Canary Wharf office, glitzy website... and a licence to do nothing
Probes a world of scams and scandals
K.J. writes: I was contacted out of the blue by a gentleman from With Profits BVBA, who gave me a sales pitch similar to one you outlined recently in an article about a scam company. Take a look at its website at www.withprofits.co. I am not going to invest, but I thought this might help your investigations. WELL spotted and thank you. With Profits BVBA certainly has an impressive website, with pictures of its address in the heart of the Canary Wharf financial district, where it says it provides share dealing, pension plans, discretionary fund management and savings schemes. What it does not have is a licence from the Financial Conduct Authority to do any of this.
Quite simply, this is a criminal operation, whose bosses are committing crimes punishable by up to two years in jail, in the unlikely event that anyone in authority investigates and prosecutes them.
How can they get away with this? Well, it is unusual these days for anyone to be prosecuted for this offence and as far as convincing their victims is concerned, the fraudsters can rely on help from the FCA register of authorised firms.
You see, there really is a genuine, licensed firm called With Profits BVBA. But it is a tiny insurance company. And it is in a quiet street in Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, not a massive office building in London.
Under European Union rules, because one country’s watchdog has licensed it, With Profits BVBA is entitled to be entered on the approved list of every other EU country.
Any casual British investor will see the name on the FCA register and assume the bunch in Canary Wharf are the real deal and not just a clone.
The bogus business operates by asking victims to sign a power of attorney granting one of its traders complete discretion to buy and sell a range of risky financial instruments, including forex trades, commodities and even crypto currencies.
All the victim must do is put up the cash, typically by sending £5,000 to Barclays Bank at sort code 20-89-56 to credit account number 53 85 93 39.
This is where things take a turn for the better. I had a word with Barclays and a spokesman quickly told me: ‘Following the information provided, we reviewed the account and it has now been closed.’
Excellent news – well done, Barclays – though I expect the crooks have other accounts elsewhere.
Barclays offered the useful tip that no one should take for granted that they are dealing with a genuine business unless they can verify it from a phone number or details obtained from a different source. And no one should sign a power of attorney without first seeking legal advice.
Giving evidence to MPs recently, FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey said: ‘We have teams who now spend their time trying to track down this stuff popping up on the internet.’
You might almost think this was a new phenomenon. Still, the details are all here, so let’s see what the FCA does with them.
On Thursday, I spoke twice to the fake firm, whose phone number is 020 8720 6894. I explained who I was. I said we would be reporting today that With Profits BVBA of Canary Wharf is a scam. I was told nobody was available for comment and I would be called back. Surprise, surprise – nobody called back.