Frederick Charles - Fine Art Investments

buntastic

MattMattMattUK said:

buntastic said:

garmeg said:

Was cold called today by someone called Amy at this company. Tried to lead my answers to questions about art investments. They are going to send me details by post - to an address i moved from 14 years ago. Not going to tell them my address has changed. Lol.

Would I like the art to hang in my home or do i want them to look after it in secure storage for me. Hmmm let me think about that, lol.

Cold calling about investments is a bit of a no no really.

EDIT: 1471 returns their number as 02037457562

Hello, I’m one of many people who have been affected by this company and am gathering others with similar experiences, as there are multiple reports of potentially fraudulent activity. If you believe you’ve been scammed or misled, I’ve created a Facebook group where we can connect, share our experiences, and discuss possible actions moving forward. It's called Frederick Charles Art - Group Action Page on Facebook. 

What do you feel is fraudulent? "Investment art" is perfectly legal, even if it is a guaranteed way to loose money. 

Also there are 2 other threads on here that refer to Frederick Charles Art.  You should look at the following thread which confirms they misled the author. They said there was protection up to £80k. That is a lie. See: Investing in art using an art broker

masonic

About a year ago, the former government ran a consultation on banning cold calling relating to consumer financial services and products. The then Economic Secretary to the Treasury wrote:

"Cold calling for financial services and products has long been used by fraudsters to manipulate and trick members of the public into scams. These criminals will often purposely target the most vulnerable members of our society and use a range of deceitful tactics to take advantage in any way they can. 

The government will not tolerate this behaviour. This is why we announced in the Fraud Strategy that government will ban cold calling for all consumer financial services and products. This ban will make the public aware that they will never be called by a legitimate firm trying to market a financial product without their consent. Any unsolicited calls of this type should be viewed as scams, and the public should feel empowered to put the phone down and report these calls. This will stop the fraudsters dead in their tracks and prevent the emotional and financial harm that cold calling can cause."

In my view this is absolutely the right way forward and I couldn't agree more with suggested stance recipients of such calls should take. Consumers should be able to live by the mantra that no reputable firm will ever cold call them with an investment proposition. I'd also argue that an investment in art, especially where the art is never taken into the possession of the buyer and is merely held for its potential to increase in value, should not be viewed differently than other investment schemes, such as those involving vintage wine, property, cryptocurrency, or mainstream investments.

I would suggest that any company that engages in cold calling to sell investments in any form is contributing to the problem of financial crime whether or not they are engaged in scamming customers themselves. The default position of anyone on the receiving end of such a call should be that it is a scam.

I do hope that the change of government does not prevent this proposed ban from moving forward.