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Invested in something dodgy-ish but what can we do now?
happyhero
Posts: 1,277 Forumite
Hi I am trying to help my stepfather who has the start of Parkinsons and dementia and is 88 now he used to be a keen investor. He wants me to help him simplify his investments and going through them it seems he bought into a lot of rubbish, whereas his previous investments went reasonably ok and were in known products/shares.
I've come across several companies that he has share certificates for but the shares are not tradeable on any stock market. Thes companies realised he was an investor back in the 2005 to 2012 period and used to phone up with wonderful investment opportunities as they described them and so my stepfather used to invest two to three thousand with each.
No broker will deal with the share certificates and when I tried to phone the companies direct they gave silly responses (most were very difficult to get hold of). One company said there was no money hardly left in the account to buy the shares back and they may be able to get another investor to buy them but that could prove difficult at this time. Anyway a year later they sent out one of their rare pieces of correspondence asking for more investment for the second phase (I call it theft part 2).
Basically there seems no way to get any money back.
The company I have just contacted the registrars for to prove there is an actual holding and that the company is active is Sterling Trade Finance Holdings for which he has 3 certificates for shares.
What should I do?
Can I do anything or is the money lost completely?
What amazes me is that these companies are allowed to carry on doing this, once you invest there is very very rarely any way of getting anything back unless you are very very lucky and they do so well that they end up on the stock market share list. Why doesn't anybody stop them from taking money from that they will never see again, don't know what you call it but it looks like a con to me.
Any help appreciated.
I've come across several companies that he has share certificates for but the shares are not tradeable on any stock market. Thes companies realised he was an investor back in the 2005 to 2012 period and used to phone up with wonderful investment opportunities as they described them and so my stepfather used to invest two to three thousand with each.
No broker will deal with the share certificates and when I tried to phone the companies direct they gave silly responses (most were very difficult to get hold of). One company said there was no money hardly left in the account to buy the shares back and they may be able to get another investor to buy them but that could prove difficult at this time. Anyway a year later they sent out one of their rare pieces of correspondence asking for more investment for the second phase (I call it theft part 2).
Basically there seems no way to get any money back.
The company I have just contacted the registrars for to prove there is an actual holding and that the company is active is Sterling Trade Finance Holdings for which he has 3 certificates for shares.
What should I do?
Can I do anything or is the money lost completely?
What amazes me is that these companies are allowed to carry on doing this, once you invest there is very very rarely any way of getting anything back unless you are very very lucky and they do so well that they end up on the stock market share list. Why doesn't anybody stop them from taking money from that they will never see again, don't know what you call it but it looks like a con to me.
Any help appreciated.
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Comments
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You can report suspected scams to the FCA: http://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/scams/report-scam
It might not get your stepfather's money back, not least because scamsters often work from obscure jurisdictions, but it might help someone else.0 -
Archi_Bald wrote: »You can report suspected scams to the FCA: http://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/scams/report-scam
It might not get your stepfather's money back, not least because scamsters often work from obscure jurisdictions, but it might help someone else.
But as much as I feel it is a scam, will they see it like that? Its been let to run for years as an investment, if they had seen it was a scam I think it would have been stopped by now. This maybe more of a case of taking advantage of the crappy system.0 -
If nobody reported it they might not ever find out about it.0
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It may not be a scam as such but it sounds like an unregulated investment which by its very nature thereby allows the investment company pretty much free hand to 'manage the investment monies'.
For example....
1) Set up a company to invest in orange groves
2) Wait for a suitable opportunity to buy said orange grove
3) All the time pay yourself a nice wage to cover the costs of running the company
4) Purchase suitable transportation vehicles, i.e. Ferrari
5) Run out of money
6) Offer a second round investment opportunity..... to buy in to an established orange grove company
7) ...and repeatPersonal Responsibility - Sad but True
Sometimes.... I am like a dog with a bone0 -
Information from Companies House for Sterling Trade Finance Holdings
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/066575880 -
It may not be a scam as such but it sounds like an unregulated investment which by its very nature thereby allows the investment company pretty much free hand to 'manage the investment monies'.
For example....
1) Set up a company to invest in orange groves
2) Wait for a suitable opportunity to buy said orange grove
3) All the time pay yourself a nice wage to cover the costs of running the company
4) Purchase suitable transportation vehicles, i.e. Ferrari
5) Run out of money
6) Offer a second round investment opportunity..... to buy in to an established orange grove company
7) ...and repeat
Yes you sum it up nicely trouble is it sound like there are tons of them, and my stepfather seems to have more than 10 like that which I am struggling to pin a value on even from the first investment part as they send out very little paperwork once they had his money. So I find he has 10,000 shares in a company and think wow, but its not wow because it is worthless, a lot of nothing. Knowing my stepfather each one could be worth anything from £1000 to £5000 each so even at the lower value its a significant amount really.
I cant believe that these companies are not controlled somehow to prevent them asking for investment unless they meet a certain criteria etc.
The way it is it looks like anybody could do it tomorrow and bag themselves a load of cash only to state a few days later that the venture failed or more likely needs its 2nd injection of cash ( for Ferrari's latest model), is there no protection against this?0 -
It may not be a scam as such but it sounds like an unregulated investment which by its very nature thereby allows the investment company pretty much free hand to 'manage the investment monies'.
For example....
1) Set up a company to invest in orange groves
2) Wait for a suitable opportunity to buy said orange grove
3) All the time pay yourself a nice wage to cover the costs of running the company
4) Purchase suitable transportation vehicles, i.e. Ferrari
5) Run out of money
6) Offer a second round investment opportunity..... to buy in to an established orange grove company
7) ...and repeat
Exactly. If taking massive 'fees' and 'expenses' from client's money was classed as fraud, the lawyers would be guilty of fraud too :mad:“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” --Upton Sinclair0 -
How would that work?
I cant believe that these companies are not controlled somehow to prevent them asking for investment unless they meet a certain criteria etc.
Even if they are in a jurisdiction where they can be controlled, how can politicians legislate what is a good and bad investment? What people can and can't be invited to invest in?“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” --Upton Sinclair0 -
When I was sorting my deceased fathers estate I came across a number of these types of these so-called investments - all of which were worthless. My father was not an investor bar a couple cash Isa's giving a terrible return with a couple of banks! It seems he was cold called and was caught!
I am still angry that an older person was taken in this manner but that was just one example... he had fallen prey to a number of other internet scams, charity and assorted other 'insurances' etc His direct debits were a jungle of dodgy scams.
Best of luck with getting anything back...0 -
Unfortunately, that's the easy bit.... zero....I am struggling to pin a value on...
You may get some 'payments' from these investments but you (FIL) is unlikely ever to realise the investment monies.Personal Responsibility - Sad but True
Sometimes.... I am like a dog with a bone0
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