Investment Scam
Discussion
Duplicate of a thread I posted in SP&L but it was pointed out that I might get more useful info here.
I've just found out that an elderly relative has "invested" quite a bit of money with what I am quite sure is a scam. Mostly done online with a couple of phone calls and emails quite convincingly appearing to be from a well known brokerage, a London phone number and money transferred to UK accounts. The domains the email actually came from were registered to look legitimate and they claimed to be selling bonds in well known companies. They even bore the signatures of actual employees of the cloned company (so LinkedIn says). Apparently the FCA are aware of this "clone" operation and it's listed on their website as one to avoid.
I have just been on the phone to her bank and the bank who received the money, and will report it to Action Fraud as soon as possible.
Is there anything else we should do at this stage? And what if any steps can be taken to give her some chance of recovering any money? And of course protecting others from this particularly nasty form of theft.
I know to many people (myself included) this is just downright stupid and when I have read of this sort of thing happening my sympathy has been tempered by wondering how anyone can be so naïve. They can. This is an elderly lady who never had much to invest for most of her life. She isn't savvy with financial products and struggles to use her email anyway, let alone check the authenticity of a sender's domain name. This wasn't a release fee for the President of Nigeria's $50m Swiss bank account but someone impersonating a well known company.
She trusted the "nice people" who she spoke to and lost a significant amount of money.
I have not named the companies involved or cloned or the sum of money involved as I don't think it would help at this stage, however if this is relevant then I can.
Thanks in advance for any help. And for God's sake keep an eye on elderly relatives.
I've just found out that an elderly relative has "invested" quite a bit of money with what I am quite sure is a scam. Mostly done online with a couple of phone calls and emails quite convincingly appearing to be from a well known brokerage, a London phone number and money transferred to UK accounts. The domains the email actually came from were registered to look legitimate and they claimed to be selling bonds in well known companies. They even bore the signatures of actual employees of the cloned company (so LinkedIn says). Apparently the FCA are aware of this "clone" operation and it's listed on their website as one to avoid.
I have just been on the phone to her bank and the bank who received the money, and will report it to Action Fraud as soon as possible.
Is there anything else we should do at this stage? And what if any steps can be taken to give her some chance of recovering any money? And of course protecting others from this particularly nasty form of theft.
I know to many people (myself included) this is just downright stupid and when I have read of this sort of thing happening my sympathy has been tempered by wondering how anyone can be so naïve. They can. This is an elderly lady who never had much to invest for most of her life. She isn't savvy with financial products and struggles to use her email anyway, let alone check the authenticity of a sender's domain name. This wasn't a release fee for the President of Nigeria's $50m Swiss bank account but someone impersonating a well known company.
She trusted the "nice people" who she spoke to and lost a significant amount of money.
I have not named the companies involved or cloned or the sum of money involved as I don't think it would help at this stage, however if this is relevant then I can.
Thanks in advance for any help. And for God's sake keep an eye on elderly relatives.
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