the 7 Billion people in the World just because of oil. Careful now don't use those oil lamps or plastic credit cards. Is the bus you take electric? Naw didn't think so.
OK people, so if you believe that just because humans from a few developed countries are using a lot of oil it is OK for oil company to turn the land of poor countries into a environmental hell, in this case I believe that if oil executives make a hell lot of money by selling the oil which does not belong to them but to third world countries it is OK that sometimes they would be kidnapped by people as criminal as they are. It is a fair game. They chose to become oil-execs, they could just do some organic farming instead. Or work as teachers. To hell with them, I don't care. It was their choice. They could just buy oil from a nationalized company from Iran for example, and in this case nobody would hate them. And you cannot kidnap Iranian government.