Aviva bond

IanGiles

Has anyone obtained an Aviva fixed high yield bond. Apparently paying 3.4% pa for 2years.

TadleyBaggie

Have you seen this:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6243007/aviva-fixed-rate-accounts-scam-or-valid

Aretnap

IanGiles said:

Has anyone obtained an Aviva fixed high yield bond. Apparently paying 3.4% pa for 2years.

These sound like corporate bonds. They are an investment product, not a savings product. Furthermore you cannot use them to get an effective interest rate of 3.4% now; this will have been the yield when they were originally issued. If anyone is telling you that you can get a safe return of 3.4%, or anything like it, in the current climate, there is a 99.9% likelihood that they are scamming you and will simply disappear with your money. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

More explanation in this thread - the scam there involved a different company's bonds, but this one will work in exactly the same way.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6206077/fixed-rate-bond/p1

[Deleted User]

Aviva advertise high yield fixed bonds on their site, they are described as an investment product and can go up/down

Alexland

Deleted_User said:

Aviva advertise high yield fixed bonds on their site, they are described as an investment product and can go up/down

Only for institutional or intermediary investors - not sold to direct retail customers.

dunstonh

The only bond Aviva retail is an investment bond.  A tax wrapper for investments.
They also retail bond funds.  Bond funds do not have a fixed yield.
The 3.4% Bond is not a retail investment.   It is an investment instrument that is not allowed to be marketed to retail consumers. And the only time you got 3.4% on that bond is if you bought it on the day of issue and held until redemption.

Aviva have no product or investment called "Aviva fixed high yield bond".

However, Aviva, like many brands, have been suffering clone scams where the corporate bond (loan) has been used by the scammer to pretend it is a fixed term deposit.   The pdfs emailed to the prospective buyer has taken a real Aviva PDF but edited to match the scam.       Any money you send does not go to the real Aviva.  And the money does not buy a real investment.  The scammer runs off with it.  Do not mistake a clone scam with the real genuine Aviva.
Aviva Plc / Aviva Bonds Plc / Aviva Investors / Aviva Investors & Pensions Ltd / Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited (clone of FCA authorised firm) | FCA

DrSyn

Low risk bonds are sold by NS&I, Banks & Building societies. These are covered by the FSCS £85k protection.
https://www.fscs.org.uk/check-your-money-is-protected/

Bonds from any other source are "investments" with the potential of you losing all your money. These are not covered by the FSCS protection scheme.
 If anyone tries to sell you one of these bonds, I suggest you check them out on the FSCS register.
https://register.fca.org.uk/s/

Make sure your not dealing with a "clone" company.

dunstonh

Wouldn't happen to be this one by any chance (link to pdf) 
https://us-noi.v-cdn.net/6031891/uploads/editor/wy/ehpqakao4ca5.pdf

This is one of the fake documents used by a scammer.   It takes parts of a real Aviva brochure and edits it.  Here is the real brochure the scammer used as a template.  ai-corporate-brochure-customer.pdf (aviva.com)

ratechaser

dunstonh said:

Wouldn't happen to be this one by any chance (link to pdf) 
https://us-noi.v-cdn.net/6031891/uploads/editor/wy/ehpqakao4ca5.pdf

This is one of the fake documents used by a scammer.   It takes parts of a real Aviva brochure and edits it.  Here is the real brochure the scammer used as a template.  ai-corporate-brochure-customer.pdf (aviva.com)

To be fair, the documentation itself looks reasonably convincing. It's only the interest rate itself that gives it away as a scam!

dunstonh

ratechaser said:

dunstonh said:

Wouldn't happen to be this one by any chance (link to pdf) 
https://us-noi.v-cdn.net/6031891/uploads/editor/wy/ehpqakao4ca5.pdf

This is one of the fake documents used by a scammer.   It takes parts of a real Aviva brochure and edits it.  Here is the real brochure the scammer used as a template.  ai-corporate-brochure-customer.pdf (aviva.com)

To be fair, the documentation itself looks reasonably convincing. It's only the interest rate itself that gives it away as a scam!

There are also some others that give it away.   Aviva add a document code to the back of their publications.   The fake shares the same code and date as the original.  Yet they are clearly different.  Contact details are changed and do not belong to Aviva including the internet domain on the fake email address.    Also, the language used on the faked version where they have edited it is of a style that a genuine company would not use.    There are also discrepancies in the fake that actually describe something that it isn't.  They get their product terminology mixed up (one bit describes a fixed-term deposit, another describes an OEIC.  Another calls it a life assurance.  The taxation describes an onshore investment bond.   It also describes a remuneration process that is commission and that was banned in 2013.

Admittedly, those are not things that someone not experienced in financial services would pick up on.

Eyeful

The document itself may look convincing. Run the scam website address through Scamdoc.com website checker, quickly indicates a BIG red sign & 3% trust rating, that it would be wise to leave it alone.