Section 75

DAVID_POGSON

Hi I'm new to this forum and hope somebody can help me. I got scammed by an online internet trading fraud. The company involved are called Plusoption.com. I lost £35000 in deposits I made to my "trading account" and paid into with credit and debit cards. All went well until I tried to withdraw funds and Plusoption.com breached their repayment and withdrawal policy by refusing to refund my deposits. I then approached The Banks requesting a Section 75 repayment for breach of contract and all The Banks/Card companies say they looked into the case and none have paid me a penny. Siting amongst other things that their cards should not have been used for online trading. Though this is NOT mentioned in any of their Ts & Cs or the 1974 CCA - Section 75!!
CAN ANYONE HELP? HAS ANYONE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION BEFORE?

eskbanker

DAVID_POGSON wrote: »

I then approached The Banks requesting a Section 75 repayment for breach of contract and all The Banks/Card companies say they looked into the case and none have paid me a penny. Siting amongst other things that their cards should not have been used for online trading. Though this is NOT mentioned in any of their Ts & Cs or the 1974 CCA - Section 75!!

If a bank has argued that "their cards should not have been used for online trading" but you're asserting that this isn't referred to in the Ts & Cs (it's hardly surprising that online trading isn't mentioned in a 1974 Act of Parliament!), what's their next line of argument when you've pointed this out to them?

antrobus

DAVID_POGSON wrote: »

Hi I'm new to this forum and hope somebody can help me. I got scammed by an online internet trading fraud. The company involved are called Plusoption.com. I lost £35000 in deposits I made to my "trading account" and paid into with credit and debit cards. All went well until I tried to withdraw funds and Plusoption.com breached their repayment and withdrawal policy by refusing to refund my deposits. I then approached The Banks requesting a Section 75 repayment for breach of contract and all The Banks/Card companies say they looked into the case and none have paid me a penny. Siting amongst other things that their cards should not have been used for online trading. Though this is NOT mentioned in any of their Ts & Cs or the 1974 CCA - Section 75!!
CAN ANYONE HELP? HAS ANYONE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION BEFORE?

Yes, see this thread, as one example
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5598916/section-75-binary-options-claim&page=2

Post # 22 from 11-10-2017 - "I have contacted the FCA, who have informed me that Plus Option is an illegally operating scam."

If you paid £35000 into your trading account, presumably you did some trading. What were the supposed results of this trading?

jonesMUFCforever

DAVID_POGSON wrote: »

Hi I'm new to this forum and hope somebody can help me. I got scammed by an online internet trading fraud. The company involved are called Plusoption.com. I lost £35000 in deposits I made to my "trading account" and paid into with credit and debit cards. All went well until I tried to withdraw funds and Plusoption.com breached their repayment and withdrawal policy by refusing to refund my deposits. I then approached The Banks requesting a Section 75 repayment for breach of contract and all The Banks/Card companies say they looked into the case and none have paid me a penny. Siting amongst other things that their cards should not have been used for online trading. Though this is NOT mentioned in any of their Ts & Cs or the 1974 CCA - Section 75!!
CAN ANYONE HELP? HAS ANYONE BEEN IN THIS SITUATION BEFORE?

There have been many posts on this theme over the years.
Personally I don't think you have any claim myself - its a form of gambling - you asked them to provide funds to a trading company they did this on your instruction.
You mention £35000 as money deposited - I take it this was done over many transactions not just one - because the limit for S75 claims is £30000.
Did you research the company before investing? Are they covered by the FCA or the compensation scheme?
If not I would not have touched them with a bargepole.

So I don't think you have a S75 claim but you could ask for chargebacks for any deposits made within the last 120 days - you might get something back you might not.
If they are covered by the FCA then that should be your next step to complain.

antrobus

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

...
If they are covered by the FCA then that should be your next step to complain.

Naah.:)

We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation.

Published: 12/03/2018
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings/plusoption

Basically, if it's not FCA authorised it is, as you suggest gambling. I don't think that s75 covers the inability to withdraw funds from the bookies, even if you can claim that some of the initial wagers were made on a CC. But that's just my opinion.

Of course, the FCA doesn't do complaints. The FOS do. The OP has the right to take their complaint to the FOS if all these 'Banks/Card companies' say no.

Tallaght

Is this yet another crypto currency post ?

eskbanker

antrobus wrote: »

I don't think that s75 covers the inability to withdraw funds from the bookies

Why not, if the bookies' refusal to release the funds is demonstrably in breach of the Ts & Cs of the governing contract?

I get the argument that s75 can't be expected to cover gambling/trading losses but if there's a residual balance that's being withheld in contravention of contract terms then that seems a different issue to me, although in this case I have no idea how that balance could be reconciled across multiple deposits from different banks....

antrobus

Tallaght wrote: »

Is this yet another crypto currency post ?

Google says

PlusOption was an unlicensed Forex broker, owned and operated by Redfield Markets ltd., located at: 78 York Street, London, England W1H1DP.

https://scambroker.com/plusoption/

Redfield Markets Ltd listed its Nature of business (SIC) as73110 - Advertising agencies. There is a First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off dated 18 Sep 2018. It is controlled by Tradeplus Solutions Limited, reg no 77590, based in the Marshall Islands.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10754796

antrobus

eskbanker wrote: »

Why not, if the bookies' refusal to release the funds is demonstrably in breach of the Ts & Cs of the governing contract?

Because there is no debtor-creditor-supplier agreement covering the release of funds? That transaction was not financed by the agreement?

eskbanker wrote: »

....
I get the argument that s75 can't be expected to cover gambling/trading losses but if there's a residual balance that's being withheld in contravention of contract terms then that seems a different issue to me, although in this case I have no idea how that balance could be reconciled across multiple deposits from different banks....

Put it this way, you transfer £1,000 from your CC account to some trading account somewhere, you could argue that s75 applied to that transaction, as in there was a failure to provide the goods or services. But you could argue that the service was provided, as in, you were indeed able to initiate trades. If the providers of the trading account refuse a subsequent withdrawal, how do you establish that this is a breach of contract, and how do you demonstrate that there is any connection with the initial transaction?

eskbanker

antrobus wrote: »

If the providers of the trading account refuse a subsequent withdrawal, how do you establish that this is a breach of contract

Surely that's self-evident if there's a contract containing a withdrawal clause and the provider doesn't adhere to it?

antrobus wrote: »

and how do you demonstrate that there is any connection with the initial transaction?

Yes, that's a fair point - if it's necessary to establish a connection between transactions in that way, rather than the whole thing being wrapped up in the one contract, then I can see how that would present difficulties from an s75 perspective.

antrobus

eskbanker wrote: »

Surely that's self-evident if there's a contract containing a withdrawal clause and the provider doesn't adhere to it?

...

But how do you establish that?

How do you demonstrate that there is anything to withdraw?