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At the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2021, the victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, was nearly scammed out of £25,000 to investment fraudsters.

The victim, a man in his 70s from Grantham, had been doing his research and was interested in purchasing fixed-term bonds that would offer a better return on investment compared to an Individual Savings Account or ISA. After inputting his details on a website, he was contacted by four companies offering to sell corporate bonds.

“I didn’t know much about corporate bonds, so I got all four companies to send me their details so I can continue doing my research and checks. I discounted one of them straight away because they weren’t covered by the Financial Services. After doing my checks, one of the companies seemed pretty good so I decided I would go with that company once I’ve done all my checks. I emailed them and asked for further details, including their address, website, email addresses, and telephone numbers” he explained.

He also asked for the financial advisor’s name, details, and qualifications. Once everything was sent over, he checked everything and even did a search for the advisor and found him on LinkedIn.

“I also asked for their terms of trade and they sent me a nine-page contract which I printed off. I got a friend who isn’t a fully qualified solicitor to take a look at it and he said it looks pretty good, so I decided to invest with them. They sent me all the bank details and I checked those out. Everything just seemed to look pretty good” he said.

After conducting further research and checks on the company, he decided to invest with them.

“I thought I’d just send £5,000 to start with so I went onto my bank to put in a transfer. They didn’t give me any warnings, which was very surprising in hindsight, and I ended up investing £25,000.”

Over the course of six weeks, the fraudster, posing as a financial advisor, had built a relationship with the victim. He kept in regular contact, even after the money was sent, making the interaction seem more legitimate.

“He kept in touch. He was very friendly, wasn’t pushy. Everything seemed very professional. He rang me once a week asking if I’m alright, if I’m happy with the investment and to give him a ring if I wanted to invest more money. I left the investment for a couple of months then rang the financial advisor who said they had more corporate bonds coming up and to contact him if I was interested.”

Another week went by and he decided to contact the financial advisor to enquire about the bonds – but there was no answer. He sent an email to the company, but this time, he’d missed a hyphen out. Half an hour later, he received a phone call from a gentleman, informing him that they had no advisor by that name and that their company had been cloned by fraudsters.

“I was gutted. I felt a total idiot. I thought I’d done everything possible with the checks I was doing. I felt I let myself down, my family down because I didn’t spot a scam where I should’ve done and that was the worst bit about it. Finding out I had been scammed put my mind into gear and I knew I had to do something, that’s why I rang the bank, Action Fraud, the Financial Services, Trading Standards then eventually, Citizens Advice.”

Thankfully he was successful in getting his money back as he was able to prove he had been diligent in making checks prior to the investment. He’d kept copies of all the emails and paperwork sent by fraudsters from the cloned company, including bank details, as well as the advisor’s photograph and profile on LinkedIn.

His bank also informed him that they could’ve helped him more by offering information on potential scams and advising him of the risks when his first payment went through. He also believes that the pandemic has provided fraudsters with the ideal opportunity because of the limited face-to-face contact and increase in online interactions.

“At the height of the pandemic, people weren’t going out and seeing others and everything was being done online so it really has given fraudsters the scope to carry out these scams. Because of my experience, I’ll never do another transaction of that sort online” he explained.

The victim offered some advice to others who are concerned they may find themselves in the same situation as him.

He said: “If you’re going to deal with a company, make sure you get their Financial Services reference number or FRN. You can input this on the Financial Services website, and it will bring up the name of the company and it will give you all the details of their switchboard, their telephone numbers and other contact details. You have to be careful with emails and phone numbers because sometimes, they’re identical apart from one digit or one character and that makes such a big difference.”

Report it

If you think you’ve been targeted by an investment fraud, please report it to the FCA Scam Smart website. If you think you’ve fallen victim to an investment fraud, report it to Action Fraud as soon as possible, either online or by calling 0300 123 2040.

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I nearly lost 25K to fraudsters

A teenager accused of murdering Lincoln man Sam Davies told police he saw the killing happen and was prepared to “snitch” on his friend, a jury heard today.

Eric Kesel, 19, is one of seven city males on trial for murder. He was arrested after being seen on CCTV running towards his home moments after Mr Davies had been stabbed twice in a park between Browning Drive and Coleridge Gardens.

In police interview a couple of days after the attack on May 27 last year, Kesel said he was prepared to “snitch” on Eimantas Gochman, 20.

“My friend is my friend but he’s wrong for killing somebody,” Kesel told detectives.

“God gives you one life, you’re not meant to be taking people’s lives. This s*** is not a joke.

“Even if it was my dad and he killed someone, like ‘what you doing, man?’, I’m snitching on my dad, bro.”

Kesel said in the interview, read out to the jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, January 26, that he had just left a friend’s house in Coleridge Gardens and was close to the park when he saw the attack.

He described in detail how he saw someone dressed all in black and wearing a black face mask stab Mr Davies once and shout: “You’re ****ing dead.”

Kesel said Mr Davies was stumbling and asked his attacker: “What have I done?”

According to Kesel, the man did not reply, put the knife back in its cover and then down his trousers before running off towards Browning Drive.

Kesel initially told police he thought he had seen the attacker before because he only knew two or three men that tall.

Then, towards the end of the interview, he said: “What if I told you who I think did it?”

He went on to name Gochman and said he had seen him with the knife before and he recognised his voice.

Kesel told the detectives he didn’t stop to help the victim but ran home and immediately told his girlfriend of the “madness” he had seen.

He said Gochman had not spotted him at the scene but claimed he sent Gochman a Snapchat message the following day saying his street had been taped off and the reply was “LOL”.

Kesel also described overhearing a chat in the street when Gochman was telling an unknown man that he had “done the deed” and “dashed” (hidden) the knife in the grounds of the nearby Our
Lady Church.

The stabbing, Kesel told detectives, had been ordered as a result of Mr Davies robbing someone in Coventry of “loads of money”. He said the fee for the hit was £5,000 but Gochman was possibly expecting more because the victim had died.

Kesel added: “That’s the only way someone is going to get killed nowadays – over drugs or money.”

Meanwhile, one of the men accused of arranging the stabbing told police he did not know the 23-year-old victim.

Daniel Heydari, 25, is said to have instigated the attack on Mr Davies with co-defendant Joe Jameson, 24.

The jury heard a transcript of Heydari’s first police interview, shortly after he had been arrested at Jameson’s house on May 28 last year.

Mr Davies died in hospital in the early hours of that day.

William Harbage QC, prosecuting, told the jury Heydari, like all the defendants, had been
interviewed under police caution.

Heydari was asked if he had heard of Sam Davies.

“No, not really,” he replied. “I’ve got mates called Sam Davies. I don’t know which Sam Davies you’re talking about.”

Following a description of the stabbing victim, Heydari said he didn’t know him.

Heydari described being in a “bad mood” on the day of the attack due to the stress of an intensive driving test he was due to be taking shortly.

He said there had been several bits of phone contact between him and Jameson.

Heydari told the detectives he was at home at the time of the attack, having had a takeaway delivered.

The following morning he had gone to Jameson’s at about 11.30am after a three-hour driving lesson.

“I’d been at Joe’s about five to ten minutes. Then I opened the door and there’s guns in my face,” he added, describing the moment police arrived.

The defendants all deny one count of murder. They are Billy Gill, 21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton Close; Eric Kesel, 19, of Browning Drive; and Charlie Wakefield, 21, of Broxholme Gardens. A 17-year-old male cannot be legally identified due to his age. Jameson is also accused of making a threat to kill, which he denies.

The trial continues.

Prosecutions against two men have been secured after Lincolnshire Trading Standards seized more than 17,000 illicit cigarettes from a shop in Boston.

Officers from Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Lincolnshire Police raided the Europa shop on Fydell Street in Boston on June 12, 2020, nine days after a test purchase revealed illegal cigarettes were being sold there.

A second test purchase and raid then took place in March 2021, with a total of 17,140 counterfeit cigarettes and 650g of hand-rolling tobacco seized from the premises.

On both occasions, Ahmed Mahmood, 22, of Argyll Street, Boston, had sold the products and was present during the raids.

At some stage between the raids in June 2020 and March 2021, 41-year-old Dana Omer, of Searjent Street, Peterborough, became the owner of the business.

At Boston Magistrates’ Court on December 20, 2021, Omer pleaded guilty to four offences for his involvement in the sale of illegal tobacco, and was fined £484.

He was also ordered to pay a £48 victim surcharge and cover £300 of legal costs, totalling £832 altogether.

Ahmed Mahmood initially pleaded guilty to 11 offences against his name, but at a court hearing on January 17, 2022, he seemed to change his story and said he didn’t know the goods were counterfeit.

The court was unconvinced by his arguments, and he was given 120 hours of unpaid work, as well as being ordered to pay £350 cost contribution and a £95 victim surcharge.

Lincolnshire Trading Standards officer, Anna Chapman, said: “Omer and Mahmood were completely brazen in their offending; when the shop was raided, the illegal tobacco products were found simply piled up in an open suitcase in the back of the shop. They knew what they were doing was wrong but continued to peddle their illicit wares, even after the shop was first raided.

“These products are dangerous for consumers; you don’t know what is in them, and they often won’t self-extinguish making them a huge fire risk. We’ve also seen how the trade in illicit tobacco attracts other crime and anti-social behaviour to an area, further damaging our communities.

“Help us stub out illicit tobacco in Lincolnshire. If you know anything about illegal tobacco products being sold in our area, let us know.”