Is this too good to be true?

Rockporkchop

So should I sell my studio flat in Bulgaria for £500k through First Direct Investments or not?

Pete111

You would be crazy not to RPC

I sold my shed for a cool million only 2 minutes after being contacted by FDI. They only charged me a £500 valuation fee and immediately afterwards I was taken by chauffered Bentley to their stately home HQ where sylphlike beauties fed me exquisite sweetmeats before leading me to the luxuriously appointed 'signing chamber'.

Once esconced in the chamber I was showered with precious gems. annointed with heavenly oils and given the 'quill of destiny' with which I inscribed the sacred text and sealed my good fortune forever....

Or is that just Bollox?

alishahs

Having come across this thread after a friend of mine asked for a delayed advice - yes, after he paid the £899 (probably more - he wouldn’t say what exactly). Having had a look at their unprofessional website, my initial response was that this looks like a scam. I straight went onto companies house website (sorry but the forum wouldn’t let me use hyperlinks) and found that they had been trading since March 2009 and not for the last 15 years as was told to my friend.

The few (2 possibly 3) people who joined quite recently (I am one of them too ...) and are giving nice reviews should kindly realise that on this forum they are not dealing with people who are naive and innocent and can't tell the difference between a cheap crap website and a bonafide website.

I picked up the phone and called them up as a bonafide prospective client. After being passed onto the right person (who came up after I waited for 5 minutes and being passed around, for speaking to the manager). Although, they accepted that they were trading in the UK since March 2009 but they already had 12000 (yes, twelve thousand) investors and years of experience.

I was also told that the company had moved into the UK market after its successful business operations in the EU. I then asked them to provide me with their EU trademark or registration number so I could double check his claims on europa dot eu. I was also informed that they could not give out the secret of their success in the EU. Fair enough, but I am asking for your registration numbers. I was then informed that they had been operating in Spain, France and other EU countries. I insisted on them providing me a company registration number (which doesn't give out business secrets) so I could do some background checks. I was then told that their Director had been involved with business in Spain. He mentioned two companies (can't remember the names and anyways he wasn't sure either as he couldn't even spell the names for me). my next question was what he meant by involved. This led him to disclose that before coming into the UK he was somehow related to those two companies of which he didn't know.

A simple Google research revealed that their offices in Mayfair are virtual offices (easyoffices dot com/virtual-offices/uk/London/London-West-End/Mayfair/Berkeley-Square/6308). So they may be sitting in Wales for that matter!!! Or even in Surrey!

Coming back to my friend. I have advised him of the names on the company register and to issue a claim against that person without any delay for the amount he has paid. If they employ anymore delaying tactics I have asked him to go to the county court for filing a writ against these guys for criminal proceedings for the breach of fiduciary duty and breach of trust!

Let’s hope and see what happens. Would love to see crooks like these guys being dealt with fairly!

theartfullodger

Yup, some people might think these 'ave gorra be crooks... (they could be wrong of course)

see Companies House website for details...
http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/aca3a487234209060005ccde0c34fee4/compdetails

FIRST DIRECT INVESTMENTS (INT) LIMITED
2ND
FLOOR BERKELEY HOUSE, BERKELEY SQUARE,
MAYFAIR
LONDON
ENGLAND
W1J 6BD
Company No. 06839690


Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 06/03/2009

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
None Supplied
Accounting Reference Date: 31/03
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due: 06/12/2010
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due: 03/04/2010

I wouldn't touch them with a very long bargepole...

Cheers!

Lodger

theartfullodger

Companies House list (for a mere £1 british) One director only (also secretary... ) he is

TURNER, JOHN EDWARD MR
Appointed:
06/03/2009
Date of Birth: 25/07/1969
Nationality:
BRITISH
No. of Appointments: 4
Address:
2 BASTABLE HOUSE, STATION WAY
CRAWLEY
WEST SUSSEX
ENGLAND
RH10 1DB

.
Connells have a flat in this block on sale for £153k so whoever JOHN EDWARD TURNER is, he disnae sound like a high-rolling property mogul eh??
http://www.propertyfinder.com/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=504830296

'ope he gets some sleep as his address backs onto the main railway line to Brighton..

Cheers!

Lodger

not_loaded

One of the other company names was Right Move believe it or not.

I read about them weeks ago on a Spanish expat forum. Somewhere (sorry, can’t recall exactly where) I saw The Right Move and First Direct names together in connection with this scam. Same details, just the name changed.

They also make claims about ‘hedge funds buying into unsaleable property’. Clearly they are trying to ‘inherit’ credibility by stealing quality names.

I read somewhere that in fact it is an expat couple (doing this for many months now, hence the name change) who have blown it completely financially and are trying to rebuild their lives with the £99 payments.

You just have to hope they like prison food…

hethmar

theartfullodger wrote: »

Companies House list (for a mere £1 british) One director only (also secretary... ) he is
.
Connells have a flat in this block on sale for £153k so whoever JOHN EDWARD TURNER is, he disnae sound like a high-rolling property mogul eh??
http://www.propertyfinder.com/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=504830296

'ope he gets some sleep as his address backs onto the main railway line to Brighton..



Lodger

Id have thought he is probably only renting the flat Lodger :rotfl: I guess if we were really interested, we could check out when the flat was sold and to whom? Cant be bothered myself. May be just pass on what we know to Daily Mail instead.

drpete_2

shasbat wrote: »

I have put our holiday appartment on the internet as a private sale. Just over a week ago a company called 'First Direct Investments (International) Ltd' phoned to say they may be interested in buying my property to sell to one of their investors. I didn't take them seriously, however after listening to them the only outlay was £99 for them to come out and do a valuatoin.

A man came to see me last Saturday morning at the appartment and went around with a clip board writing lots of t hings down and asked a lot of questions... seem ok. He said I would probably get an offer before the end of the week.

Yesterday they phoned me to say they would be offer a figure, which was much higher than we had anticipated. This offer is on the table for 7 days.

If we go ahead we can complete in approx 6 weeks and at the exchange stage we pay them £800.

I left before the post this morning, when I got to work the company phoned me to ask if I had received the offer... they are going to phone me back at 5 pm today.

What is the catch.... there is definately something not right. I have googled the company and they don't appear to have any website.

Has anyone heard of them, or know of someone who has had dealings with them.???

Hi, I now live in New Zealand and have been trying to sell my house in Spain for two years. A month ago I got an email from a David Gutteridge of First Direct Investments (Int) offering to sell my house for me. He said the same as your guy only the charges were different. He wanted 199GBP paid now, so they could do a valuation and then they would make an offer. On acceptance of this offer I would have to pay 1.5% of the offer price up front, prior to anything happening. My response was the same as yours. I found a web site at firstdirectinvestments.com and they are registered at Companies House, but only from March 2009.
So I am asking the same questions: Has anybody had a successful transaction with First Direct Investments???????

tek-monkey

Just tell them to take the fee from the sale price, if they are that confident of selling.

not_loaded

drpete wrote: »

…Has anybody had a successful transaction with First Direct Investments???????

Where is your Spanish property? Have you read this from the beginning?