Anyone else got a phone call from Bowerstone Capital?

drdcooper11

Had a phone call from Bowerstone Capital stating that they were able to claim for shares that, many years ago, had collapsed.  They were collecting funds from some government office which is paying compensation for any unregulated shares.  They claim to be able to get £10,000 from shares I held in Beaufort Securities.  But....I have to pay them upfront £1000.  Forms arrived in the post today.  Clearly a scam, but any other folk experienced something similar? 

grumbler

Did you try google?

8th result from the top:

GOV.UK

https://www.gov.uk › government › news › investors-...

12 Mar 2021 — To legitimise their contact, recovery room scammers will send fake letters with the Insolvency Service logo, say they are calling on behalf of ....

I don't see Bowerstone Capital directly mentioned on that page, but this result definitely pops up for a reason.

drdcooper11

Yes, tried to Google, but very little came up apart from details in Company House.  Also, as you mentioned, a warning about scammers sending letters and asking for money upfront - which is more often than not a clear case of scamming.

dunstonh

Clearly a scam, but any other folk experienced something similar? 

Classic advance fee fraud.    Play to the greed of an individual with a big pay off and then offer a smaller amount to get it.

You cannot get a more obvious fraud than this.

TheBanker

drdcooper11 said:

Had a phone call from Bowerstone Capital stating that they were able to claim for shares that, many years ago, had collapsed.  They were collecting funds from some government office which is paying compensation for any unregulated shares.  They claim to be able to get £10,000 from shares I held in Beaufort Securities.  But....I have to pay them upfront £1000.  Forms arrived in the post today.  Clearly a scam, but any other folk experienced something similar? 

An awful lot of people fall for scams like this, and hand all their money over to fraudsters. It is good that you realised and did not become a victim...

But now they have your name, address and contact details, so expect to be targeted by further scam attempts - not just this one. Be on your guard for any unexpected emails, text messages, cold callers etc. 

surreysaver

Unsolicited phone call = think scam

mgarthwaite

My ex wife who I get on with very well, received calls on the landline, I am not sure if she gave them her home address but she received a letter in the post. Bowerstone capital are an active company according to companies house. This letter contained an invoice, well 2 invoices, 1 was a duplicate. The format of the invoice did not include any of the normal details, company registration, VAT number, telephone number. This invoice was asking for a "refundable" £2000 fee to release £20000. Clearly a scam, but I have a degree in information security but given the amount of work, letters in the post and maned phone lines this is a convincing set up. Nothing is ever free and let's be honest you are not likely to forget an investment that you had that is worth £20,000.

The question that I have is given that the phone number is real law enforcement should to able to track this down? 

jimjames

mgarthwaite said:

The question that I have is given that the phone number is real law enforcement should to able to track this down? 

Has she reported it? Unless done so there is no chance of that although even if done it's probably not a physical line that is connected somewhere