HELP - is LEAF CORPORATE a scam?

Zazie

Need help please. has anyone had any dealings with Leaf Corporate Advisory or Arthur Cohen who is working with them? I suspect they are trying to scam an elderly relative who will not listen to those of us in the family.

Reaper

You have not said what the nature of the business is but assuming it is financial services such as buying shares then there is an easy way to tell because they must be registered with the FSA to conduct business in the UK. If they are not then don't do business with them.

You can check the register here:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmSearchForm.do

I typed in "Leaf" but it did not return anything similar to "Leaf Corporate"

Zazie

Reaper wrote: »

You have not said what the nature of the business is but assuming it is financial services such as buying shares then there is an easy way to tell because they must be registered with the FSA to conduct business in the UK. If they are not then don't do business with them.

You can check the register here:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmSearchForm.do

I typed in "Leaf" but it did not return anything similar to "Leaf Corporate"

Thanks - I also tried googling but nothing came up. There is a crowd called Leaf Capital in South Africa but not sure if it's the same. (Btw, on google earth, their office appears to be in a bush on a game reserve!)

I don't have the whole story but it seems this crowd have offered to help him recoup some money from a previous investment (which was probably a scam) and he is now paying them very large sums of money. He is very elderly but basically of sound mind (except for this!). A guy has been phoning him supposedly from Abu Dhabi. We are so sad to see him being cheated but he won't listen. I was just trying to get some evidence to put to him to make him see sense. My husband is contacting police fraud dept to see if they can help, though once before they said if the scam originated abroad they couldn't do anything. How do these scammers sleep at night???

G_M

From the limited info you give, my instinct screams 'SCAM!'

Contact the City of London Police - operation Archway for advice. They may at the least be able/willing to convince your relative to stop giving any more £ away.

Take a look also at the FSA's scams page here.

cheerfulcat

it seems this crowd have offered to help him recoup some money from a previous investment

Definitely a scam then. From the SEC ( US but still applies here ) -

Worthless stock is typically just that — worthless. And anyone who promises a quick way to recover from a bad investment is probably just lying to you. We encourage you to thoroughly investigate any investment opportunity, as well as the person promoting it, before you part with your money. This is especially critical if you are a non-U.S. investor seeking to invest in U.S. stocks — or if you learn about the opportunity over the telephone from a broker you don’t know. The “broker” may well be a con artist, and the deal may be a dud. Remember, if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

Rollinghome

There's a list of unregistered scammers at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/Alerts/overseas.shtml. The nearest seems to be 'Holland & Leaf Advisory'.

Scammers coming back using another name offering to sort out a previous scam seems a common ploy. Perhaps a phonecall to the FSA helpline might give you a pointer - 0300 500 500.

Reaper

I'm afarid he has been caught in a classic double fraud.

The first time a company will sell him some overpriced shares that are difficult to sell claiming they are a "hot tip".

Having lost money on that a second company will call up offering to take any worthless shares off his hands for cash or in exchange for decent company shares. This time the scam is a bit different in that they ask for an advance fee. They will take the money and disappear. This type of fraud is known as "advance fee fraud".

I find it surprising that somebody who has been scammed once immediately makes the same mistake again but apparenty it is very common.

Reaper

If you want more things to show him then here is a page from the Greater Manchester Police that explains both the original fraud and the follow up one. Here is an extract:

A recent development has seen victims of boiler room frauds being subject of repeat victimization whereby they are contacted by fraudsters who claim to be recovery agents. The fraudsters claim that monies lost in the original fraud can be recovered for an advance fee. This is often another scam.

cottager

Zazie wrote: »

We are so sad to see him being cheated but he won't listen.

Very sad. I think many people simply don't believe anyone would deliberately lie or do the dirty on them, as in general it wasn't like that once upon a time (actually not that long ago, comparatively speaking) and they don't realise how much and how quickly things have changed. They probably have faith in their own ability to spot a fraudster a mile off, which by yesterday's standards they might have been, but they don't realise how sophisticated and ruthless these scams now are. It's no longer the 'word is my bond' world they grew up in -- or think they did.

And then don't forget pride. Once things start to go pear-shaped they believe (or at least want to believe) it's just a setback which can still be put right. It will be very hard for many to admit to anyone else they could have got it badly wrong, even if they begin to suspect it themselves.

In the 'old days' of course there were scams, there always have been, but equally there weren't the ready (and also global) means which there are now to invade or weedle their way into anyone's lives -- auto-dialling, databases of names/addresses/numbers, email & internet, etc etc -- so the chances of being contacted or caught up in one must have been more limited. The same technology and advances which have brought us so many benefits have at the same time left many much more exposed.

With someone like your relative it's particularly sad that they're apparently more likely to believe what a scammer/stranger tells them than someone much closer to home with their best interests at heart. As others have been suggesting, the more you can find and print off for him to read (from sources he's likely to trust), maybe the better chance of getting the message across. I do hope you can, and good luck.

Zazie

Many thanks for all the helpful links and support which we are following up. Cottager, you are right that it's quite hurtful he would believe a stranger rather than us. However, he still seems to want to send them more money, despite the fact most of his life savings have already gone. Really frustrating.