CEL Solicitors successfully recovered £31,884 for a retired father who fell victim to a sophisticated share investment scam.
How the investment scam occurred
Our client, Noah, a 76-year-old retired father of two was contacted by a representative from ‘DWG Acquisition Group’ who explained that they were aware that Noah had shares in BP and were willing to buy them for twice their value.
Assuming that the investment company was reputable and had access to this sort of information, Noah did not query how the scammer was aware of his shares and was elated at the thought of making a profit.
Noah researched the company thoroughly before accepting any offers. He found that they were based in New York and had multiple staff members on their website. Furthermore, Noah was always able to contact to the scammers and could not find anything which would indicate that the opportunity would lead to misfortune.
After our client agreed to the offer, the fraudsters asked him to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This professional conduct assured him further that the investment opportunity was legitimate. The scammers informed Noah that the deal would result in him receiving over £45,000 for his shares, which was of course, untrue.
Noah made a first initial payment which he was told would cover the insurance bond for his shares. A few weeks later, he was instructed to make a single payment of over £31,000.
Following these payments, our client received formal paperwork, including a fraudulent document claiming to be from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Noah decided to contact the SEC to confirm the eligibility of the documents and was informed that they were in fact, illegitimate. He also attempted to access the scam companies’ website but was unable to as it had been removed. This made Noah realise that he had been defrauded out of thousands of pounds, and was expectedly, distraught.
Tell CEL
Feeling as though his bank did not do enough to prevent the devastating scam, Noah contacted CEL Solicitors’ specialist fraud and scam team, who successfully recovered £31,884 for him.
Commenting on the case, Fraud Team Leader, Megan Allman, said:
“This was one of the less common investment scams whereby individuals who have previously bought legitimate shares in genuine companies are targeted by scammers. These scammers will use technical terminology and allege that they can sell these shares at a profit, yet there are fees involved.
“Due to the alleged profits, victims are often incentivised to send these funds in the hope of securing their financial future.
“The bank recognised that they should have intervened especially in light of our clients’ vulnerabilities.”
