Whiskey Barrel scam
Discussion
I hope none of you who invest in whisky barrel shares are caught uo in this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2r7enl3d1o
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2r7enl3d1o
Fast and Spurious said:
Greedy idiots scammed again shocker.
There’s an element of that, but the market is unregulated and full of opportunities for those so inclined, blaming the victims is just more of the same on here. I’ve been invested in an Irish Whiskey scheme for some years and it’s been a good, fun investment (in terms of earning, learning and perks), but you need to do your due diligence. Feel sorry for anyone who has lost life savings, regardless of the circumstances.
Blue62 said:
Fast and Spurious said:
Greedy idiots scammed again shocker.
There’s an element of that, but the market is unregulated and full of opportunities for those so inclined, blaming the victims is just more of the same on here. I’ve been invested in an Irish Whiskey scheme for some years and it’s been a good, fun investment (in terms of earning, learning and perks), but you need to do your due diligence. Feel sorry for anyone who has lost life savings, regardless of the circumstances.
I'm someehat sympathetic, but I really can't understand how this could pass anyone's sniff test. It feels like such a blatantly obvious scam.
Maybe stick a bit of pocket money into it just as a fun thing to say you've got a share in a barrel of whisky, but for me it's akin to buying land on the moon.
Maybe stick a bit of pocket money into it just as a fun thing to say you've got a share in a barrel of whisky, but for me it's akin to buying land on the moon.
ARHarh said:
Why would anyone even consider this? If a cask was going to make loads of money the owner would not sell them, end of. Yes it may help the producer cover their costs, but if there really was a big profit in it the bank would finance it for them and they could keep all the profit.
It doesn’t work like that. Anyone producing whiskey (or whisky) has to sit on their money for a long time, ten years minimum in the case of quality single malts. Cash flow is king, so selling before maturity allows the producer to keep producing, it’s a simple concept. The beauty of the investment is that the product is finite, there is only so much of one year’s production of a particular whiskey in existence, so in theory the price should continue to rise if you’re invested in a quality product. I’ve played at it and achieved a decent return and I’ve also enjoyed the experience through learning more about whiskey and the market, I’ve also been invited to some stunning events along the way, a private yacht in zone one at Monaco being the stand out (I only got invited to a practice day). There are also tax advantages, but that’s another story.
Like anything, there are good people and bad people, do your research and invest carefully and it’s fine, the market isn’t a scam, but some of the players are, like many things in life.
holes in the world.abzmike said:
Unless you are very well informed or connected to a market, it looks like a minefield. Other than for fun, with a bit of spare money, I can’t see how these type of investments can make sense. 100 grand, life savings? Wow…
You see similar in the wine market. They’re both perfect for scammers as there’s an expectation that you won’t see or sell your purchasers for a long time. Blue62 said:
It doesn’t work like that. Anyone producing whiskey (or whisky) has to sit on their money for a long time, ten years minimum in the case of quality single malts. Cash flow is king, so selling before maturity allows the producer to keep producing, it’s a simple concept.
The beauty of the investment is that the product is finite, there is only so much of one year’s production of a particular whiskey in existence, so in theory the price should continue to rise if you’re invested in a quality product. I’ve played at it and achieved a decent return and I’ve also enjoyed the experience through learning more about whiskey and the market, I’ve also been invited to some stunning events along the way, a private yacht in zone one at Monaco being the stand out (I only got invited to a practice day). There are also tax advantages, but that’s another story.
Like anything, there are good people and bad people, do your research and invest carefully and it’s fine, the market isn’t a scam, but some of the players are, like many things in life.
Yup, but it makes sense as a “fun” investment. At most 5% of ones investments. It’s clearly not wise to put one’s life savings into an investment like this.The beauty of the investment is that the product is finite, there is only so much of one year’s production of a particular whiskey in existence, so in theory the price should continue to rise if you’re invested in a quality product. I’ve played at it and achieved a decent return and I’ve also enjoyed the experience through learning more about whiskey and the market, I’ve also been invited to some stunning events along the way, a private yacht in zone one at Monaco being the stand out (I only got invited to a practice day). There are also tax advantages, but that’s another story.
Like anything, there are good people and bad people, do your research and invest carefully and it’s fine, the market isn’t a scam, but some of the players are, like many things in life.
Some of the stories on the bbc are insane, a fire fighter putting their DB pension into something like this, whilst heart breaking is so incredibly stupid.
I think this where the “greed” element comes in, why would anyone think of doing this, unless the offer was far to good to be true.
Believe the guy doing the scamming had previously been barred from ever holding directorships of companies as he was caught before, changed his name for this scam according to the press, never mind the scammed not doing due diligence checks, what about the bank who had this account for the scammer, do they not do any checks before opening accounts for these villains!
Pedro25 said:
Believe the guy doing the scamming had previously been barred from ever holding directorships of companies as he was caught before, changed his name for this scam according to the press, never mind the scammed not doing due diligence checks, what about the bank who had this account for the scammer, do they not do any checks before opening accounts for these villains!
Or auditors preparing accounts for limited companies? Presumably there are databases they can access. It’s all very well that consumers should do thier own due diligence, but there is only so much a retail investor can do. Hmm strangely the ONE year sentence (they) received in 2019 for scamming 350 people out their life savings hasn’t stopped them. (Only £6.2 million, operating since at least 2012 
) What a surprise.
Should have been 10 years inside the first time. Sick of this country’s soft attitude to criminals. Beyond a joke.
) What a surprise.Should have been 10 years inside the first time. Sick of this country’s soft attitude to criminals. Beyond a joke.
Certainly money to be made but only if you’re buying whisky that will be considered valuable at the time of selling.
If you had bought a sherry butt of new make spirit from Glendronach in the 90’s it would have cost a few grand. There would be a decent chunk of duty to pay at bottling time but you could have ended up with whisky easily “worth” well over £100k.
Equally, casks can leak, sometimes the whisky just isn’t good. Sometimes a whisky doesn’t get the “value” it maybe deserves. There’s a lot of risk.
If you had bought a sherry butt of new make spirit from Glendronach in the 90’s it would have cost a few grand. There would be a decent chunk of duty to pay at bottling time but you could have ended up with whisky easily “worth” well over £100k.
Equally, casks can leak, sometimes the whisky just isn’t good. Sometimes a whisky doesn’t get the “value” it maybe deserves. There’s a lot of risk.
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff