Fake firm wants me to sell land I don’t even own
C.G. writes: Portland Investment Group has been in contact several times regarding land it says I own in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, even though I definitely do not own it. I was told the land could be sold for £17,500, but Harry Park of Portland asked for £2,700 as a fee to allow the release of the deeds to me. I have no intention of handing over money, but I asked a solicitor friend to look into this. He was told Portland employs 300 people at its London office, yet he could not establish that the company is even registered. I believe this is a largescale scam. If it obtains £2,700 out of just one person every day, it is not a bad earner. THERE is a company called Portland Investment Group Limited, but it is in Sheffield. Not in Wood Street in the City of London, which is where the people who contacted you claim to be based. It is a fake which has stolen the identity of the genuine company.
The fraudsters have set up a website at portland investments group. com. Note the extra letter ‘s’ which is barely noticeable but is enough to steer victims away from the real Portland and towards the crooks.
The content of the website has also been stolen. It says: ‘Our investment house teams deliver high quality strategic advice and creative financing solutions to our clients, including mergers, acquisitions, financing and risk management transactions.’ This has been copied word for word from the Goldman Sachs website.
The fake Portland also claims to have 70 offices in 15 countries and more than 7,400 staff. This is copied from the website of RBC Capital Markets.
Contract terms you were sent by the crooks say the business is registered at Companies House under number 4504939. This is actually the number of the real Portland in Sheffield, which controls a staff recruitment business.
Director Matt Davison told me he had received a number of enquiries from people who thought they had spoken to whoever is behind the London-based fake. He has notified Action Fraud.
The genuine Sheffield company is not the only victim in this. When the crooks were trying to swindle you they sent you a letter signed by Keri Negron-Jennings who is supposedly one of its directors. She is not. But she does run a housebuilding business in Shrewsbury. Its name is Portland Investments Limited – close enough to the fake Portland Investment Group to trick most people into thinking they are one and the same. She told me: ‘I am going to report this to the police immediately.’
You are not the only potential victim to be contacted by Harry Park and his mates who share his phone number (0207 856 0438). People who lost money in the flood of carbon credit scams have also been told that if they pay an upfront fee, their money can be recovered.
Park has also been busy on a separate number (0207 129 7316) claiming to be from Keystone Investment Trust. I warned two weeks ago that this phone number was being used by crooks. I rang Park last Thursday to ask if I could pop round to wherever he is really based and bring one or two friends from the Fraud Squad. Sadly, whoever answered the phone hung up as soon as I gave my name.