HSL market system is a scam

kidneybo14

Hi All
I too have been scammed. I paid the £4950 in August last year and have since lost about £300 in trades. Please add me to the FB page. I will register with Action fraud. Any help appreciated

LozMall

Same boat guys, scammed by HSL for 4995.00.
Please tell me how to join the Facebook group as i'd be happy to be part of any group chasing this mob

Iand17

Just joined this forum after finding this thread. Interested in joining the Facebook group as well as I'm another victim after 5months of dealing with Ethan, an overall loss and nothing now at the point I was about to try get out.
Will go back through thread and raise relevant fraud request as well.

Paid £2950 last October. I intentionally paid some of the deposit on a credit card so got a dispute raised and believe I should get a refund under section 75 credit card rules, have other people been refunded or not ? Private message me if preferred.
Cheers and sorry to hear others have similar or bigger loss than me.
See you on the Facebook page soon, is it up and running ?


I'm presuming

wally01

I have also been a victim. Paid £4990 around september time. Also another £799 for the data. Please can someone let me know how I can get on the FB page

edminsm

I have been scammed too. Please can someone send me a link to any groups that are endevouring to get to the bottom of this. Many thanks.

clubconsoles

There is a FB group but it seems most people have come to the same conclusion, the money is long gone!
All the HSL companies director details are made up and they were working out of a virtual office in Canary Wharf but didn't pay the rent on that either!
Your only realistic hope is if you put down a deposit on a credit card.
You can do something called a section 75 claim with your CC provider.
Good luck!

PJ1981_2

Sadly I have also been scammed. After going though a section 75 I got turned down for a refund saying it!!!8217;s an investment/ gambling so I!!!8217;m not covered by section 75. I disputed the outcome and the bank have still said no. The next step is for me to take it to the financial Ombudsman Service. Any advice before I do would be if great help.
Thanks in advance

BigScot

PJ1981 wrote: »

Sadly I have also been scammed. After going though a section 75 I got turned down for a refund saying it!!!8217;s an investment/ gambling so I!!!8217;m not covered by section 75. I disputed the outcome and the bank have still said no. The next step is for me to take it to the financial Ombudsman Service. Any advice before I do would be if great help.
Thanks in advance

Sorry to hear that, can you say which bank it is? in case others on here are trying the section 75 claim too

Malthusian

PJ1981 wrote: »

Sadly I have also been scammed. After going though a section 75 I got turned down for a refund saying it!!!8217;s an investment/ gambling so I!!!8217;m not covered by section 75. I disputed the outcome and the bank have still said no. The next step is for me to take it to the financial Ombudsman Service. Any advice before I do would be if great help.
Thanks in advance

I assume from your post that you have made a formal complaint, the bank has provided a final response and outlined your right to go to the FOS.

The chapter and verse of section 75 is [my emphasis]:

If the debtor under a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement falling within section 12(b) or (c) has, in relation to a transaction financed by the agreement, any claim against the supplier in respect of a misrepresentation or breach of contract, he shall have a like claim against the creditor, who, with the supplier, shall accordingly be jointly and severally liable to the debtor.

So your complaint needs to be as follows:

1) You used your credit card to pay HSL for software that promised to improve the returns you could get from the stockmarket.
2) In reality you have never been able to obtain any investment returns from the software. Nobody who bought HSL software has made a return as a result, as proved by the numerous complaints on the Internet (link to this thread). HSL has now disappeared which is further proof that you haven't just been unlucky; the claims on which the software was sold were bogus and fraudulent from outset.
3) HSL claimed that this software would allow you to obtain an investment return and this has proved to be a misrepresentation.
4) As the software was sold on the basis of a misrepresentation, HSL is liable to return the money you paid for the software. As HSL is liable, under section 75 your card issuer is also liable.

Points 3) and 4) apply equally to any further money you handed over for "the data required to run the system". This data was sold to you on the basis it would allow you to make money on the stockmarket, these claims were bogus, HSL is liable to repay what you paid for them, so is your card issuer.

It is absolutely crucial that you were purchasing software from HSL, not investing or gambling with them. As proof of point 1) you can point to HSL's website (archived here) where their goods are sold under the heading "software".

If you did invest any money in shares as a result of claims made by HSL, and lost money, then you will need to write it off.

The FOS may well still take the view that the money you handed to HSL was an investment rather than a purchase of software and not subject to section 75, but IMO the above is your best chance.

I assume it was in fact a credit card? If it was a debit card then you are looking at a chargeback, not section 75, and different rules apply.

DoaM

(Not reading back through the whole thread) ... How much was the software and how much was the "database"? Each needs to be £100+ for S75 to apply.

Unless the poster is still within 120 days (I think) from initial purchase then chargeback is not an option.