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.
P.R. writes: I was cold-called by a man claiming to be a former boss of Smith & Partner Limited, the scam art investment company.
He knew all the details of my art portfolio and said I could sell my prints, but I had to pay £6,600 up front to have them sent from storage in Switzerland.
He gave me bank details for the payment, but the account belongs to a different company called Marks Art Limited.
Tony Hetherington replies: Well done. The call came from Marks Art and you have spotted what the fraud industry calls a ‘recovery room’. This is a second-stage scam, with victims of the original rip-off promised the return of their lost money, but only if they hand over even more cash up front.
Mask slips: The Marks Art caller went all Jimmy Cagney, above left
I exposed Smith & Partner late last year. It is now in liquidation and under investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Of course, this does not have to mean that Marks Art is dodgy. But it is dodgy. Very dodgy. It advertises: ‘Our artworks are readily available for viewing, online purchasing, and also by appointment at Marks Art Studio.’
And its website invites: ‘Visit our Galleries, both virtually and in person.’ So I set off to Kensington’s International House, the Cromwell Road building in West London that is the home of Marks Art. But when I got there, it was not just a gallery without paintings; it was a building without a gallery.
I contacted the art company’s owner, Mark Steven Smith. He explained that although he uses the Kensington address, the location of the gallery itself is a secret. He told me: ‘With all the crime that’s happening in London, we felt it best not to disclose our gallery address publicly.’
This was puzzling. A review on Trustpilot says: ‘Marks Art Gallery is an absolute gem… a sanctuary for art lovers, offering an unforgettable experience.’ Other reviews back this up. But the reviews are fake. Who says so? Trustpilot says so. It told me: ‘Our fraud detection software has removed 14 fake reviews.’ Trustpilot issued a formal warning to the art company, followed by a Cease & Desist notice.
Just as suspicious, advertisements for Marks Art say that since 2017 it has paved the way for all art galleries, investors and artists. Yet the company’s own accounts say it was dormant until 2020. And the latest accounts for Marks Art show its net assets as £2. Then I found Mark Smith’s previous company, Art Store and Insure Limited. It was compulsorily struck off by Companies House last January and has an unpaid court judgment against it for £497. Smith told me this was just ‘a critical admin error’.
And finally, I found Smith was recruiting a sales team to flog his pictures. They would be in Northern Cyprus. The job: ‘Sell artwork to high net worth individuals.’ Pay and commission: £120,000. Smith told me: ‘The warmer climate and lower expenses make it more attractive than the prices and weather in London.’
I can’t disagree, but I do wonder whether one factor is that hardly any country in the world recognises Northern Cyprus or its laws, and it rarely, if ever, extradites crooks to face justice.
Now for the punch line. With your consent, I told Smith that it was you who contacted me. Minutes later your phone rang. It was the voice of the salesman who had contacted you from Marks Art. But the mask had slipped, and the polite, sophisticated art expert had turned into Hollywood ‘gangster’ Jimmy Cagney, telling you: ‘So you decided to rat to the Mail.’
I asked Smith how his salesman had so speedily seen my email in which I had given Smith your name. He did not reply. And this is the same advice I would give to anyone contacted by Marks Art: do not reply.
Pension stays same after £3,788 top-up
Ms J.M. writes: In April I paid HM Revenue & Customs £3,788 for five more years of state pension rights.
I checked online through the Government Gateway and my account showed my qualifying years of National Insurance payments had risen from 28 to 33 years.
However, there has been no increase in my pension, which has remained at £163 a week.
Delay: You pay the taxman at HMRC, but the state pension comes from a different agency, the Department for Work & Pensions
Tony Hetherington replies: You are not the only reader who has contacted me after paying extra NI contributions and receiving no pension increase.
The main reason for the delay seems to be that you pay the taxman at HMRC, but the state pension comes from a different agency, the Department for Work & Pensions. In a nutshell, the taxman has to tell the DWP how much you have paid, and then DWP staff have to calculate the new pension.
How long should this take? A DWP official told me: ‘DWP aims to update state pension records as soon as possible, once we are notified that HMRC have allocated a payment to someone’s NI record.’
The good news is that your records have reached the top of the pile and you now have a weekly pension of £192, backdated to April.
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.
