Firm won’t return cash despite my ‘£84,000 profit’

Probes a world of scams and scandals

S.A. writes: I was looking for investments and came across a company called Beside Asset Management. I did some research, and the company’s website was very inspiring. In a month I made a small but impressive profit on its automated currency trading platform. Then it asked me to invest in shares, but thankfully my bank flagged up its account as suspicious. Recently, the firm informed me that my original £10,500 was safe, but when I asked to withdraw it, I was told I had not met its terms and conditions so could not reclaim my funds. BESIDE Asset Management (BAM) is a scam. According to its website: ‘Beside Asset Management is a multi asset brokerage with offices worldwide, providing a bespoke level of service to both institutional and private clients. With a strong and profitable history in the institutional sector, we pride ourselves on providing an institutional level of service and returns to private clients.’

Claiming to have offices in Britain and a range of other countries, BAM adds that it is ‘a fully regulated entity’ that offers ‘honesty and transparency for customers’, backed up by a monthly table of trading profits going back to 2008.

Now for some real honesty and transparency. Its headed notepaper shows its address as Britannia House in Douglas on the Isle of Man. I went there. There was no sign of BAM. Helpful but puzzled staff even contacted the building’s owners to see if they knew the company or anyone connected to it. They didn’t.

And according to Manx government records, no such company is registered on the island, nor has it been licensed by its very efficient financial watchdog.

BAM’s website says it is registered in Delaware, the small state that is the brass plate capital of the US. But enquiries there also drew a blank. The website itself is registered to an address in Arizona, but that turned out to be home to a firm that fronts for people who want to stay in the shadows. And despite its claims to a profitable history, BAM’s website was set up just last year, with fees paid for only two years of cyberspace life.

What I did find though was that a company with BAM’s name was registered in Malta, and did have a licence there as an investment business. But it surrendered that licence last year and closed down.

A couple of hours after I told you this, your phone rang. It was BAM, claiming that an investment it had made for you had been spectacularly successful and you were sitting on a profit of £84,000.

I warned you that the next call would be to demand some sort of legal fees or taxes before the magical – and mythical – £84,000 could be released. And sure enough, BAM’s next call told you it wanted a percentage up front. BAM uses phone numbers that appear to be based in London, Aberdeen and Douglas. I called them all. Every one played a taped message or refused to accept incoming calls. With ‘spoofing’ software, the numbers could, of course, be operated from anywhere in the world.

Your £84,000 never existed, and the £10,500 you invested is gone. But there is some good news in that the scam has been accepted by the police for investigation. Another victim, who lives in Plymouth, contacted Devon and Cornwall Police.

Detective Constable Morgan Emery told me: ‘We are investigating a number of complaints that have been received regarding the activities of Beside Asset Management.’

And she added: ‘We are now looking at a number of cases in connection with this matter, as well as Beside Asset Management, and we believe this could have affected a number of people across the UK.

‘Enquiries are ongoing and we are keeping an open mind as to the possible scale of this investigation.’

I know that you will not part with another penny if BAM calls again, but police do want to hear from anyone else who has fallen foul of this scam.

Anyone with information, or who has been ripped off by BAM, should call 101 and ask for Devon and Cornwall Police, or email 101@dc.police.uk quoting log number 296 09/04/19.