This week Safe Or Scam published another Scam Alert on a scam group pretending to be from the UK’s Trading Standards. Here is a summary of the Alert.
Victims of the Essex and London Properties fraud are being contacted by telephone and email by a bogus scam group calling itself the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. They have an email address which uses the domain name of ctsi-uk.com, but it was only bought in June 2022. Their aim is to persuade the victims to part with more money.
The genuine Chartered Trading Standards Institute website can be viewed on this – LINK.
Here is the email the scammers have been sending out.
Dear
We write to you today regarding an investment placed into a company currently under investigation. As you are already aware, we have formerly identified and verified you as the sole beneficiary of the unregulated investment you have purchased.
We have attempted to contact you recently to request a return of your proof of creditors debt form, however we have not been able to get in touch with you. Unallocated claims held solely in the proprietor’s name will be forfeited if a representation claim is not made within the next 10 working days. As we move to the final stages of our winding up process, we advise all clients to lodge a claim via our advisory service prior to the completion of the liquidation process.
If you have been receiving numerous phone calls from third party agents offering their services to help assist in trading your asset out of the market or managing the asset on your behalf. We would ask you to be very careful and take additional care when choosing a company to work with to ensure you are dealing with a credible and reliable company based in the UK.
As our attempts to reach you have been to no avail, may we ask that you contact us immediately on 0800 054 1359 and lodge a claim to enable us to assist you in the recuperation of your funds.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Kevin Hargreaves
Investigating Officer
Chartered Trading Standards Institute
Trading Standards Institute
Sylvan Way
Southfields Business Park
BASILDON
SS15 6TH
The aim of the email is to get the victim to respond. Once they have the victim on the hook they always end up asking for money. If you have lost money to a scam like this you should report it to Action Fraud using this LINK.
To view the full Scam Alert click on this link to the Safe Or Scam article.