Keep this diamond geezer away from your savings
Probes a world of scams and scandals
D.F. writes: My elderly unwell sister kept getting phone calls from Harrington Rose Limited, trying to sell her diamonds as an investment. She is registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) so should not receive any such cold calls. The caller, Lance Bradley, told her to withdraw savings from her Isa, and she would get a 10 per cent increase in the value of the diamonds. Is this a bona fide company? I WOULD rather trust a fox in a hen house than Harrington Rose with the contents of your sister’s Isa.
The company was set up in January last year, based at a house in Keedonwood Road in Bromley, the South London borough that is the investment scam capital of Britain. The house is home to the company’s boss Harry Hindmarsh, who also calls himself Harry Fovargue-Hindmarsh.
Hindmarsh is an impressive young man. He started his diamond company just three weeks after celebrating his 20th birthday. Sadly though, he seems unaware of the legal duties of a company director. He has failed to file the annual statement of exactly who owns Harrington Rose. It was due at Companies House almost three months ago but has not arrived. This is an offence.
The young magnate also seems to be unaware of the TPS that lets people opt out of sales calls. Your sister is not the only person to be registered with the TPS who has then been cold-called and offered Harrington Rose’s favourite investment in pink coloured diamonds.
Despite all this, within several months of registering his company, Hindmarsh had expanded into offices in Antwerp, Geneva, New York, and Lombard Street in the City of London.
His advertising claimed: ‘Harrington Rose is a high-performing brokerage that sources rare and natural coloured diamonds.’ None of this is what it seems, though. The addresses are maildrops and short-lets that take in post for anyone who pays, even if they are not truly there. I invited Hind- marsh to explain how such a new company could be ‘high performing’.
I asked him where he trained and obtained professional experience in the diamond industry at such a young age. And I asked why he had broken cold-calling regulations and contacted your sister and others. Finally, I asked this diamond geezer to say why he had failed to file his annual company return, an offence for which Harrington Rose could be struck off.
Sadly, Hindmarsh offered no answer, no explanation, and no comment. I suspect he is just a stooge, a frontman for more experienced rip-off merchants.
But the conclusion is the same: do not trust Hindmarsh or Harrington Rose. And yet again, it exposes a gaping hole in investor protection laws.
Why does the Government refuse to slap a total ban on selling any investment scheme through cold-calling? It is all very well to say that people can hang up. But the elderly, the lonely and the vulnerable are easy prey to people like Hindmarsh and his pals.