Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
Ms J.M writes: My mother invested with Smith & Partner and I am fighting on her behalf to get her savings back.
She has now received an email from the International Financial Fraud Investigation Association (IFFIA) Limited. Have you heard of this firm?
My concern is that this could be just another scam.
Tony Hetherington replies: The IFFIA company does exist, though in years of investigating scams I have never come across it. It is run by a Lithuanian named Darius Butkus, and looking at two of his previous companies I found court records of unpaid debts against both of them.
House of cards: The International Financial Fraud Investigation Association said it was appointed by Parliament
That said, when I contacted IFFIA at its West London offices, it told me it had discovered that crooks had set up a bogus website using its name. IFFIA says: ‘Iffia.org has nothing to do with us. It uses our logo, name, company number and address to pretend it is us. Server is located in Seychelles. Do not be deceived.’
The email to your mother came from the bogus firm. It claims to have been appointed by Parliament, no less. But this is just one fairytale among many. It claims to have been set up in 1997 by former detectives from the Serious Fraud Office, yet its website is less than a year old.
And it says the art scam run by Smith & Partner has already been fully investigated: ‘The investigation, named Operation Greenery, was one of the largest ever undertaken by the FCA, and was assisted by the City of London Police and the IFFIA.’
Complete lies – the FCA is not involved and the police investigation has barely begun.
It turns out that the aim of the fake investigators was simply to introduce your mother to an equally fake firm of lawyers, using the name Solicitors Funding. They have been trying over the past week or so to persuade your mother that Citi, a huge international banking business, wanted to buy your mother’s art prints for £84,228. First though, they wanted her to hand over £8,422 which they said was a refundable insurance premium.
But Citi is not involved, there is no purchase deal, and your mother would have lost her £8,422. Someone has put a lot of time and effort into setting up this second-stage scam. Its website at solicitors-funding.com uses wording lifted from the websites of genuine law firms. It even includes the names and pictures of its top staff, such as senior partner Mitchell Walker. In a letter to your mother, he wrote: ‘I am happy to confirm we have now received a formal purchase proposal in reference to your art holdings.’
However, Mitchell Walker does not exist. The same picture of him has appeared in advertisements in other countries, under other names. In Australia, for example, he is said to be a warehouse owner named Sarbjit Brar.
Neither he nor any of the others pictured by Solicitors Funding is registered as a real solicitor and nor is the firm itself authorised. I invited it to comment but it failed to respond.
The website at solicitors-funding.com was set up last November, using an address in Iceland – a bit unusual for what is claimed to be a North London law firm. However much they and the fake IFFIA spent in kicking off this fraud, I hope that from today they will be showing a hefty loss. Nobody should trust their false promises or give them a penny.
Student loan goes missing
Ms J.R. writes: My student son completed an application to the Student Loans Company but inadvertently gave a seven-digit bank account number instead of his correct eight-digit number.
When his loan failed to arrive, the SLC said it had gone to the seven-digit account at Monzo Bank.
The bank rejected a recovery request, leaving my son without £1,492.
Missing: Ms J.R.’s son completed an application to the Student Loans Company but inadvertently gave a seven-digit bank account number
Tony Hetherington replies: The SLC did try to have the money returned, but when Monzo Bank contacted the customer with the seven-digit account, he told them he was a student and was expecting the £1,492. He promptly emptied his account.
The SLC spotted its own system is geared only to eight-digit account numbers, so your son’s mistake should never have been accepted.
The loans company has fixed this technical error and made a payment of £1,492 to your son’s account.
The theft by the Monzo customer has been reported to the police.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
