Spain is, sadly, the World’s capital of wealth scamming. For more than a decade, wealth planning has been perverted and converted into a commission-laden fraud. This financial crime has relieved thousands of victims of their pensions and life savings. Originally a private Swiss bank, Julius Baer now wants to diversify into the Spanish wealth market. […]
Fraud in Spain – Julius Baer Read More »
On the web of pension scams It seems as though criminal convictions against pension scammers might be getting popular. More than a decade has gone by with virtually none of the usual suspects getting jailed – despite a few criminal investigations (that, so far, have not resulted in convictions). Is the system really that hopeless
The Web of Pension Scams Read More »
Every offshore pension scam starts with a “financial advisor”. Or, at least, a slick salesman posing as a financial adviser. This person can also call himself a “wealth consultant” or “senior associate”. After the scammer pretending to be an adviser, the next player is the life office. More accurately described as a “death” office, this
Pension Scams Explained Read More »
The world of pension and investment scams is dominated and driven by commissions on investments (usually unregulated). The scammers’ strategy is always identical: get the pensions away from the safety of a reputable pension provider and into the hands of a SIPP, a SSAS or a QROPS. One purported benefit of these types of schemes
Pension Scam Investments Read More »
The Spanish criminal trial of so-called “financial advisers” in Denia has exposed the widespread fraud routinely committed in offshore financial services for over a decade. This particular stage of this particular trial may be directed at just eight members of Continental Wealth Management and Premier Pension Solutions. For now. But the case – brought by
Fraud Trial Against Pension Scammers in Spain Read More »
In the past decade, millions of pounds of pensions and life savings have been destroyed in Spain. Much of this has involved insurance bonds (OMI, SEB and Generali) – as well as all other popular expat countries. Only by benefitting from lessons learned so painfully by those who’ve already been scammed, can new potential victims
Armed Against Pension Scams in Spain Read More »
Life offices who caused the death of victims and their life savings/pensions, will now face proceedings in the Spanish civil courts. Pension Life’s proceedings against the defendants are due to be launched before Christmas 2020. The defendants will be Quilter International (Ireland), SEB and Generali (which has changed its name to Utmost Wealth). In the
Spanish litigation: Quilter Ireland, SEB and Generali Read More »
RL360’s acquisition of Friends Provident International may be set to ruin even more investors internationally. It will certainly increase competition with Quilter (or Skandia, or Ann Summers or whatever OMI are calling themselves this season). The biggest question – and one which International Adviser’s Kirsten Hastings forgot to ask RL360 David Kneeshaw when she interviewed
RL360 and FPI – ’til death (or poverty) do us part Read More »
Today, 7th April 2020, was supposed to have been the second part of the Continental Wealth Management criminal trial. Obviously, due to Coronavirus, the hearing has been postponed. For now. As soon as the pandemic is under control and life in the courts (and elsewhere) gets back to “normal”, the hearings will be rescheduled. This
Fraud and Disloyalty in Offshore Financial Services Read More »
The routine “sale” of insurance bonds (whether the clients need them or not – which 99% of the time they don’t) is illegal in Spain. Undoubtedly this will be similar or identical in other jurisdictions. The Spanish Supreme Court has ruled that insurance bonds are invalid for the purpose of holding investments. But still the scammers continue to flog them indiscriminately – purely for the fat commissions.
CWM Criminal Trial 24th February 2020 Read More »
Meghan and Harry – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – are having a tough time (and are running away from home). Their sadness and confusion is because they have no purpose or passion in life. So I am offering them an interesting and satisfying challenge: taking on and championing the cause of pension scam
Meghan and Harry’s New Challenge: Pension Scams Read More »
Pension and investment scams have flourished on the Costa Blanca for more than ten years. As each scam gets shut down, the scammers set up new ones – scammers never change their spots. They need new victims constantly – so the public must always be vigilant.
Pension Scammers in Spain – CWM must be a lesson to all Read More »
As the decade comes to a close, it is clearer than ever that victims of investment fraud need justice. The dirtiest stain on society is that of pension and investment fraud. Scammers have made fortunes out of pension and investment scams in the UK and across the globe – in all leading expat jurisdictions. With
Victims of Investment Fraud need Justice Read More »
The Kiwis were grass and England was a lawnmower. For a couple of hours we forgot Brexit and remembered our national pride. In a Week that saw an inconclusive result in the UK v Europe match (yet again), at least England taught New Zealand how to play rugby. And the battle against pension scams moved
Pension Life – Pension File October 2019 Read More »
Jody Smart (or Bell or Kirby or whatever name she uses now) appeared in the Criminal Court in Denia on 1st October 2019. As one of the group of defendants in the fraud trial – including her former partner Darren Kirby (who didn’t turn up) – she testified about her involvement in the £100 million
Jody Smart of CWM – courting justice Read More »
Mail on Sunday’s Laura Shannon met a group of victims of the Continental Wealth Management scam in Denia in July 2019. Here is a link to her excellent article Continental Wealth Management – “Plunder in paradise”: MAIL ON SUNDAY ARTICLE All power to her, this young lady put all other would-be investigative journalists to shame.
Continental Wealth Management – “Plunder in paradise” Read More »
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
Fighting pension scams – Qualifications Read More »
Fighting pension scams: Regulation If it was easy to stop pension scams, everyone would be doing it. Clearing up the mess left behind a pension scam is a huge challenge. This is why clear international standards need to be recognised and adopted. The scammers are like flocks of vultures. If people only used regulated firms,
Fighting pension scams: Regulation Read More »
A SLICE OF THE ACTION by Joshua Parfitt of the Olive Press EXCLUSIVE: Expats who lost millions to dodgy finance firm CWM fear action group boss may be scamming them too. It is a sad fact that people who have been victims of a scam will never fully trust anybody ever again. One thousand people
Olive Press Article on Continental Wealth Management Read More »
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
Transferring pensions to scammers – the ABC of shame Read More »
I read an interesting article recently which has prompted this blog, written by Blair duQuesnay, CFA®, CFP® – an investment adviser at Ritholtz Wealth Management, LLC. Blair suggests that the most important change needed in the financial industry is qualifications. Poorly qualified advisers give poor investment advice. Bad investments advice leads to loss of funds. Blair has
Raising standards – financial advisers and qualifications Read More »
In every pension scam there is one beginning, lots of middles, and always a wretched ending for the victim and a profitable ending for the scammers. The beginning is always a negligent, lazy, box-ticking transfer by a ceding provider – the worst of which always tend to be the likes of Standard Life, Prudential, Scottish
Who killed the pension? Scammers; ceding providers; introducers; HMRC? Read More »
The mis-selling of life assurance policies and long-term savings plans has been a regular topic in our blogs. Many victims of pension scams see their funds mis-invested into life assurance policies. These life assurance policies do little more than drain the fund value with their expensive fees and costs. Generali has for years been aggressively
Generali – jumping ship to avoid new regulations? Read More »
Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice: The ongoing war against pension scammers continues with no sign that the end is near. The authorities stand idly by – facilitating mis-selling and outright fraud. HMRC happily registers pension scam after scam after scam (followed by tax demands). Prosecutions are few and far between. The only conclusive way to
Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice Read More »
The recent PSIG (Pension Scams Industry Group) Scams Survey Pilot 2018 has identified seven “key” findings in their survey. As scam watchers, we are well aware of these points and are, of course, glad they have been highlighted. PSIG’s key finding are set out below. So let us admit one key fact: ALL PENSION SCAMS START WITH A
Time for all pension providers to wake up and stop pension scams Read More »
Every year we are seeing an increase in the number of victims falling for pension and investment scams. Despite warnings in the public domain and a huge array of information about how to avoid falling victim to a scam, it seems the scammers are so skilled at their sales techniques, that even the cleverest of
Cold calling scammers target expats after the ban in UK – BBC4 You and Yours Read More »
Attention financial advisers in Spain/who provide financial advice to Spanish residents. 18th February 2019 DEATH OF THE LIFE BOND: The Spanish insurance and pensions regulator, the DGS, made a judgment against Costa Blanca-based Continental Wealth Management (CWM) on 10.1.2019. The order (translated and summarised below) confirmed that there are strict regulations in Spain for
Death of the Life Bond (Life of the Death Bond?) Read More »
The Spanish Insurance Regulator – the DGS (Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones) – has made a most welcome judgment. This outlaws the mis-selling of bogus life assurance policies as investment “platforms” – aka “life bonds”. Read the translated summary below. The iniquitous practice of scamming victims into these expensive, pointless bonds – so
No more bogus life assurance policies in Spain Read More »
In many pension scam cases, we find victims telling us that they were not informed about the hidden charges that were applied to their fund. This is why it is essential to warn the public about the hidden dangers of charges that ruin your pension investments. These charges often take a huge chunk out of
Hidden dangers of charges that ruin your pension investments Read More »
Intro written by Kim: ‘This week Angie travelled for work (yet again): she had to fly from Granada to Barcelona. Disaster struck – her baggage sadly did not make the full journey -it’s sitting in the triangle of lost luggage no doubt. The airline – Vueling – whilst only providing the flight, was still happy
Vueling v Old Mutual International Read More »
In follow up to our blog ´Cold calling ban not approved´, we can confirm that as of the 9th January 2019, that companies who cold call with advice on pensions schemes could face fines of up to £500,000. Notice I highlight the word ´could´. If you have read our other blog you will already know that
Fines to be imposed on cold callers, but will it really put a stop the scammers? Read More »
As 2018 draws to a close, a recap is in order to review the year’s progress in the war against pension scammers. Let us not forget – in the immortal words of the Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcombe: “scammers are criminals“. However, the sad truth is that most of them have not been prosecuted or jailed.
Scammers are criminals. So why aren’t they in jail? Read More »
This could possibly be described as wonderful news for the victims of Viceroy Jones New Tech Ltd, Viceroy Jones Overseas PCC Limited, Westcountrytruffles Limited, Truffle Sales Ltd and Credit Free Limited. Or maybe not. The whereabouts of the funds is unknown. This pension liberation and investment scam saw 100 investors conned out of £9m of
High Court finally winds up the truffle saga pension scam Read More »
This blog was writtern almost nine years ago by: Carl Melvin BA (Hons), MSc, CFP, FPFS, Chartered FCSI Certified & Chartered Financial Planner, Affiliate of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners, Chartered Wealth Manager. Somethings don’t change! A new model challenge to the offshore sharks The arrival of wraps allows fee-based financial planners in
Guest Blog: A new model challenge to the offshore sharks Read More »
I have enormous respect for FT Adviser. Their articles are written by proper journalists and they generally write competently and professionally. FT Adviser puts International Adviser to shame with their thinly-disguised promotional shows and Micky Mouse “articles” which only ever promote their own sponsors – Old Mutual International and their ilk. It was really interesting
FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers 2018 Read More »
International Adviser really can’t make up its mind whether it is organising a piss-up in a brewery, a news roundup carefully slewed in favour sponsors Old Mutual International, or a marketing machine. I read with interest the recent IA Industry Most Influential Top 100 described by IA thus: “we at International Adviser decided to shine a light
International Adviser – Have I Got News For You! Read More »
This week Henry Tapper wrote a blog entitled, “The wheels of the law turn (too) slowly”. He exposes the fact that when it comes to financial crime the justice system in place just isn´t enough. I think he was being generous with his title. The wheels of the law don’t just turn slowly – they just don’t
The wheels of the law don´t seem to turn at all Read More »
Sadly, Spain – the leading British expat destination in Europe – is rife with scams and scammers. The Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Brava and everything in between are crawling with what the Spanish regulator calls “chiringuitos” – literally “bar flies”. And you can see why: wherever there is food – whether fresh or
COSTA SCAM – THE COST OF “ADVICE” IN SPAIN Read More »
Back due to popular demand, qualified and registered company blogs. Today, I am looking into Belgravia Wealth, a Swiss based company. Belgravia Wealth – qualified and registered? Lets see if you are. Belgravia Wealth has an impressive list of services offered. However, those who follow our blogs will know that the terms “structured products” and pensions
Belgravia Wealth – qualified and registered? Read More »
Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? Are investment losses as a result of a bad adviser or a bad investment? Or both? The real question is: how does the consumer tell the difference? A favourite episode of Fawlty Towers involved Basil’s ill-fated bet on a racehorse called Dragonfly. Confusion sets in – fuelled by the
Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? Read More »
Pension scammers have a “code”. Rather like pirates, they are not to be trusted. They pick their words carefully, revealing little; they are sneaky and lack any morals. They are good at disguises and if they fear they may be rumbled, they will disappear over the horizon, never to be seen again. They certainly won’t
Trolley’s Pension Scam Guide Read More »
International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams. Today’s jolly: “Future Advisory Forum Europe 2018” at the Courthouse Hotel, Shoreditch, will see a number of players in the financial services industry discussing – presumably – financial services in 2018. I’ve looked at the agenda, however, and I can’t see anything about pension scams or investment scams
International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams Read More »
All victims of the Continental Wealth Management pension scam will agree – this kind of disaster must never be allowed to happen again. Here´s Pension Life´s take on what happened in the CWM CONference given by Darren Kirby. The CWM advisers. . . Dean Stogsdill * Alan Gorringe * Richard Peasley * Neil Hathaway, but to name
ROLL UP! ROLL UP! ME HEARTY SCAMMERS! OMI’S LATEST STRUCTURED NOTE SCAM IS ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL SEPTEMBER 28TH SO GET A JIGGLE ON WHILE STOCKS OF THIS TOXIC CRAP LAST! WE ARE PROUD TO OFFER OUR VALUED SCAMMERS YET ANOTHER INVESTMENT SCAM BY OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL. This wonderful investment scamming opportunity with OMI, is open to
YET ANOTHER STRUCTURED NOTE SCAM BY OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL Read More »
In many pension scams, we see the use of totally unsuitable, high-risk, for-professional-investor-only structured notes. These notes often offer the introducer high commissions. However, they are risky, fixed-term investments that often end in the loss of some – or even all – of the fund invested. Therefore, these types of investments are totally unsuitable for
Structured notes – knowing the risks Read More »
Utmost Wealth and Generali PanEurope are set to merge with the help of Life Company Consolidation Group (LCCG). The plan is to re-brand as Utmost PanEurope. I wonder if this merger will do its utmost to ensure they manage and mitigate their future victims´ – sorry clients´ – risks, and protect their investments – as they
Generali, an utter disgrace, merging with Utmost Wealth Read More »
Who would have thought that the series of blogs, ….. company name … qualified and registered? would have caused such a stir? On one side I have anonymous readers attacking my words, on another I have grateful victims of pension scams thanking me for outing these companies. From a third direction, I have IFAs telling
Qualified and registered? Comments, complaints and feedback Read More »
OMI IPO Profit Warning – urgent please read carefully. Old Mutual International (OMI) have entered into an IPO – initial public offering. This means they have become a public company rather than a private one. Frequent readers of Pension Life blogs will know that OMI have featured heavily in our recent blogs with regards to issues
OMI IPO Profit Warning Read More »
Old Mutual International filed a High Court application on 16th March 2018. On 20.3.18, Old Mutual obtained a judgment in the High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man (Case Reference 18/0012). His Honour The Deemster Doyle, First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls delivered his determination to OMI’s lawyer, Elizabeth Simpson of Simcocks.
OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL V LEONTEQ CASE MOVED TO LONDON Read More »
One of the hundreds of Continental Wealth Management victims stuck in a useless and expensive SEB Life International bond, and ruined by crippling investment losses, has made a detailed complaint to SEB. Some idiot from SEB called Orla Golden has replied – and the response is astonishing. Below are my answers to this ridiculous rebuttal.
SEB LIFE (OR DEATH) – WILL THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE? Read More »
