BBC expose unregulated investment scam

The FCA came under fire following the airing of a BBC Panorama episode on unregulated investment schemes

The BBC has shone a light on a huge investment scheme failure this week in Panorama: The Billion Pound Savings Scandal. The show centres on the failure of unregulated investment scheme Blackmore Bond, which collapsed owing investors over £40m. As per many of these situations, prospective investors were: Nevertheless, the scheme collapsed in April 2020…

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Beware of the mini-bond market

Mini-bonds are unregulated by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme

A mini-bond is a niche type of unregulated investment that you don’t hear about too often. But here at I&L, we like to discuss topics that will help to protect and educate our clients. As a result, mini-bonds is the focus of this post. So what exactly is a mini-bond? Mini-bonds are a form of…

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Police and financers warn of online bank fraud

Lobby group UK Finance note a record increase in the amount of money UK customers lost to online bank fraud in 2021

Bank customers lost a record £1.3 billion to online scams last year, according to lobby group UK Finance. In 2021, investment fraud accounted for nearly one third of losses, with the promise of high returns enticing potential victims. UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report notes that scammers are aware that pension freedoms have given over-55s access…

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FCA and FSCS: “Investors should do more research”

FCA and FSCS say investors must conduct more research to protect themselves against online scams

A survey by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that many investors avoid doing due diligence because they found the process “complicated” and “time consuming.” According to the results of the study, 42% of Britons aged 18 to 24, who have money in investments, claim their latest investment was…

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Beware the professional enabler

Professional enablers facilitate economic crime and crime systems

A lawyer, finance expert, or some other professional who acts as an enabler of an economic crime is referred to as a professional enabler. These are the people who will create, ignore, fail to identify, and purposely facilitate an economic crime or criminal system. In most cases, we only see the ‘face’ of the crime.…

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When digital currency goes wrong Netflix documentary

Gerry Cotten's cryptocurrency company went down owing investors millions of dollars

Netflix’s newest true-crime offering is a cautionary tale about the world of cryptocurrency investments. Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King follows the rise and fall of Gerald Cotten, founder of the QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange. The result is a gripping documentary that attempts to trace the $150million (around £115m) investors lost following Cotton’s…

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