Is this a scam?

harvestmoon

I recently received a letter from City Financial Investment Company Ltd saying they need to confirm my tax status. They then go on to say that new regulations require a fund(not named) in which I invest to establish whether I am a reportable person for the purposes of the regulations. Given that any income I have from any source has been put on my tax returns why would I give this information to a company not known to me? My gut feeling is that this is a scam - any comments would be appreciated.
Has anybody out there heard of this company or had any similar dealings with this company?

Linda32

Never heard of them, but in my opinion, Yes it's a scam.

Butterfly_Brain

Looked online and it is definitely a scam

srn

Sounds like a scam, if you are not sure you could always ring the real tax people up to check.

Biggles

harvestmoon wrote: »

I recently received a letter from City Financial Investment Company Ltd

What a useful coverall name; it sounds as though it must mean something but really means nothing at all!

File in the round grey filing cabinet on the floor and don't waste any more time on it.

Ilona

I'm surprised you even have to ask. Unsolicited mail of that nature, automatically shred.
Ilona

maryb

My DH used to work for a French company and got allocated tuppence ha'penny worth of shares under the French employee share scheme. The French registrars wrote to him asking him to confirm his tax status ( ie UK resident) and we instantly assumed it was a scam. However on a closer read we realised it was genuine but it must be VERY rare that it is - and you would always have had some prior dealings

dreaming

Just to let you know that there is a company with that name (just google it), which looks reputable as a fund manager/investment company.

Badrick

A quick Google shows City Financial Investment Company Limited founded in 1968.

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/02047390/CITY-FINANCIAL-INVESTMENT-COMPANY-LIMITED/companies-house-data

Costs nothing to email enquiring would they send something of this nature, perhaps including any reference number.
Enquiries are on rhs when you scroll halfway down homepage.

http://www.cityfinancial.co.uk/

Scammers do use reputable company names as as bait, but tend to use PO Box numbers for mailing address.

harvestmoon

Thank you to everyone who has responded to my post. I have googled etc myself and it is certainly looking like there IS a company with this name. The heading on the letter is in black and white ( unlike on the letterhead on the website) but the form to fill in is exactly as it is on the website! I am 99.9 per cent that it's a scam....it's also proving very difficult to contact HMRC but I'll persevere. Anyone out there, please keep an eye out for literature from this 'company'.
Thanks again!

dreaming

I was saying to my daughter last night when I saw that Watchdog is back on tv, that people are becoming so suspicious of "scams" that they see them everywhere.
If I were you I would contact the company (using their registered office details from the website rather than that from the letter you received) and simply ask if this has come from them. Probably quicker than trying to get through to HMRC. Or you could ignore the letter and see if they contact you again, but I'm not sure on what you base your certainty of it being bogus.