Hudspiths investors succeed in bid to force it into compulsory liquidation

August 21, 2019August 20, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

102 creditors of Hudspiths have succeeded in having the company's voluntary liquidation converted to a compulsory one, in a bid to gain more insight into what the collapsed unregulated scheme did with their money.

Hudspiths was an unregulated forex scheme that launched in 2015 and promised returns of 5% per month, along with 2% per month to be paid to its introducers. The scheme collapsed in 2018 and filed for voluntary liquidation in June.

Action Fraud call handlers call fraud victims “morons” and file most reports as non-crimes

August 20, 2019August 19, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 6 Comments

An undercover investigation by The Times into Action Fraud has revealed

most reports are never followed up on
managers mocked fraud victims as “morons”, “screwballs” and “psychos”
victims were misled into thinking that they were talking to a police officer rather than an outsourced call centre worker, and led to believe their case will be investigated when most reports are never followed up on

Four Action Fraud staff members have been suspended.

Curse of 2019 strikes again as Asset Life plc goes into administration

August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 4 Comments

Asset Life plc, which raised £8 million from investors in its bonds, has gone into administration, according to reports. Confirmation of the administration was filed with Companies House on Wednedsay.

We reviewed Asset Life plc's bonds in January 2018.

Asset Life plc claimed to have an insurance policy in place which provided "Security of the Capital". Exactly what this insurance covers is yet to be made clear, but investment offering 8.75% per year to the public is fully insured against the risk of loss, and investors would be wise to manage their expectations.

Dolphin’s Grounds offshoot shuts down and returns capital to investors

August 15, 2019August 15, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

A few months after launching its IFISA investments and misleadingly named "cash investments", reviewed here in April, Grounds has abruptly shut down and announced it is returning capital to investors.

Grounds was closely linked to the Dolphin Trust property scheme (now renamed German Property Group) through common personnel.

We review Whiskey Wealth Club – returns of 10% to 20% per year with “relatively little risk”?

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 ~ Brev ~ Leave a comment

Whiskey Wealth Club offers investment in barrels of Irish whiskey, the premise being that the barrels will increase in value as they age.

Its website claims that

Investor returns are currently in the 10-20% per annum region.

and that

Investing in barrels of whiskey as they age and increase in value in bonded warehouses offers potentially massive rewards with relatively little risk.

Its brochure goes further, claiming various eye-popping potential rates of return, including a claim that whiskey offers "15 YEARS TO TURN €2,550 INTO €160,000" - a 32% per year rate of return.

Continue reading for a review of Whiskey Wealth Club's investment opportunity.

Harewood investors told to expect at least 84% losses

August 12, 2019August 11, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 3 Comments

The Telegraph reports that investors in Harewood Associates have been told by the administrators, Begbies Traynor, to expect at least 84% losses, with a possibility of total loss.

A spokesman for Begbies Traynor, the administrators, said: “The proposals issued to creditors anticipate a range of returns between nil and 16p in the pound. The return is subject to realisations of debts due from associated companies.”

With the amount left in these associated companies unknown, the standard rule for investors in collapsed unregulated investment applies; expect nothing and treat any recovery as a bonus.

Safe or Scam says Carlauren is not in administration, and is a Ponzi scheme; administrators appointed to Carlauren subsidiaries

August 8, 2019August 7, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 4 Comments

Safe or Scam LLP, an American introducer which brings together investors in collapsed investments and insolvency practitioners / lawyers, has claimed in an open blog published on Monday 5 August that Carlauren has not appointed administrators, contrary to a statement from Carlauren in late July.

Carlauren claimed on 23 July that it had "instructed administrators", and that "a full update with procedures and next steps will be distributed tomorrow". A number of media outlets, including Bond Review, took this to mean that the company had gone into administration, especially against the background of Carlauren's widely documented financial problems.

Safe or Scam however states:

This led to a number of media outlets picking up the story and reporting that Carlauren Group was in administration. It was not. As of today’s date it is still not in administration. We do not know why Carlauren Group would choose to mislead investors like this. We can only assume it was because they knew the use of the word “instructed” has no meaning in relation to an administration. The important word is “appointed” and Carlauren Group did not appoint any administrators. We can only assume this was a stalling tactic designed to prevent investors from combining to appoint an administrator. Carlauren was trying to buy time. As far as investors are concerned the only company in administration which is relevant to them is Accordiant Ltd. That company is the one which owes the rental payments.