Cauta Capital

dantav

Interested to contact anyone who has investments with this company. My father in law bought a £50k bond from them in 2017. He is now trying to redeem the bond but is getting the run around. The interest payments have been patchy, and they look very precarious. I'd love to hear about any other experiences with this firm.

Keep_pedalling

According to the only website page accessible to non bond holders, they are unregulated and are for high net worth individuals or sophisticated investors, and I suspect your FIL is neither of those.

The company is owned by an American living in Luxembourg, and their accounts are overdue. Chances are that £50k is gone. Unless he invested on the recommendation of a regulated financial advisor he has no one to complain too.

dunstonh

My father in law bought a £50k bond from them in 2017. 

When you say bond, what you really mean is a high-risk unregulated investment instrument with 100% loss potential.  The sort of thing that is totally unsuitable for 95% of the population.   It is not a retail product (like savings accounts or unit-linked investments).
Cauta Capital – A Public Information Site Maintained by Safe Or Scam (bondreview.co.uk)

Faltering payments is usually an early sign of failure with the investments.   He needs to be prepared for losing the whole £50k as that is the usual outcome when this happens.

maxsteam

It may be worth contacting your local police force and asking to speak to someone with experience in financial fraud.

Malthusian

He has almost certainly lost his money and should write it off and forget about it. If he was sold the bond by an FCA-regulated adviser or invested via an FCA-regulated pension he may have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman and Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Is this his only dabble with the unregulated underbelly? He has probably been on a suckers' list for 4 years or longer.

jimjames

Cauta Capital were doing some very dodgy promotions back in 2019 so it's not surprising that people fell for their lies and omissions. Their adverts made no mention of any risks to capital and used the now famous "asset backed" phrasing.

https://damn-lies-and-statistics.blogspot.com/2019/01/cauta-capital-safe-bonds-scam.html

dantav

Thanks for the feedback, which all makes sense. Oddly, there are not masses of complaints out there, infact none at all that I have been able to find. I would have thought that if this firm is fraudulent, there would be something about it on the web. So either they are absolutely masterful in controlling information or, they are legit. My Fil has just received 2 late interest payments, but my instinct tells me they are just giving him a bit of his money back to shut him up!

dunstonh

Thanks for the feedback, which all makes sense. Oddly, there are not masses of complaints out there, infact none at all that I have been able to find.

This wasn't one of the big ones.    

So either they are absolutely masterful in controlling information or, they are legit.

Do not underestimate the ability of firms that have done wrong to cover it up by threatening those talking about it with legal action if they do not remove content.

jimjames

dantav said:

Thanks for the feedback, which all makes sense. Oddly, there are not masses of complaints out there, infact none at all that I have been able to find. I would have thought that if this firm is fraudulent, there would be something about it on the web. So either they are absolutely masterful in controlling information or, they are legit. 

Based on their adverts they didn't appear legit. Selling bonds with risk of total loss with no risk warnings isn't the activity of a company that is paying any attention to rules.

They're also late filing their accounts which isn't a good sign
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09535959

Looks like they sold around £8m of bonds but had only £11k in the bank on their last accounts. They'd also got assets of £77m which were boosted by a revaluation reserve of £69m. Last time they made an annual loss of over £800k

dantav

Yes, I have studied thier filings as well, and they don't give me any confidence. After last nights airing of Panorama's report on Blackmore Bonds, I can't help feeling that this is another one waiting to happen. In our case though, we have now had some money back. Only £10k of the £50k invested, but better than a kick in the teeth. I can't quite understand whats going on.

Malthusian

dantav said:

Yes, I have studied thier filings as well, and they don't give me any confidence. After last nights airing of Panorama's report on Blackmore Bonds, I can't help feeling that this is another one waiting to happen. In our case though, we have now had some money back. Only £10k of the £50k invested, but better than a kick in the teeth. I can't quite understand whats going on.

It's already happened - according to Trustpilot reviews they've defaulted on repayment (I realise you know this as you left one of the reviews). You invested in an obscure unlisted company and it has gone bust, as they tend to do.
You would be well advised to forget about the £40k and treat any further returns as a pleasant surprise. 
Assuming you did not invest via an FCA-regulated financial adviser or pension provider in which case you have recourse to the FOS and FSCS.
If anyone calls you claiming they can get your money back it is a scam. 
Cauta Capital's filed accounts are blatant BS and can be discarded. In the UK you can upload any old nonsense to Companies House and a tiny company like Cauta Capital is, ludicrously, exempt from even going through the motions of an audit.