Have you ever been contacted by a suspicious ‘investment bank’? Here’s how one company got in contact with a member offering a ‘refund’.
A member received a bizarre email from ‘GFC Investment’ referring to them as a ‘depositor’. It claimed to be an investment bank ‘working to acquire a new and more robust regulation’ and that part of the process involved paying a refund. They were asked to reply with their phone number.
The email has all the hallmarks of a scam. The member told me that a few years ago they lost £500 in an investment scam that was advertised online with a phoney endorsement from the stars of Dragons’ Den.
The scammers in that case hounded them on the phone with preposterous claims about investment opportunities. Smelling a rat, they requested their money back, but it was never returned.
What is a ‘recovery scam’?
Fraudsters do target prior victims, claiming to help recover losses, only to defraud them further. This is known as a ‘recovery scam’. Sometimes it’s the same set of fraudsters, while on other occasions your details have been stored and sold on to a different set of scammers.
GFC Investment isn’t an official company registered at Companies House, although there are companies with very similar names (and there’s no suggestion that they are linked to fraud).
The stated office address is little more than an anonymous PO box for hire and has an unsavoury history: in 2013 it was the home of an (apparently unrelated) fraudulent company later liquidated by the High Court. Even so, the postcode in the email contains typos.
Lastly, the email ‘borrowed’ the name of a US-based criminology graduate who is listed on LinkedIn, whose profile makes no mention of GFC Investment.
Unsolicited contact
We put these allegations to ‘GFC Investment’ via its stated email address but received no response.
As for the prior scam, we suggested that the member apply to their credit card company for a refund of the £500, claiming under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
There’s no set time limit to submit a claim, but there are some exemptions so a refund isn’t guaranteed. Since your personal details are in the clutches of fraudsters, the member will need to continue to be cautious about any unsolicited contact they receive.
Have you ever been contacted by a company offering ‘investment opportunities’? Did you suspect it was a scam? Let us know your experiences in the comments.
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