Scottish retired couple targeted in scam lose £95,000 life-savings

A retired head teacher and her husband lost their £95,000 life savings in a sophisticated investment scam.

Lynda and John Gordon responded to an online ad placed by fraudsters who had cloned the identity of a genuine company, then disappeared with their money.

Their bank, The Bank of Scotland says it’s unable to refund the £95,000, and the couple, from Dornoch, Sutherland, can’t claim from a no-blame fund set up by banks for victims of transfer frauds because the fraud had happened last May (2019), before it was introduced.

The fraud only came to light when their bank stopped them from transferring a further £30,000 to the bogus firm after receiving a warning about its legitimacy. Police have confirmed at least six more victims.

A retired head teacher and her husband lost their 95,000 life savings. Picture: John Devlin.

Lynda, a retired head teacher, said: "When I found out we had lost £95,000, I felt sick to the stomach. My husband doesn't have a works pension and we had saved very hard for many years for a comfortable life in our old age.

"Instead we have lost a fortune. This has put a huge stress on us."

The couple, who are in their 70s, were the victims of a sophisticated cloning fraud. They were persuaded to part with the cash after John saw an advert online for CM-CIC Market Solutions, which claimed to be based in London. After contacting the firm, he was emailed a professional-looking brochure and was allocated a dedicated financial adviser.

"The information package stated we were covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for up to £85,000 per person," John, a retired river ghillie, said. "The whole thing was very plausible."

What the couple didn't know was the fake company they had contacted had used the same name as a genuine investment firm based in France.

In November 2017, Lynda visited the Bank of Scotland branch in Tain and transferred £95,000.

"After that, the investment manager from CM-CIC regularly kept in touch by phone and we were sent updated statements of our investment," she said.

Still believing the company was genuine, in June 2018 Lynda tried to transfer a further £30,000.

"This time the transaction was stopped," she said. "I was told by the bank manager to contact the police because the account I was going to pay the money into had been flagged up as being suspicious, and the firm was a clone of another registered company."

"We are gutted by this," Lynda said. "We have both been customers of the bank for more than 50 years."

The Bank of Scotland said: "Mr and Mrs Gordon were the victims of an investment scam and we have a great deal of sympathy for the distress they have suffered. When we made the initial payment requested by Mr and Mrs Gordon there was no evidence linking this transaction to any company on the FCA warning list and no indication the receiving account, held at another bank, was being used fraudulently.

"However, when Mr and Mrs Gordon attempted to make a second payment, the receiving account had by this point been marked on an industry-wide fraud database as being suspicious."

The real CM-CIC Market Solutions, based in Paris, did not respond to requests from The Sunday Post for comment - but the company has published a warning on its website about the cloned firm, which had fraudulently used its details in the UK.

The Gordons' MP, Jamie Stone, said he would take up the couple's case for compensation. "I am horrified this has happened in this day and age," Mr Stone said. "I will be writing to the bank in appropriate terms. If necessary, I am quite prepared to raise the matter with the Chancellor of the Exchequer."

The latest figures from banking industry ­regulator UK Finance show almost 3,500 people fell prey to ­criminals pretending to be legitimate investment companies in the first half of 2019.

This equated to a 152% increase on the previous year - and the amount lost by each individual doubled to £12,200.

And, as criminals become more effective, the chances of people having their money returned remain very low. Of the £43.4m stolen from victims of investment scams during that period, only 7% was returned.

A UK Finance spokesperson said: "Our members have reported that investment scams are having an increasing impact on both case volumes and associated losses, as ­criminals increasingly look to ­impersonate investment firms, often setting up cloned websites or social media accounts to draw in unsuspecting consumers.

"Scammers are also known to send out paperwork with the legitimate address to send back to, to add a layer of credibility."

Don Smith, Edinburgh-based ­director of intelligence at global company SecureWorks, said it was difficult for law enforcement agencies to monitor the real scale of this type of fraud, as victims were often reluctant to come forward.

He said: "People often do not self-report these crimes to police as it tends to be relatively older, more affluent people who are targeted by scammers and they don't want other people to know they were fooled into parting with money."

London's Metropolitan Police, who are investigating the Gordons' case, last night confirmed at least another six victims of the same scam have come forward and two men had been arrested.

A Met spokesperson said: "Detectives from the Met's Economic Crime Unit are investigating reports that a number of people have been the victims of fraud.

"Officers were contacted by Action Fraud in 2018 after six individuals fell victim to people claiming to represent various investment firms.

"Over the course of the ­investigation, further victims came to light. Two men have been arrested and released under investigation. Enquiries into the circumstances remain ongoing."

The Gordons said they are anxiously awaiting further developments. "We were told our money had been transferred to somewhere in the United Arab Emirates within hours," Lynda said.

"We thought we were pretty astute people and it is frustrating how easily we fell for this fraud.

"We would hate to see anyone else be put through a similar ordeal."

The website the bogus firm was using is defunct and the London phone number the firm had given to the Gordons is unobtainable.