All pension scam victims experience profound misery, worry, stress and sleepless nights. Few have the strength to speak out and tell the world what it is like to be the victim of this despicable financial crime. I asked David King, one of the Ark victims, to write his story:
“Firstly without you and your team fighting our case I think the casualty list would be extremely high as I know personally the effect its had on me and my family, and I consider myself an average person in this world so it has to be that others suffer the same as me but just don’t shout aloud how much this has affected people.
HMRC, well where do I start, well let me say this, since 2011 I have lived in fear of the postman and anything coming via the post from HMRC. Every time a letter comes I shudder in fear of a tax demand, even though it may be the gas bill my mind always worries and makes me ill with worry. I am sure other like minded people will have endured the delights of HMRC and their approach with zero empathy and zero concerns; they could not care less what the impact is to individuals of these multiple frauds.
HMRC allow big organisations such as Google and Starbucks to operate in the UK paying virtually nothing in taxation, and seem to resist engagement with them for fear of losing, or is it just too difficult as they have to do some work! however, individual people like us get the full weight of HMRC on our cases as they know we are soft targets, and no matter what we do to try to defend ourselves they just plough the pressure back on without even listening to a single word we throw their way in our defence. It’s a complete shambles that they totally disregard our position and individual cases.
The postman still comes and when I hear the van and then our post box I shudder; I have not had a proper nights sleep in years and I worry each and every day if this is the week I get hit hard and have to find monies I just don’t have. HMRC have turned my life into a misery as I am not knowing what is going to happen; we are all tax paying citizens and we all deserve a fair and equitable hearing and one that will provide closure in a positive way so we can piece back together our lives and get back to being families with lives to lead, in an enjoyable manner, something that HMRC have taken away.”
David King has my respect and sympathy. Working hard, paying his way and trying to do the best for his family and finding that government institutions are actually working against him.
They are organisations led by sellf satisfied, arrogant and overly privileged bully boys and girls. As such, they lack the courage, the knowledge and the capabilities to go after the real offenders. Too afraid to go after the big tax avoiding corporations and money laundering criminals (these days it is hard to tell the difference!).
I’m not a victim of the Ark fraud. I am a victim of the CWM scam. I too dread what may be present in my mailbox each morning and what my e-mail may contain. I am sickened by what the perpetrators of these frauds have done and continue to do to their fellow human beings. I am disgusted that the government institutions seem only to persecute the victims rather than to catch and punish criminals.
Keep on speaking out Mr King. Governments must no longer assume that our silence means servile acceptable. They must be made aware, again, that they represent us and that, if needs be, we can replace them and their systems.
I too am a victim of the Ark scheme and like me King I too have had sleepless nights regarding Hmrc.
They are now threatening me with bankruptcy and because I have equity in my home I am told by an independent insolvency guy that not only will they make me sell my home but they will take the tax they say I owe them because of the scam plus 15% of all equity also fees and charges plus solicitors fees will add another 20-30k making my liability over 60k this I can’t get my head round and is totally unacceptable, I could go to a loan shark and get treated better and fairer!
Now the pension authorities are demanding the original sum back and have issued a CCJ against me in Loo of the decision in the present court case!!
I took the original monies from my pension because I was made redundant and not having any other skill set I had to retrain to get back into a decent job, the money helped me go to night school for 3yrs whilst I did a part time job and study!!!