The good news is that I’ve helped get a bent investment website taken down.
The bad news is that there are plenty of others just as bad that are trying to snare savers.
And thanks to help from GoogleAds, they often appear high up in search results if you’re looking for ISAs, bonds, or other types of savings with seemingly decent interest rates.
One GoogleAd I spotted was for fixed-rate bonds and promised an impressive though unlikely return of 11% a year and the assurance of “100% guaranteed protection”.
Clicking on it led to the site of CrownCompare.co.uk, which claimed to have more than a decade of experience in bonds – even though the website was only registered earlier this month.
It promised that investors would have “full protection with guaranteed security up to £85,000”, the amount covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
I filled in its “free advisory consultation” form and got an email back from axagb.com, the website of AXA Global Broker – or so it seemed.
Henry Cohen, apparently a senior account manager, wrote: “All of our bonds we represent our (sic) covered under the FSCS scheme up to £85,000 per person or per institution.
“The bonds are as secure an investment you are going to see.”
The bottom of the email claimed that AXA Global Brokers, which is part of the giant AXA Insurance Group, is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Which it is – but axagb.com is a clone website which offers zero FSCS protection.
“AXA runs a global monitoring service which searches for sites taking advantage of the AXA brand, however in some instances these websites slip through the net,” said an AXA spokeswoman on Tuesday.
“From our initial investigations, it seems this website may be fraudulent. The issue has been escalated to AXA Group Security.”
Yesterday she updated me: “As of last night axagb.com has been taken down. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
Crowncompare.co.uk has been added to the alert list of unauthorised firms published by the FCA but I’m not sure how much good that will do, with so many others ready to take its place.
Like comparefree.co.uk.
“Build your financial & investment portfolio with stable, secure fixed-rate bonds today,” gushed its GoogleAd.
Its website said it would compare different fixed-rate bonds, but after I completed its online enquiry form I was directed to just one website, Nateus.co.uk.
I was emailed by a James Reeves, another senior account manager, who recommended that I buy Prudential PLC bonds, which are sold on the London Stock Exchange and offer almost 7% interest. “Bonds listed on an exchange carry the benefit of FSCS cover,” he claimed.
This is not true. Corporate bonds, sometimes known as
mini-bonds, are not covered by the compensation scheme.
And while Prudential bonds are genuine enough, Nateus.co.uk itself is not.
It uses the name Nateus Group and provides an address in central London, while the legitimate firm listed by the FCA register is called Nateus NV and has an address in Antwerp, Belgium.
Google acknowledges “there are businesses who purposely set out to mislead consumers” and says it is combating them, last year taking down more than 10 million “bad ads” a day.
It would be better if it never took money for posting them in the first place.
I named five of supposed Lead Generation websites last week that are aimed at savers looking for ISAs and bonds, two of which had just been added to the Financial Conduct Authority’s alert list of unauthorised firms. Now here's a new one, TheBondsGroup.net.
Its GoogleAd says: “We are dedicated to finding you excellent bonds at excellent prices”. At the top of his website there’s the promise of protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
But if you scroll down to the small disclaimer at the bottom, there’s the admission that this site is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Call me cynical, but the testimonials look bogus, judging by the one from “Thomas of London” who can’t even get the name of this website right.
It reads: “After opting for a 5 year fixed rate bond it has been a highly beneficial addition to our portfolio and I can’t thank Best Bonds more!”
Best-Bonds.net is another site using the Lead Generation name, and it seems to have cut and pasted the testimonial onto TheBondsGroup.net without bothering to change the business name.
There’s another giveaway in the small print, where The Bonds Group says it is paid “an introducing fee from our partner if you choose to invest”.
So this isn’t the neutral comparison website it purports to be, but one paid to push you into the hands of a single unnamed “partner”.
One of the worst financial “introducer” firms I’ve come across is The Growth Market.
These firms all too often push savers into disastrous investments yet don’t face any serious consequences when it all goes pear-shaped.
The Growth Market promoted investments in a convoluted scheme to make money from the mortgage market.
An email from one of its reps called it “one of the most secure investments I have seen in a very long time with excellent returns”.
But the solicitors’ firm behind the scheme was fined and then shut down by The Law Society and, despite the promises made by The Growth Market, investors were not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
One poor victim I spoke to lost £60,000, money from the sale of her family home following a divorce.
The Growth Market gave a virtual office address in Guildford, Surrey, and its staff hid behind fake names.
Sole director Ashley Smith, 28, did not respond to my questions, including asking how much commission it made for pushing investors into the ruinous mortgage scheme.
Now it has applied to Companies House to be struck off.
It just doesn’t seem right that a company can cause such grief and walk off into the sunset untouched.
