Investing in agricultural land - is it risky?

geek84

Hi Folks

You may have watched Breakfast news this morning, where it was mentioned that a lot of 'dodgy' salesman get customers to part with their money to buy agricultural land In the end, it usually turns out that the land is not fit for farming or the land belongs to someone else, who has not given permission to be farmed on etc.

Recently, a friend of mine has invested in a very similar scheme. He has spent about £2k buying land in Sierra Leonne. He has been promised a return of 15%, (dividend to be paid twice yearly), and the fact that the land will also increase in value. My friend thought it was too good to miss this opportunity.

Now after watching that program this morning, he is worried!

So in a nut shell, do you think he has lost the £2k? If so, can he take any action?

By the way, the company through which he invested is www.agricapital.info

Thank You.

GavB79

All investments, even genuine ones, carry risks. Don't invest what you can't afford to lose.

ColinAllCars

The Savings and Investment board where the investment peeps frequent is here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17

You sure it wasnt you that invested see https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3067072=

ColinAllCars

GavB79 wrote: »

All investments, even genuine ones, carry risks. Don't invest what you can't afford to lose.

Yes Indeed. They even warn you.:D

"We recommend that you carefully consider your purchase before submitting an Application Form based on your own personal financial circumstances"

http://www.agricapital.info/Terms_Conditions.htm

ashleypride

You ask a couple of weeks ago for advice in whether you should invest , you then ignore the advice and invest anyway, and now a TV programme has got you worried? Okkkayy.

Given that you were cold called by these guys from doing a survey, it's safe to say the company is at best a bit dubious. The .info domain, and poor website would also concern me.

Whether it's a out and out scam/ponzi, nobody can tell you, but if you get that 15% + orginal captial I'll print this post out and eat it.

geek84

Hi folks

Thanks for your replies.

collinallcars, it is not me who invested but a mate of mine. I only found out when he told me!

ashleypride, what makes you think that their website is of poor quality?

Thanks

jonathan3141

The website has minimal information.

Investing in land or shares in the UK is risky enough, expecially with people happy to imply that planning permission etc is round the corner and you will make a large return. At least in the UK you could relatively easily do some research on how likely that was.

For an investment in Sierra Leone I would question exactly what land is being offered, how you protect your rights to it, what the market value is for agricultural land in the area, how you can sell it later, what your exchange rate risk is, how you get your money back out, whether there are any taxes to pay, etc etc etc.

I suspect the only people making money on this are those selling it on the website.

ashleypride

geek84 wrote: »

what makes you think that their website is of poor quality?

It's a typical from a template site, fine for a one man band or a local website, but for a investment company offering 15% it's lacking to say the least.

budgetflyer

its also a 99p "dot info" domain. Any serious investment company are going to be a dot com or co.uk i would think

A few years back it was all about investing in Amazon Reforestation.

NikkiP_2

there is of course already a dot com which is a completely different company ( and looks legit !)

http://www.agricapital.com/about/history.html

Ypaymore

They are a subsidiary of these people.

http://www.capitalalternatives.co.uk