Landbanking [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] - Claremont Forbes - FSA

Charles_East

Hi all it's May 2010

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] Claremont Forbes.

These people are involved in 'Collective Investment Schemes' which is where they get lots of people to jointly invest in a scheme to buy land. It is commonly know as 'landbanking' or 'land banking'.

It is bound to fail and cause a lot of unhappiness to those that lose all their money (which will be ALL investors).

Most investors are asked to put in somewhere in the region of £20,000. (Twenty Thousand pounds) ,which does make it sound very affordable (that is the idea!)

UK regulation has been variable for landbanking investments. The FSA has closed many firms in this area in the past 2 or 3 years and says that they will act to protect investors.......

Yet when I complained about Claremont Forbes in March 2010, the FSA seemed to be very laid back and said that they couldn't make public the records of which companies are being investigated. [then they managed to show what hypocrites the FSA are by publicly announcing the launch of an investigation into Goldman Sachs regarding the housing derivatives miss-selling scam in the USA!]. I am continuing to hassle the FSA but they seems extremely limp and ineffective. It seems funny that Health and safety can close down a business in 24 hours or less but the FSA can do barely nothing at all.

Anyway, I am hoping that this thread will pose as a warning to a all potential investors.

Good luck to you all
Regards
Charles

geo555

Try contacting Trading Standards instead.

eranou

Im guessing the they would need evidence to warrant an investigation and would not be able to publicise records whilst an investigation is ongoing so they do not jeopardise it.

The reference to H&S is irrelevant as a health and safety officer would see any breaches of regulations first hand whereas the FSA may have to trawl through paper work, files etc.

Is it not the American regulator SEC not the British FSA who are investigating Goldman Sachs?

Can you post your experience with this company that lead you to believe they are underhand?

wealdroam

Charles_East wrote: »

It seems funny that Health and safety can close down a business in 24 hours or less but the FSA can do barely nothing at all.

I tend to agree with these priorities.

If something is a physical danger to life and limb (health and safety), then I think it is perfectly reasonable to remove that risk as soon as possible.

When investigating financial irregularities, surely it is best to make sure of the facts before acting and destroying someone's business. Ok, people may lose money while this happens, but no one is at risk of being injured or killed are they?

nomoneytoday

Surely people wouldn't be so greedy as to fall for a scam?

trisontana

This website:- PropertyScam has lots of information about these land banking scams. There is no mention of Claremont Forbes on there, but they may not be aware of them yet. It might be worth contacting them.

Charles_East

Hi

My story: I have shares and appear on many registers so I am often called by scammers. Most come from abroad. Claremont Forbes called me in the usual way (you can read about land banking all over the place), but they come from London and look very respectable (I asked for and received a very nice brochure). But IMO, they are still scammers and people must fall for land banking scams or it would not keep on occurring over and over again. I posted on here in order to get their name known for what they do.

1. I have contacted Property scams and told them today. (their website could be more user freindly, but the idea is good).

2. My experience of complaining to Trading Standards has not been good, so I am not too keen to go down another frustrating alley.

3. The Goldman Sachs investigation was also the FSA (I can't post the link here due to the webite restrictions, but just google it).

4. I am not in any way suggesting it is wrong for H&S to close a business down. I simply think it should be ok for the FSA to have similar processes. i.e. A regular inspection of the usual kind of financial businesses to make sure they have decent systems (and the correct authorisations), and the powers to take matters further in a speedy way.

Hope I haven't missed any points raised.
Regards
Charles

eranou

Charles_East wrote: »

Hi

My story: I have shares and appear on many registers so I am often called by scammers. Most come from abroad. Claremont Forbes called me in the usual way (you can read about land banking all over the place), but they come from London and look very respectable (I asked for and received a very nice brochure). But IMO, they are still scammers and people must fall for land banking scams or it would not keep on occurring over and over again. I posted on here in order to get their name known for what they do.

1. I have contacted Property scams and told them today. (their website could be more user freindly, but the idea is good).

2. My experience of complaining to Trading Standards has not been good, so I am not too keen to go down another frustrating alley.

3. The Goldman Sachs investigation was also the FSA (I can't post the link here due to the webite restrictions, but just google it).

4. I am not in any way suggesting it is wrong for H&S to close a business down. I simply think it should be ok for the FSA to have similar processes. i.e. A regular inspection of the usual kind of financial businesses to make sure they have decent systems (and the correct authorisations), and the powers to take matters further in a speedy way.

Hope I haven't missed any points raised.
Regards
Charles

Can you explain how exactly they are scammers?

Have you actualy invested anything with them?

Charles_East

eranou

No, I have not invested.

To answer you question explaining how exactly are they scammers - well take a look at the FSA website. If you dig deep you will find that only one land banker has being given permission to trade and that is on some kind of special review or terms (I cannot remember which).

I cannot posts links on here (as a new member this forum doesn't permit me to), but you can look all of this subject up. The most important bit is this:

The FSA says:
Although the FSA does not regulate land as a 'specified investment,' there is a risk that many of these schemes are in breach of the financial regulation regime if they are structured as a 'collective investment scheme'. To operate and promote such a scheme legally the operators of the scheme would need to request and obtain authorisation from the FSA which would then regulate these firms. Generally these Landbanking schemes are not authorised by the FSA.

Claremont Forbes are doing exactly that kind of Collective Investment Scheme without getting the required FSA approval. I have had loads of calls from them (breaking the terms of the Telephone Preference Service) and I can assure you and anyone else that it has all the Hallmarks of a scam.

I have put my message on this board to help others who have the sense to read up before buying. The FSA might not care about peoples money being wasted but I do.

Hope you can see that I have said all that I need to.
Regards
Charles

jimbms

Oh dear, are people still falling for this old scam?

John_Wilder

Hi, everybody

I've just stumbled across Claremont Forbes and would like to know more about them if they're dodgy because my teenage son was approached by a reputable recruitment agency (Reed) to work there; he's done a day's training (last week) and now he's there working. If they're dodgy I'd like to know as I want to ensure he gets paid. In essence, he's there as a kind of telesales person, cold calling them. That's all I know, but any advice would be welcomed.