Angie

Is your IFA a snake in the grass?

An elderly lady consulted Hollingsworth International Financial Services in Malta about her life savings in 2011. She told Hollingsworth’s employee Paul Tilbrook she wanted her funds invested safely and cautiously. Her savings amounted to over £400,000 and she wanted to move them to a safe pair of hands to make sure her capital was protected. The adviser promised her that her money would not only be protected, but that it would be “actively managed” to ensure diversity and growth. In reality something very different happened.

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Fighting pension scams – Qualifications

Fighting pension scams needs to be done logically and methodically.  Decent advisers need to use high standards to help fight scams.  If these standards become the norm, the scammers won’t survive and flourish so easily. Fighting pension scams – Qualifications Most qualified advisers want nothing to do with pension scams.  Many offshore firms employ advisers

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Blackmore Bond – yet another failed investment?

Blackmore Bond – yet another reason why only regulated advisers should be used for investment advice. The clear link between the recently-failed LCF Bond and Blackmore Bond through Surge Group remind us how important regulated investment advisers are. In the news again is the troubled Blackmore Group. This time we read that they have ‘temporarily’

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Transferring pensions to scammers – the ABC of shame

HOW DO PENSION SCAMS WORK? Every pension scam starts with a negligent transfer.  Ceding providers hand over millions of pounds to pension scammers every year.  Firms – from Aviva to Zurich – ignore warnings by regulators and HMRC.  The providers tick their boxes; the scammers make their millions; the victims are ruined. The ceding providers

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Pension Life blog - Lack of knowledge leads to loss of funds - rogue advisers

Lack of knowledge leads to loss of funds – rogue advisers

The Pension Scams Industry Group (PSIG) has carried out a pilot survey on pension scams. The survey has identified seven key findings and concluded that most scams are carried out by rogue advisers and unregulated “introducers”. This is something we write about regularly, so it is great that PSIG has finally caught up. Henry Tapper

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Store First v Insolvency Service Battle – the Insolvency Service’s Witness Statement

In the run up to the High Court proceedings to hear the Insolvency Service’s petition to wind up Store First, here is some background.  This is an abridged version of the Insolvency Service’s witness statement regarding the Store First pension investment scam.  It involved two bogus occupational pension schemes set up and administered by Stephen

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