£2,999 to recoup loss on timeshare? Dream on…
Probes a world of scams and scandals
P.B. writes: I belonged to the Eze Group timeshare scheme before the owners were jailed. I have now been contacted by a company called O1C Legal and a barrister from Platinum Legal, both in Spain. I was told Spanish courts have seized €1.3million (£1.1million) from Eze, to be repaid to members. But they also say Eze failed to collect annual fees, and its auditors are now using UK debt collectors to recover payments. O1C and Platinum say they can cancel this liability and register my claim but I must pay £2,999. Is this legitimate?
EZE Group was run by Dominic O’Reilly and his step-daughter Stephanie. In March this year at Birmingham Crown Court he was jailed for 28 months and she was given a suspended sentence of 18 months after a Trading
Standards investigation found evidence they cheated and bullied victims into parting with at least £1.3million.
O1C is a curious organisation that also calls itself Our One Club. It uses an address on a small business estate in Truro, Cornwall, but the company itself is registered in Malaga, Spain. O1C says: ‘With over 30 years of experience in fraud claims and a reputation of success in the field, O1C offers a new specialist service directly to the public. All fraud cases are considered, from property and land to stocks and shares.’
But Spanish company records show O1C was registered in February this year. So I asked its boss Dawn Kiernan how it had notched up 30 years of experience and successes. She admitted that her company was new, but explained: ‘Our legal advisers, who represent the company, have over 30 years in this field.’
So, has O1C – or its lawyers -– really seized more than £1million from Eze’s bank account, and can its victims claim a slice of this in return for £2,999? Kiernan would only say ‘the lawyers are actively pursuing claims against the Spanish arm of Eze Group’, which is not quite the same as sitting on a pile of cash.
And she was not sure, she told me, where you would have got such exact figures, or the promises given over the phone.
You are not alone, though. Victims of a similar disreputable timeshare rip-off called Club Class have also been contacted by callers claiming to be from O1C. And they say they have also been offered a carrot in the shape of a pot of compensation cash, and a stick in the form of a demand for membership arrears, all of which can be resolved if they sign up for legal help.
What is really curious in all this is that Our One Club, which Dawn Kiernan agrees she promotes, is itself a membership organisation advertising a list of attractions ranging from shopping discounts to over-50s dating. Remarkably, the list includes a hugely risky investment scheme dealing in foreign exchange.
Not that the Truro outfit lacks confidence. While warning that investors should only speculate with money they can afford to lose, it adds: ‘No prediction can be made relating to return. However, it is quite within the norm of forex to receive between one per cent and four per cent monthly. The track record for the past 12 months equates to 38.66 per cent growth.’
Up to four per cent monthly? Growth of 38 per cent? That would be startling. And apparently it need not cost the earth.
Our One Club accepts investment in units of £1,250 a time, which it adds together to form blocks of £1 million. Its members are told: ‘The brokerage operates one to three forex trades per day, using the block available from Our One Club.’ Members can then go online to see how their investment has performed. There has to be a snag. And it is a big one.
Our One Club, in Truro, is not registered with or authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. So investors have no access to The Financial Ombudsman Service or UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme. It also means the scheme is illegal.
I invited David Hitchcock, who is named by the club as its Truro administrator, to comment and allow me to see some evidence of the fantastic performance of his investment scheme. He failed to comment or produce evidence.
Several days ago I pointed the FCA to Our One Club. The regulator is responsible for protecting investors and investigating breaches of investor protection law, such as operating an investment scheme illegally.
Has the regulator taken any action against Our One Club? The FCA’s reply: ‘No comment.’