Using Google advertising, criminals advertise lucrative fixed savings deals to lure people to enquire by filling out a form on a landing page. This particular scam utilised the details of a dormant subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland, AOP Professional Advance, so it had all the credentials of one of the UK’s High Street Banks at its disposal. The fraudsters capitalised on this by directing enquiries to the FCA register, a formal list of companies approved by the regulator, for the undercover journalist to search for the subsidiary where they would find the details of the company and confirm its parent as the Bank of Scotland. A professional website with bank logos and FCA registration number backed up the pretence but on closer viewing, the site was short on detail and unlike legitimate banks, it did not list board directors or its range of banking products and locations.
The lucrative savings deal was outlined by the fraudster and the journalist received details to review. On a number of occasions the journalist was offered the assurance that the conversation was being recorded for compliance purposes to ensure that the investor was not being “coerced, pressured or lied to in terms of investing”, and the investment was protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The Scheme provides protection to cover savings of up to £85,000. An official looking document publishing company and FSCS logos was supplied. Finally the journalist was asked to make payment to an unrelated bank, CashPlus, a specialist in providing bank services for start-up businesses, in staged payments so it would fall under the maximum £10,000 daily limit in force by legitimate banks. Fortunately in this instance the journalist was working under cover and no money was transferred.
Criminals are employing more sophisticated means to trick people out of their savings. Take care to avoid falling for their scams. Here are 5 quick spots from this investigation that indicate that an investment opportunity is not what it seems:
- A website that is short on detail, such as telephone and contact details, is suspicious.
- A claim that an investment is risk-free needs further investigation.
- Real banks, or their subsidiaries, will not call to sell you anything.
- Any explanation of bank security rules and how to tackle a call from your bank querying a payment is suspicious.
- A request to send payment to a third party bank that is unrelated to the bank the product is linked indicates a scam.
The Sunday Times Investigation reported the matter to the FCA, which has taken action and has published a warning about AOP on their website. It is clear that criminals are taking advantage of a loopholes in the banking system and using the internet to promote their scams as legitimate opportunities. If you stumble across such an advertisement and are tempted, just remember that if the information looks too good to be true then it probably is a scam. Tread with care.
Umbrella Exchange has access to a wide range of hassle-free services that can help you with setting up a limited company or finding the right umbrella company for you. To talk to a member of our team, call 0203 393 3881.
