Possible investment scam?

rayjay01

It's been my dream since I was a child to start my own business one day. I have been saving money my entire life to have enough capital should I find a good enough opportunity / starting point.

Such an opportunity has presented it self, but I am extremely dubious.

I'll try and keep this short, however, my father often walks our dogs in the village. He met a friendly Nigerian lady a few months ago who owns a large 5 bedroom house up the road from us. They began talking to each other on a daily basis and became well acquainted.

She rents 2 of her bedrooms to help her pay the mortgage. Worryingly she doesn't have tenancy agreements with these people which in itself seems quite dodgy, however, she encountered a problem with one of the tenants and he was refusing to move out. Anyway, my father agreed to go round there and help evict him. They succeeded. And my father just happened to ask her what she does for work.

She said she owns a recruitment company, however she ran out of money to fund it and was screwed over by old business associates that stole her client base. My father, eager to help me fulfill my dream of starting my own business, said to her 'my son is desperate to start a business' and arranged a meeting between us to discuss starting something together. The agreement was, I would invest £5,000 capital, while she brought the knowledge and know-how of the industry.

During our conversation though, many alarm bells went off... I'm quite torn by the whole situation. On one hand, she lives in a very impressive 5 bedroom property, which would suggest a lucrative past. But other things such as - telling us that she had recently got rid of her landline, yet I could see a handset behind her, and it even rang at one point.

I like to think I'm quite a good judge of character, and can normally tell when someone is trying to over sell, and I couldn't help but get that impression with her.

She said we'll need to get a landline, website, and an office for us to start up. After pushing her for more details of her previous company "Consultancy People", she allowed us to view files on her computer, such as invoices etc. However, I also saw a file called "Consultancy People Propaganda", and she was eager to show us two of her old invoices from previous successful recruitment places.

While handing me a business card, she accidentally dropped another one on the floor. I kept it without her noticing. When I got home I realized the second business card had a completely different business name, yet the same colors used on her original one. As though she had mass produced a number of business cards with different business names...

I'm going to thoroughly research her businesses myself, but I wanted to know if anyone is aware of such scams? I know the common Nigerian Prince scam. But this lady lives up the road from us, we know where she lives. Would she really risk scamming us? I also don't want to miss out on a potential business opportunity because of my suspicious mind.

rayjay01

Just to update - I've just found her current company on companies house. It says "active proposal to strike off", and that the accounts are overdue. What questions should I ask her about this?

J_B

rayjay01 wrote: »

I also don't want to miss out on a potential business opportunity because of my suspicious mind.

rayjay01 wrote: »

Just to update - I've just found her current company on companies house. It says "active proposal to strike off", and that the accounts are overdue. What questions should I ask her about this?

Presuming you are for real, then ask no questions and keep dreaming about owning your own business, whilst (presumably?) earning money doing what you currently do.
Wait till a decent opportunity turns up.

00ec25

so your father, who knows nothing about how to evict a tenant, did so?
Perhaps your father had better keep a low profile for a while in case the tenant comes back with a claim of illegal eviction (a criminal. not a civil, offence)

you on the other hand are "impressed" by someone who has a large house but needs the income from "residents" to keep it going? You also have no idea what you are talking about since if she lives there they were not tenants anyway, they were lodgers - entirely different eviction rules.

you now are seriously (really :eek: ) thinking of investing cash into the "business" of someone who appears unable to manage one? Proposal to strike off means just that, final warning for failure to the company admin. Continue not doing the admin, and the company will be legally closed and any money it holds will be sequestered by the Crown

I echo the above poster's comments. Until you have more experience, stick to what you know, and that is not waving 5k in the air and hoping it comes up trumps

motorguy

rayjay01 wrote: »

Just to update - I've just found her current company on companies house. It says "active proposal to strike off", and that the accounts are overdue. What questions should I ask her about this?

Ask no questions at all - RUN!

Far too dodgy.

martindow

Maybe she's a princess with millions tied up in Nigeria which you could help her get to England?

rayjay01

00ec25 wrote: »

so your father, who knows nothing about how to evict a tenant, did so?
Perhaps your father had better keep a low profile for a while in case the tenant comes back with a claim of illegal eviction (a criminal. not a civil, offence)

Yes, I may have used the wrong terminology, they were lodgers not tenants. And when I say they were successful evicting the LODGER, they sat down and came to a mutual agreement that he would leave the premises. Instead of issuing a section 8 against him.

00ec25 wrote: »

I echo the above poster's comments. Until you have more experience, stick to what you know, and that is not waving 5k in the air and hoping it comes up trumps

I appreciate that I may sound naive. But the reason I'm asking for advice is because I don't fully trust what is being said. It's more the guidance of someone who has experience in a certain industry that is so appealing to me.

Unfortunately I've worked in an industry for the last 5 years that doesn't allow me the opportunities to learn skills or knowledge that may help me start my own business. However it does allow me to work up to 70 hours a week, earning money, which if I changed careers to another job (that may give me those avenues to learn) I may not earn as much for my future.

I didn't say I was impressed by her, I said her house was impressive. Which would suggest she must have done well for herself. Whether that was scamming people remains to be seen.

I would just like to find a role model I can learn from, I don't think that's something I should feel bad for.

00ec25 wrote: »

you now are seriously (really ) thinking of investing cash into the "business" of someone who appears unable to manage one?

I see this as a learning opportunity, and as such, have researched compulsory strike-offs. It would appear some accountants (although the practice may be dodgy) sometimes recommend their clients allow the business to be struck off? Despite the risks of these things coming back to bite them?

Comms69

If these were people in the ladies own home (ie she lived there also) they weren't tenants. So no illegal eviction could take place.


A s.8 wouldn't apply to a lodger, and probably wouldn't have applied to the tenant in any case.

PDC

Sounds to me it could be a very expensive "learning opportunity".

I can't understand why would you consider going into business with someone who you don't trust?

lincroft1710

I can offer you a much better business opportunity for £4,000, never mind £5,000! And I live in a 6 bed house! For your £4,000 I'll send you 8,000 genuine guaranteed cigarette lighters which you can sell with as much mark up as you wish.

Seriously, your own feelings and research have told you that your father's Nigerian friend is a bad risk. So act on them and RUN away from this "investment"

tacpot12

rayjay01 wrote: »

Unfortunately I've worked in an industry for the last 5 years that doesn't allow me the opportunities to learn skills or knowledge that may help me start my own business.

I find that very hard to believe. Even working in the most menial job you have the opportunity to learn something about how the business works. And all businesses basically work in the same way: find out what customers need, fill the need for a cost that is less than the customer is prepared to pay, then either pay the profit to the shareholders or reinvest it in the business to find new needs, new customers for existing needs, or to reduce costs.

However, you may not actually be cut out to be an entrepreneur. You could invest your savings in businesses with proven management teams. There are thousands of unit trusts and investment trusts to would allow you to do just this, and you could probably earn a 10% return on your investment with less risk than starting your own business.

Please don't have anything to do with this failed businesswoman. Recruitment is not a capital-intensive business, so if it failed due to under-capitalisation, she's not a good business person.