Credit Suiisse 2.7% bond

Aretnap

This is a common scam.

The bond appears to be real, issued by Credit Suisse in 2016 and maturing in 2022 and paying 2.7% coupon (interest). However Credit Suisse no longer issue that particular bond. In theory she could buy on the secondary market, but she would have to find someone who already holds them who wants to sell. Which means she would have to pay enough to make it worth their while giving up a 2.7% interest rate in order to put their money in the bank at 0.5% instead. In other words she would have to buy the bonds at above face value, so the cost of buying them would outweigh the nominal extra interest she would receive. And if Credit Suisse went bust before 2022 (unlikely but not impossible) she would lose her money and nobody would offer to bail her out or compensate her.

As an illustration, if she bought the bonds legitimately they would have a face value (par) of say £100 each, she would pay the market price of £102.50 each, receive a year's interest (coupon) of £2.70 per bond, then a final payment of £100 per bond - overall no real improvement on sticking the money in the bank, but with extra risks. I haven't looked up the exact numbers, but they will be something along these lines. 

In practice though all this is irrelevant because the people offering her the bond are almost certainly just plain scammers. They use a real bond so that if she does a Google search it appears plausible at first glance, but the scam would work exactly the same way whether they were offering Credit Suisse bonds, HSBC bonds, Acme Corporation bonds, or magic beans. She gives them some money, they give her some fake paperwork, they disappear with her money and Credit Suisse say "this was nothing to do with us, it's not our problem". She should report this to Action Fraud, have no more contact with these "brokers", and be extremely suspicious of any more phone calls she receives offering her investment opportunities. 

Enigmaman

Albermarle said:

Sometimes the bond is genuine but the brokers trying to sell it are not. Or they say it is guaranteed or 100% safe when it isn't .
Legit financial investment companies do not cold call you or generally harrass you to buy over the phone,
Apparently they looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site
Which one ?

Moneysupermarket

Notepad_Phil

Enigmaman said:

Albermarle said:

Sometimes the bond is genuine but the brokers trying to sell it are not. Or they say it is guaranteed or 100% safe when it isn't .
Legit financial investment companies do not cold call you or generally harrass you to buy over the phone,
Apparently they looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site
Which one ?

Moneysupermarket

Are you 100% sure on that, I've had a look and cannot see anything like that there. Unfortunately, 99 times out of a 100 (and possibly even more) when someone comes on here asking about bonds like this being offered and says they've looked on a well known comparison site, what they actually mean is that they found it on facebook or twitter or simply went to google and typed in "best interest rates" or "best investments" or something along those lines.

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/fixed-rate-bonds/ has the best rate at 0.6% - I think your relative has not gone directly to the website but has clicked a link which has taken them to somewhere which has persuaded them that they are on a different site to the one they are actually on.

As others have said, that is not a bond that retail customers can buy and even if they could buy it legally it wouldn't pay them 2.7% on the money they put in - this is a well known scammer technique to offer something which looks genuine but will result in the theft of the money that they manage to get people to invest.

Albermarle

Enigmaman said:

Albermarle said:

Sometimes the bond is genuine but the brokers trying to sell it are not. Or they say it is guaranteed or 100% safe when it isn't .
Legit financial investment companies do not cold call you or generally harrass you to buy over the phone,
Apparently they looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site
Which one ?

Moneysupermarket

I find that difficult to believe and I can not see any sign of this type of product being mentioned on this website .

Enigmaman

Notepad_Phil said:

Enigmaman said:

Albermarle said:

Sometimes the bond is genuine but the brokers trying to sell it are not. Or they say it is guaranteed or 100% safe when it isn't .
Legit financial investment companies do not cold call you or generally harrass you to buy over the phone,
Apparently they looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site
Which one ?

Moneysupermarket

Are you 100% sure on that, I've had a look and cannot see anything like that there. Unfortunately, 99 times out of a 100 (and possibly even more) when someone comes on here asking about bonds like this being offered and says they've looked on a well known comparison site, what they actually mean is that they found it on facebook or twitter or simply went to google and typed in "best interest rates" or "best investments" or something along those lines.

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/fixed-rate-bonds/ has the best rate at 0.6% - I think your relative has not gone directly to the website but has clicked a link which has taken them to somewhere which has persuaded them that they are on a different site to the one they are actually on.

As others have said, that is not a bond that retail customers can buy and even if they could buy it legally it wouldn't pay them 2.7% on the money they put in - this is a well known scammer technique to offer something which looks genuine but will result in the theft of the money that they manage to get people to invest.

Thankyou.

ivormonee

Enigmaman said:

 looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site and that has led to a number of calls from various brokers. 
It certainly looks plausible

Two questions:

1. Could you provide us with the actual link to the site? We already know you've stated it was "Moneysupermarket" - but please let us have the link to the site that you are looking at. Then we'll take a proper look.

2. How does "looked at" give rise to "a number of calls from various brokers"? It must have been more than "looked at" - perhaps (more than perhaps, definitely) personal contact details were entered somewhere onto the site; at least a phone number must have been entered.

Moneysupermarket is obviously a comparison site but :

(a) it doesn't list the types of products in the OP and,

(b) it doesn't ask for personal details to be entered anywhere.

I think most of everything else has been explained clearly already, so no need for it to be repeated again now.

dunstonh

Enigmaman said:

Albermarle said:

Sometimes the bond is genuine but the brokers trying to sell it are not. Or they say it is guaranteed or 100% safe when it isn't .
Legit financial investment companies do not cold call you or generally harrass you to buy over the phone,
Apparently they looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site
Which one ?

Moneysupermarket

Moneysupermarket has no such listing.     So, either you are mistaken or its a clone site.  Give us the URL.

Enigmaman

Sorry, but I won't be able to supply the URL as my relative says it was "a long time ago" and can't remember.
However, I googled the phone number that this "Jonathan Goldstein" gave her  - 0208 089 1744 - and came up with this:
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings/credit-suisse-plc-clone-fca-authorised-firm 
100% a scam. 
Unfortunately, she now admits she had already given them her bank account details and "signed something" electronically.
However, the bank says there "is nothing to worry about" as they cannot take money without a Direct Debit or a debit card number...hmmm.
I want her to transfer all the money out asap but she's only moving £5,000 of the £10,000 in there. The bank says they cannot put a block on the account. I want her to take the whole lot out of the account.
Does anyone have any further advice to safeguard her finances?  Is this scammer entitled to the money if she does not notify him within 14 days?     

Albermarle

I want her to take the whole lot out of the account.

This would seem the safest option . If there is no money there they can not take it .

 Is this scammer entitled to the money if she does not notify him within 14 days?     

All contact should be stopped immediately . There is no way a scammer /criminal will appeal to the authorities 

Enigmaman

ivormonee said:

Enigmaman said:

 looked at Investments on a well-known comparison site and that has led to a number of calls from various brokers. 
It certainly looks plausible

Two questions:

1. Could you provide us with the actual link to the site? We already know you've stated it was "Moneysupermarket" - but please let us have the link to the site that you are looking at. Then we'll take a proper look.

2. How does "looked at" give rise to "a number of calls from various brokers"? It must have been more than "looked at" - perhaps (more than perhaps, definitely) personal contact details were entered somewhere onto the site; at least a phone number must have been entered.

Moneysupermarket is obviously a comparison site but :

(a) it doesn't list the types of products in the OP and,

(b) it doesn't ask for personal details to be entered anywhere.

I think most of everything else has been explained clearly already, so no need for it to be repeated again now.

As I say it is not me but a relative - I do not have the information you ask about, unfortunately.