Ralf Werner Tait claims to offer the following investments:
- “Diverse Managed Accounts” paying a minimum return of between 0.5% and 1% per month “no matter what happens with the stock market”
- 1 year bonds paying 6%, 8% or 10% depending on investment level
- 3 year bonds paying 7%, 9% or 11% depending on investment level
- 5 year bonds paying 10%, 11% or 12% depending on investment level
In reality the “Ralf Werner Tait” being run from the website rwt-capital.com is a clone scam.
An identical clone scam appears to be run from the website rkk-wealth.com using the name Ronald Klaus Kebler. I haven’t seen investment literature for RKK but the scam is essentially the same.
Who are Ralf Werner Tait and Ronald Klaus Kebler?
Both Ralf Werner Tait and Ronald Klaus Kebler appear on the FCA register with permission to offer services in the UK from the EU. The companies have been on the register since 2008 and 2009 respectively.
However, the rwt-capital.com and rkk-wealth.com domains were only registered at the beginning of 2019. This is your first red flag, but not conclusive as it isn’t unheard of for long-standing companies to launch new websites.
The big red flag is that neither Ralf Werner Tait and Ronald Klaus Kebler are permitted to do anything in the UK other than insurance distribution, according to the FCA register. RWT and RKK claim to provide various financial services, including running collective funds and providing financial advice, that they do not have UK authorisation for. This means that even if they were real, they would be breaking the law in the UK.
Other red flags include:
- large parts of their websites have been copied and pasted from legitimate financial advisers, such as Tilney Group
- numerous copypasta errors in the investment literature, e.g. “Further reading at investopedia click here Lewis Ranieri”
- implausibly high returns, e.g. “Guaranteed minimum income 1% per month”, with false claims to be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
- other than the stolen FCA registration, no corporate details are provided (i.e. Companies House registration numbers or overseas equivalent)
The reality is that someone has found a couple of European firms on the FCA register and fraudulently copied their name to give a false appearance of being FCA regulated.
The scam actively encourages investors to check the FCA register, where they will see that Ralf Werner Tait / Ronald Klaus Kebler are registered, and happily hand over their money thinking they have “done their research”. What they won’t know is that the people they are giving their money to have absolutely nothing to do with Ralf Werner Tait and Ronald Klaus Kebler.
Unlike with other clone firm scams where the scammer pretends to be a well-known company like Standard Life Aberdeen, the victim can’t even check with the real company, as the real Ralf Werner Tait and Ronald Klaus Kebler have no web presence of their own and provide minimal contact details on the FCA register. Ronald Klaus Kebler’s contact details on the FCA register are listed simply as “Denmark”.
Ralf Werner Tait sends potential victims some fairly convincing looking documents (aside from the implausibly high returns and the typos), even including a set of fabricated company accounts.
That these accounts are fabricated can be verified on the German Unternehmensregister, where there is no record of a company called Ralf Werner Tait. The accounts could have been created in less than an hour by copying and pasting a legitimate business’ accounts and doing some find/replace with the company name.
The rwt-capital.com and rkk-wealth.com domains were registered anonymously and the real identity of the scammers is unknown.
What should I do if I invested in Ralf Werner Tait or Ronald Klaus Kebler?
Your money has been stolen by scammers and the chance of recovery is minimal.
Investors who fell for this scam should change their contact details as they are likely to be targeted by – and fall for – similar scams in the future.
If anyone contacts you claiming they can recover your money, it is almost certain to be another scam. They will ask you for “legal fees” or similar which you will never see again.
Please tell me what I can do. I was assured this bond was above board and checked out the company. I read they were covered by the Financial Regulator
Sorry for your losses. Unfortunately I have nothing to add to the last section of the article. Unless you paid by debit or credit card or were advised by an FCA-regulated adviser (a real one).
Hi I gave RKK. 50.000 paid by debit card is that mean I’ve been coned.,how would I get my money back
Is RKK meant to be DKK / Danish Krone?
Look into whether your country and card issuer has a process called “debit card chargeback” (in UK terminology). This is where you can reverse a card payment if the goods are not delivered. Chargeback does not cover investment losses but if you paid for an investment product and the product does not exist, you can argue you should be covered (though you may have to fight your bank all the way). I have no idea if this right exists in your country or not; it depends on your country’s laws and the policy of your card issuer.
If chargeback is not available your money is gone.