When will the police act on fraud?
J.C. writes: Capital City Holdings rang me about recovering a carbon credit investment, but the paperwork I was sent shows that an up-front fee of about £2,700 is required. I would guess this is a scam. What do you think?
YES, it is a scam. Last week, I warned that crooks had stolen the name of a genuine company called Portland Investment Group and were offering a land deal that involved an upfront fee of the same £2,700. Other companies have had their names misused in the same way and the fraudsters even use the same paperwork. It is hard not to conclude that this is an organised crime.
This week’s crooks have a website at capital-cityholdings. com, where they claim to be financial advisers, in business for 35 years, dealing with mortgages, insurance and investments.
They say their registered office is at an address in London’s Covent Garden. The paperwork they sent you is signed by Albert Hay. But all this is lies.
They are not
financial advisers and the address belongs to a genuine company, Capital & City Holdings Limited. This is a major property development business headed by the real Albert Hay whose signature has been forged. He has been contacted by people who have lost money to the crooks so he decided to speak to his fake ‘twin’.
He told me: ‘I phoned them up. They asked me who was speaking and I said it’s Albert Hay and I want to speak to Albert Hay because I am Albert Hay. They accused me of being a nuisance caller.’
The crooks give their phone number as 020 7041 8018. My own files show that a year ago this same
number was used in a fraud called Clear Legal Escrow Services. It told victims they were due a payment from an escrow account, but – of course – they had to pay an up-front fee before the cash could be released.
The fraudsters stole the company details of a genuine business, Clear Legal Limited, and used the name of its accountant. Coincidence? Not likely.
Clear Legal reported this to the police. Last week’s scam was also reported to the police. Albert Hay has told me that he has also contacted the police, though he is disappointed at the lack of action by them. Third time lucky, perhaps?