Films4U International (EIS)

pauline_88

I invested 5k of my hard earned money into the above company in 2020 for a 3 year period. I’ve never received my share certificates. I’m unable to get replies from them either phone or email. The company were using the money in the film industry to promote & make films. They promised EIS tax relief but it took them nearly a year to get the forms out to us, now completed and returned to HMRC.Not sure they are worth the paper they are written on.  I believe I was mis sold this investment as I was not a tax payer at that time & did not meet their investor category however was still encouraged to invest. 

Has anyone else made this investment & if so how confident are you they are bono fide. Unfortunately the investment was not covered by the FSCS. I’m assuming I’ve lost this money, but would like to hear from anyone else who has made the investment? Thanks

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Why did you think you would receive tax relief if you didn't pay any tax?

Only situation that can usually happen is with relief at source pension contributions.

Albermarle

Unfortunately the investment was not covered by the FSCS

That is normal for investments.

Investing directly in companies is risky, and very risky if they are small/not publicly quoted. The tax relief available via the EIS scheme is there partly to compensate you for the high risk you are taking with your money.

How did you get involved ?I think to invest in an EIS scheme, you have to declare yourself as a Sophisticated/High Net Worth investor, and there should have been lots of clear risk warnings, such as 'Your Capital is at Risk' etc.

If none of this happened, you might have a case against whoever was promoting the scheme, but I would not get your hopes up.

Reaper

Is it this one? If so it has an FCA scam warning on it:
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/warnings/films-4-u-eis1-ltd

... even though they seem to be registered with companies house (and showing some fairly worthless accounts):
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12525429/filing-history

Eyeful

1. Only regulated low risk savings accounts and bonds are covered by the FSCS .
These come from (a) NS&I (b) Banks & Building Societies covered by the FSCS.
https://www.fscs.org.uk/check-your-money-is-protected/

2.Investing:  Putting your money at risk where there is the potential loss of all your money. You hope to take out more than you put in, but this is not guaranteed. This will not be covered by the FSCS, as you have stated.

How did you find out about them?
Who was it that encouraged you to invest in the company?
If you do not pay tax, why did you believe their promise of tax relief?
What steps did you take to check out the company before you gave them your money?
Why did you invest in a single company instead of say a FTSE 100 passive tracker fund? 

You might get a more details answer to question if you can give any contact details like:
Exact company name
Company website
Telephone number
 

jimjames

pauline_88 said:

 I believe I was mis sold this investment as I was not a tax payer at that time & did not meet their investor category however was still encouraged to invest. 

Who told you to invest? If you responded to an advert and made your own decision then unfortunately there is no misselling and you would have needed to check your own situation was right to invest. 

Rollinghome

'Investments in films' scams have been going for years.  They usually work by using your money to pay themselves huge fees to make a rubbish film of sorts, which is unlikely to ever be released, and of course never makes a profit.  They usually operate under lots of different company names.  If you check the directors in the outfit you gave your money to, you'll see some of the other related companies.  https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/80JCupACobogEVDIcIg3UQzAzP4/appointments

There may be many others using the name of associates and slight variations of names. It's very easy to conceal the number of companies individuals control.

Report what has happened, but I'm afraid you would be very lucky to ever see your money again.

masonic

pauline_88 said:

I invested 5k of my hard earned money into the above company in 2020 for a 3 year period. I’ve never received my share certificates. I’m unable to get replies from them either phone or email. The company were using the money in the film industry to promote & make films. They promised EIS tax relief but it took them nearly a year to get the forms out to us, now completed and returned to HMRC.Not sure they are worth the paper they are written on.  I believe I was mis sold this investment as I was not a tax payer at that time & did not meet their investor category however was still encouraged to invest. 

Has anyone else made this investment & if so how confident are you they are bono fide. Unfortunately the investment was not covered by the FSCS. I’m assuming I’ve lost this money, but would like to hear from anyone else who has made the investment? Thanks

Your money is probably gone I'm afraid. Many legitimate early stage companies seeking crowdfunding fail within a few years, with investors losing everything. They can still be of value to high risk investors, as for every dozen or so failures, there is the chance of investing in one that makes enough to cover the cost to the investor of all the failures. This company, however, has an FCA warning as indicated above, suggesting they are not operating legitimately and may therefore be a scam.

After your woes with Fluid ISA Bond, it is disheartening to learn you've been caught out a second time with a failed non-mainstream "investment". Was it just those two, or are there more?

Reaper

Rollinghome said:

'Investments in films' scams have been going for years.  They usually work by using your money to pay themselves huge fees to make a rubbish film of sorts, which is unlikely to ever be released, and of course never makes a profit.  They usually operate under lots of different company names.  If you check the directors in the outfit you gave your money to, you'll see some of the other related companies.  https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/80JCupACobogEVDIcIg3UQzAzP4/appointments

There may be many others using the name of associates and slight variations of names. It's very easy to conceal the number of companies individuals control.

Wow, at least 31 companies. That is quite a production mill. There used to be a long thread on here about Carnaby Films who set up a new company with a variation of their name after each movie. They did actually make films but (as far as we could tell) no investor ever got any money back.

Even if a film makes a profit and the company you invest in is technically legal they often avoid paying tax or investors thanks to  "Hollywood Accounting". For example Return of the Jedi cost $32.5m to make, earned $475 million at the box office, but somehow never made a profit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

Eyeful

If you have lost money on investments, be on your guard against those persons who will contact you out of the blue, either get your money back for you,  or buy your shares, This is a common tack tick used by scammers to extract money from you. They will come up with a number of reasons why it will be necessary for you to give them payment up front, before you can recover your lost money.

quirkydeptless

Rollinghome said:

'Investments in films' scams have been going for years.  They usually work by using your money to pay themselves huge fees to make a rubbish film of sorts, which is unlikely to ever be released, and of course never makes a profit.  They usually operate under lots of different company names.  If you check the directors in the outfit you gave your money to, you'll see some of the other related companies. 

Also...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTW2ZSjG5N0