The Bogus ‘Financial Adviser’

Dominic Thomas
Sept 2023  •  4 min read

The Bogus ‘Financial Adviser’

There are some lessons to be gleaned from a recent sorry tale about Peter Holbrook who posed as a financial adviser. As often is the case, his focus was on fairly vulnerable people who were recently bereaved.

Holbrook was recently sentenced to prison for five years and three months, so in theory he will be held at his Majesty’s pleasure until he turns eighty. This is for conning seven people out of £850,000 which he used to fund his gambling habit.

The scam lasted 10 years and seems to have involved persuading his victims to allow him to handle Probate and reinvest the proceeds of the estate. His fraud involved forging letters from investment companies and writing Wills, for which I understand he had no formal qualifications or training.

Obviously being conned out of your own money can have devastating consequences. Families are left with a lack of resources in a world which we all know is quick to consume them. Not having enough is pressure enough, let alone having it stolen. Holbrook, like many people, formed a gambling habit. All gambling is based on the erroneous belief that the system can be beaten, the constant winning and losing inevitably leads to a deficit on the balance sheet, the pressure can in turn cause addicts to make decisions that they would be unlikely to make had they not gambled in the first place.

I don’t gamble and if I’m being candid, I don’t believe it’s a good idea. That said, I don’t really think there is anything particularly wrong with the occasional bet for a ‘bit of fun’, but in all honesty I can find more interesting things to do with money. However, in a culture in which many football teams (eight of the 20 [40%] current Premier League teams), or sports teams in general, are sponsored by gambling companies; clearly it will take the usual required will power to go against the crowd. Many have a story about ‘a win’ that they had, but few relay tales of loss.

Sadly, investing is often compared to gambling, which is a failure of education. The association is one of loss. Companies can and do go bust, regularly. If all your money is in one or very few shares, then frankly that is very like gambling (though you are holding real shares in the assets of those companies). Anyone holding shares in Enron will corroborate this. However proper investing is buying shares in a globally diversified portfolio of companies around the world. All working to improve products and services and design new ones. This is how commerce works. It isn’t a perfect system, but it has a long pedigree of success.

We all know that there are some difficult realities of life. We all will die, nobody escapes mortality. Money pays bills, it provides choice, but it needs looking after and getting one’s affairs in order is often tedious and other than peace of mind, provides little ‘buzz’; certainly you are unlikely to get a giddy feeling of anything resembling that of having won the lottery! Investing should be dull; it should be boring. If it isn’t, you are probably holding the wrong cards or playing the wrong game. Finding someone to trust in a world that seems deliberately set up to confuse with jargon and costs isn’t easy. There are only around 28,000 financial advisers in the whole of the UK. That’s not many for a population of 66million.

Nobody wants to be the victim of a fraud or scam, please check with those you care about that they have a bona fide adviser.

The Bogus ‘Financial Adviser’2023-12-01T12:12:28+00:00

Take Five…. for fraud

Take Five

Not to be confused with Jazz musician Dave Brubeck, “Take Five” is a new initiative to counter-act financial fraud, which is increasing at an alarming rate. According to the latest UK financial crime statistics over a million financial fraud crimes were committed in the first 6 months of 2016. As we live in an online, 24/7 culture, that equates to about one every 15 seconds.

You will have certainly had various emails, which look rather obviously like a scam, but increasingly there are emails from businesses and organizations that you probably recognize, often attaching a document, invoice or receipt. In many instances these are viruses, some more harmful than others. Of course if you aren’t expecting an invoice, you might be concerned that you are being sent one erroneously and wishing to correct the matter, but alas, this is part of the scam.

Many email and internet scams, try to imbed a “Trojan Horse” within your computer, which gathers data about what you look at and your keystrokes. This is an attempt to gather access to your contacts (more punters to try) and of course your own personal information so that money can be spent, stolen or extorted.

Pause for thought

The new campaign “Take Five” is essentially an call to pause, to think carefully before you act  – take five seconds to pause. This is because much of the fraud that occurs could be prevented with this very simple strategy. Research has shown that 26% of people continue to provide personal bank details even though they suspect that they should not. 43% said that they shared their details because they felt the person seemed genuine, and 39% said it was because they felt pressured.

Catching you off guard

A staggering 38% of people report that they were busy and wanted to get them off the phone quickly. Of course, the fraudster is also very convincing. Surprisingly, about 37% of people thought they were being scammed during the conversation but still continued with the transaction and almost a quarter (23%) realised after the conversation had finished.

Fear and greed

Most things financial work around two basic dynamics, fear and greed. Fraud is no different; invariably the fraud appears to be helping you, perhaps providing protection for your computer or your bank account. The standard “confidence trick” in all its guises also reveals itself. Some frauds even dupe people into believing that they are assisting with catching a fraudster – playing on your goodwill and sense of social responsibility.

For more information on the Take Five campaign and various frauds please check this website.  For music by Dave Brubeck, well…

 

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Take Five…. for fraud2023-12-01T12:19:08+00:00

Seeing is believing?

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Seeing is believing?

Investor scams are nothing new and I was surprised to learn of one scam last week which conned some investors out of their hard earned money, with what seemed to be a rather obvious fake name Goldman Shaks (instead of Goldman Sachs). The regulator is aware of criminals mis-spelling names that are “close enough” (apparently) to lure unsuspecting victims. Indeed even the FSCS were victims (2011) to criminals using their name, cold-calling people, suggesting they may qualify for compensation and requesting bank account details. Later the same year the Ombudsman’s name was also taken in vain and even this summer, someone had the gumption or stupidity to use the name of the FCA. By the way the FCA have some useful guidance on how to avoid being scammed here.

Sadly fraud is not always obvious. Never hand over your cash to someone claiming to be a financial adviser. All financial advisers are regulated in the UK by the FCA. Cold calls are generally not something that most financial adviser firms do, we certainly don’t. A confidence trick is generally one where you are caught off guard by someone that appears to be helping you, providing good news and then robs you blind..such as standing at the cash-point ATM and someone asking if you dropped a £10 note as you turn his or her accomplice grabs your card and cash from the ATM.

Something doesn’t ring true

In an age of digital technology it is hard also to verify something that appears genuine. You may have come across a video of a man going down a large water slide, (megawoosh) jumping a huge distance and landing in an inflatable “paddling pool”. This is now quite “old” but is doing the rounds again. The mathematics alone would take some impressive calculating for the physics involved. However this is not, despite some very good editing, a genuine video, although it is rather fun and nobody was scammed out of any money. The full story is here.

So, as with most things, exercise caution. We can all fall victim to a scam, when we are off guard. Importantly, when investing or moving home or selling investments, we will apply additional checks to make sure the request really is from you. Of course the oldest tip still remains the most helpful… if its too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

Dominic Thomas

Seeing is believing?2023-12-01T12:39:30+00:00

“What have I missed about auto enrolment?”

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What have I missed about auto enrolment?

Yesterday I suggested that auto enrolment was not really about pensions, that’s because despite it being about setting up a pension, the real emphasis is much more about communications with staff and with Government agencies. The new system is rather like PAYE, though nothing quite as simple. I have come up with 11, that’s eleven, key issues where auto enrolment will challenge your business or charity.

Contracts of employmentEmployeeOfTheMonth

Contracts of employment will need to be altered reflecting the new pension arrangements; this may be a difficult discussion depending upon your type of business and workforce. Do you need to get the help of HR or even legal advice to do this properly?

Pay reviews and salary sacrifice

Some employers may use this as an opportunity to consider “salary sacrifice” or “salary exchange” this is a bizarre scenario where having a reduced gross income with the reduction paid into a pension, saves both employer and employee national insurance contributions and PAYE, yet invariably the net pay is a bit more, with more money going into a pension. Odd but true.

Payroll integration, live and up to date

Your payroll software will need to be able to integrate the new scheme, if you are a small firm and outsource this to your book keeper or Accountant; they need to be up to speed and have software that does the job.

IT overhaul

Schemes will be managed online and the Pension Regulator may demand data going back 6 years in a format that they can readily use). This therefore has implications for your IT systems and security and in particular how you hold and backup your data about staff.

Garbage in, garbage out?

Communication with staff is also a big deal. You need to be able to evidence that you have provided all of the relevant information to your staff, email is the most obvious and cheapest delivery option, but we all know that not everyone uses email or has provided you with an up to date email address, so do you need everyone in the business to have a company email address, and what happens when they leave? Do you maintain records properly?

Money Laundering

As a pension is an investment, there are issues about possible Money Laundering and politically exposed people. As an employer do you have evidence that you have done thorough identity and residency checks? Can you prove this? This will also identify any illegal immigrants or visa’s that have expired.

Staying silent and impartial

You might see auto enrolment as a valuable part of your staff package, however some see it as another tax and a whole lot of bureaucracy. You are not permitted to give advice about pensions or entice or discourage staff from joining the scheme. This isn’t just frowned on, it carries hefty financial penalties if revealed.

Disgruntled employees

Non compliance with the rules is a dangerous approach. You may believe that you know your staff, but perhaps you should reflect on what could go wrong for you if a member of staff falls out with you, or is just plain awkward anyway (these people do exist in 2014) so make sure you have complied and that you can demonstrate that you have done so. It is pointless to ask for a bullet proof vest after the event.

Tax triggers

You may not be aware that some people have very large pension scheme benefits. The Lifetime Allowance has reduced and will reduce again in April. Some people have protected their larger allowances, but should they accidentally enrol into a new pension, this would scupper their plans. This could trigger enormous tax penalties (55% of £1m for example) and you won’t be terribly popular with the employee that is presented with such a bill because you didn’t communicate well enough.

Honest guv….

The cynic in me might suggest that this is another way to join-up the Government agencies, which is fine if you are doing everything properly (unless you have concerns about information flow) but of course will catch out more people that have undeclared earnings anywhere.

Impacting your budgeting

Finally, don’t rely on your costs being 3% of your payroll. It is likely that contributions levels will be raised above 8%, in Australia (where they have had compulsory pensions since 1992) employers now contribute 9.25%. You ought to allow funds for the scheme and your systems to be reviewed and of course you might be wise to provide seminars or meetings for your staff to ensure that they understand their pension.

So, auto enrolment is about pensions… well yes, but it is also about rather more besides.

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

“What have I missed about auto enrolment?”2023-12-01T12:38:57+00:00

Moneybox and the Diamond Scam

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Moneybox and the Diamond Scam

blooddiamondThis week BBC Radio 4 Moneybox featured a story about a diamond scam. This is sadly a rather familiar tale and one that prays on financial naivety. It’s the classic boiler room scam, a cold call from what sounds like a busy dealing floor (though why the sound of lots of people on the phone should suggest something good is rather beyond me). Anyway, the latest revision of this scam is in the form of diamonds… which of course is nothing to do with the stoc kmarket, which to some “investors” has appeal as a possible form of “alternative investment”.

Don’t miss out before its too late! (er… no)

The promise is… yes you had better sit down for the obvious statement “this will provide a guaranteed return of XX%”… which is never true for the investor, no matter who says it. The only guarantee is that there is no such thing as a guarantee. Everything carries risk. However it’s back to that same old phrase – if it’s too good to be true, then it isn’t true. Yet so many people forget this, when placed under pressure… pressure from another person at the end of the phone…which you can hang up… yet our nature is to be nice, friendly, amenable and rarely do people like to say “no”…. well a lot of people (it is alleged).

The carat carrot… what’s up doc?

Back to the scam – the diamonds may not even exist, you haven’t seen them, and so there is only a verbal suggestion of their value (even if this were a written valuation, it should be treated with caution). The price of the diamonds is naturally inflated, by an estimated 1500% and the broker/trader… oh lets call a spade a spade… criminal, takes a 25% commission cut… which is the only guarantee. Now of course, it’s wrong that anyone gets taken in by these criminals, but it is particularly concerning that they target the elderly, who are more vulnerable.

New tales, old tricks

How is this different from the penny shares sold by the Wolf of Wall Street? Well, it’s not much different, the process and tactics are very similar – selling much overpriced things to over optimistic “investors” who will never recoup their investment. This isn’t investment, its basically stealing… not to mention that there are serious issues about conflict diamonds, as highlighted in the 2006 movie “Blood Diamond”.

The question behind the action

Of course building a diversified portfolio is sensible, so that your wealth is not exposed entirely to the stock market. Hence why when we create a portfolio it has a variety of different “asset classes” within it, including cash, alternatives and potentially a wide range of different sorts of investments. So I have every sympathy with someone trying to diversify their portfolio – a good adviser will do this. Oh and by the way, it was a financial adviser that raised the alarm about the scam to the victim (not the media, not “the internet” , not the bank, not the best friend and not the regulator)… I’m feeling a little sanguine as the obligatory levies that advisers pay to regulators in their various forms (FCA, FOS, FSCS) have increased a staggering 300%… and frankly that feels like a very big scam.

Dominic Thomas: Solomons IFA

Moneybox and the Diamond Scam2023-12-01T12:38:49+00:00

Financial Fraud in Britain

Financial Fraud in Britain

Financial fraud in Britain is a serious problem. The sort of frauds that I hear about are very depressing… in the sense that it’s really quite difficult to imagine someone who would do such a crime, at least based upon the people in my life, I find it hard to imagine anyone being so cold. Anyway, I was on the way home yesterday and listening to a radio show on BBC5Live…as if the cricket score was not bad enough… anyway It was the Adrian Goldberg show, which yesterday covered assaults on taxi drivers and subject of “Vishing”. Vishing is a telephone scam.

Hello… its  (A big retailer) and we think you’ve been subject to fraud..

In a nutshell, the crook tricks people into giving over their bank card details. Now on the one hand you would think this is fairly obvious and easy to avoid, but the scam basically goes along the following course. You get a call from someone claiming to work for a major retailer – say Tesco, chances are you have been there. The criminal says that the company have identified a suspected fraud on your card. S/he then suggests that you get your card… which one is it? And you have a look at the number on the back to report the fraud… you politely say thank you and hang up…. but you haven’t hung up, you still have an open line (if it’s a land line), the fraudster might even play the sound of a dial tone to make you think you’ve hung up. So you pick up the phone and dial your bank, but actually you are still speaking to the original fraudster (or his/her accomplice)… and so the fraud really begins.

Distraction & Misdirection

The main way that fraudsters operate is to distract. In this instance, to distract you with help. You are thrown off guard by being told you may have had fraud on your account. Do not give your bank details over the phone (or internet) to anyone that YOU have not properly identified and be careful when you are being asked for details.

Open Lines

This fraud works due to an issue with open phone lines. At the moment 40% of the land line network closes lines within 2 seconds of you hanging up, but this scam relies on the line being kept open for longer. BT and Virgin currently keep a line open for 2 minutes (according the BBC radio show). The Police advise using a different phone or waiting at least 5 minutes before calling your Bank on their proper number.

Before you next go shopping…check out FFA UK

This sort of stuff is miserable, but it happens all the time. Anyone can fall for it. You are generally not protected against fraud if you give your details out. In Surrey 81 cases have been reported, worth £900,000 since July. The Met report over 2,200 cases in London worth over £3.5m. You have been warned. Please have a look at the Financial Fraud Action UK website for further tips and advice.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email info@solomonsifa.co.uk

Financial Fraud in Britain2023-12-01T12:38:44+00:00
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