*** WARNING *** Phillip Paar Wealth Management

alittleowl

hollydays wrote: »

See also
https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/vergunningenregisters/financiele-dienstverleners/details?id=B60A0D04-819D-E511-81EE-005056BE011D

I looked at that for a long time before realising that it's Philip with one "l" whereas the one Mum has been dealing with is Phillip with two "l"s. Does seem a bit of a coincidence that they're both based in Vienna. Might be worth making a call to the Netherlands on Monday. Thanks very much for the info.

alittleowl

I think I've done all I can for now to protect Mum. I've notified all appropriate authorities in this country, in Austria and in the Netherlands and "they're looking in to it." I realise the FCA etc. can't do much because they weren't registered with them anyway, Action Fraud are massively overstretched and the web host isn't going to switch off a paying customer's site just because it gets a complaint. All very frustrating but I think I've done all I can to warn people. If anyone has any more ideas, please let me know.

alittleowl

Just an update for those of you who were kind enough to take the time to comment on this thread. Mum received a letter just after Christmas from her bank (HSBC) telling her that they confirm that she's been the victim of an authorised push payment scam, that they believe she carried out all the necessary checks before making this payment and that they're refunding the full amount. She's phoned them to check that this isn't another scam letter (she's very suspicious of everything now!) and it's true.

Thank you HSBC!

Still wish I could get my hands on the evil so and so who did this, and is probably still doing it, but at least she has her money back. I've tried phoning the number on the website today and now it says "this number is unobtainable" so I guess they've shut that shop and reopened under a different name.

Moral of the story:
1. Be very very careful who you transfer your money to.
2. Make sure your bank is one of the ones signed up to the APP scam reimbursement scheme.

DCFC79

Thanks for the update, its good the bank have offered to refund her.

hollydays

Good news indeed

robatwork

Shame the website is still in operation.

You'd hope if a bank has done its diligence and come to the conclusion "It's a complete scam and we are refunding" that would spur actionfraud into life.

alittleowl

robatwork wrote: »

Shame the website is still in operation.

You'd hope if a bank has done its diligence and come to the conclusion "It's a complete scam and we are refunding" that would spur actionfraud into life.

Unfortunately there has been no update from Action Fraud. It appears the report is still in their In Tray wating to be looked at. According to a report in Which? magazine at the end of last year, it's extremely unlikely that a human will ever look at it because it's under £100,000! A computer algorithm will classify it as "not worth the effort" and that will be that.

Thank goodness the APP scam scheme was set up last May. I was prepared to take Mum's case to the Financial Obmudsman and battle to get her money back but HSBC have really upheld their side of things. My guess is that the banks are going to end up paying out so much under the scheme it will be scrapped in the not too distant future.

Saj321

Hi alittleowl, 

Thank you for this thread. I’m glad to read that your grandma has received the money back from HSBC. Unfortunately, I have a friend who contacted me last night as she has also fallen victim to this scam and lost £5k. I’ve found one scammers address in the UK but of course the police won’t entertain this. Thus, I was hoping you could help me by advising what approach you took with the bank to prove it’s a scam. Unfortunately my friend is in Doha and so is her bank. Which leads me to believe that the regulations may be different and so the way your case was handled will be different to how her case will be handled. Nonetheless, any advice you can give will be of great help. 

Thanks

robatwork

Website still up - a google for "STANLEY HARBRIDGE" only produces one result - this website. Pretty conclusive that this is all fantasy: "Stanley leads our global trading team and is responsible for the team’s strategic direction.  Stanley began his career in 1995 before joining an international banks Multi-asset team. He has extensive international experience having worked in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Stanley holds a First in Economics from Warwick university"

iqz93

I have also fallen victim to this SCAM online!! The way it works is - There is one point of contact dedicated to you, who will carry out trades on your behalf. This trader will assure you that everything is secure, that the company is FCA approved, can be trusted and guaranteed and the investment is risk free under a certain amount. The trader starts by asking you to provide your name, contact and email. The so called ‘trader’ then asks you to transfer funds to the company accountant for instance £800. Once the transfer is made they provide you with a login to a ‘portal’ which seems legitimate. The trader states that it is risk free because if the trades are unsuccessful, they will return your money. They then proceed to making trades and allow you to view them via your ‘portal’. Once they have made ‘profits’ they contact you and state that in order to access your funds you MUST pay a ‘company settlement fee’ and as soon as that is cleared you will receive your profits. These are in fact fake trades and fake profits (large sums). When you refuse this, and ask for your initial deposit, they assure you and convince you that it is all secure by showing examples of other people’s payouts (fake). They say since the trade is ‘successful’ the only way to access funds is by paying a large ‘settlement fee’. 

Unfortunately I ended up trusting the trader as they use any means necessary to convince you that it is not a scam. When I confronted the trader about the lady who lost £1000. The trader stated that there is only ONE comment and this particular client was working with a former manager ‘David Cambridge’. The client was not pleased with their returns so decided to lie and was also taken to court. They try to assure you that all companies receive bad reviews and as it is only ONE comment, it cannot be true. I have lost a lot to this fake site and also contacted the relevant authorities to deal with this. It is all a lie to steal your money.