Defeat of a Share Shark

 7 March 2004, Mail on Sunday

EVERY week, Tony Hetherington replies to readers' letters, adding comments, advice and the results of his enquiries.

If you think you are a victim of financial mismanagement, or want advice before investing, write to Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS.

Sorry, but he cannot give personal replies.

Please send only copies of documents - if these are relevant to your enquiry.

We regret that they cannot be returned.

K.B. writes: I was phoned last May by Mike Rush from investment firm Hoffman Philips. He told me Equity Portfolio was about to float in June and he could offer shares at a discount.

A week later, Michelle Blackwood phoned and I invested £2,093. In June the flotation* was said by Hoffman Philips to be postponed to July.

After it was delayed again, I found that the Financial Services Authority* had warned against Hoffman Philips. 

I had assumed that the company was based in London because it had a London address and an “0871” telephone number, but Ms Blackwood surprised me by saying she was in Barcelona. In August I asked for my money back, but received no reply.

FINANCIAL Mail warned against Hoffman Philips as long ago as October 2002. Since then, the FSA has issued warnings and Hoffman Philips is also blacklisted by watchdogs in Spain, Slovenia and Austria. One of the rip-off merchants behind this unauthorised investment firm is Sohail Iqbal. He was also in the unlicensed broking business KP Allen.

Another Hoffman Philips boss is Dhilip Nandana Mallawa Arachi. He used to be manager at an investment firm called Union Partners, now being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.

Despite all this and its pretend British address and phone number, Hoffman Philips has the support of London lawyers Atlantic Law, headed by colourful businessman Andrew Greystoke.

His past is littered with failed firms and his own list of controversial deals, collapsed companies and court battles stretches back decades.

According to Atlantic Law, mailshots from Hoffman Philips are perfectly legitimate and there is no reason to believe the Barcelona sharks will be anything other than fair and honest in dealings with their victims - sorry - clients.

As proof, Andrew Greystoke gleefully told me your £2,093 had been refunded in full, with a complete apology.

This is a half truth. You told me: 'I had plagued Hoffman Philips for six months with phone calls and threats of legal action.' You were repaid ten days after Financial Mail intervened.

I don't expect Hoffman Philips to change its ways. What do you expect from a shark but a bite? And I don't expect Atlantic Law to change either. It lends its name to Hoffman Philips but can stand clear when the wheels drop off.

What would be nice would be action from the FSA. It condemns Hoffman Philips. But who authorises Atlantic Law for investment advice? Yes, the FSA.

Update 1: End of the £100m buy-to-let tricksters

THE Department of Trade and Industry has won a High Court order to wind up Practical Property Portfolio Ltd, a buy-to-let scam firm that conned investors into paying £100 million for what turned out to be derelict, boarded-up houses.

A year ago, I persuaded the firm to pay a reader six months' rent it had promised when he bought one of its properties. 

Soon after, I was on the phone to its Gateshead offices, trying to discuss more complaints with boss Eric Armstrong, when I heard police and DTI investigators burst in.

Now the DTI says that Armstrong and another

 

director, John Potts, misrepresented the value of properties, failed to keep proper financial records and broke contracts with investors. Orders banning them from boardrooms must now be on the cards.

Update 2: The “International Society of Poets”

SOME scammers clearly do not read Financial Mail. More than a year ago I exposed the so-called International Society of Poets.

I submitted a few lines of doggerel based on the disclaimer in investment ads: 'The past is not necessarily a guide to future performance..' and so on.

This was great stuff, the USA-based society told me, and it wanted to publish my work in a book to be called Letters From The Soul. A snip at just £38, and how many copies would I like?

Financial Mail issued a warning to budding poets that this bunch were after signed cheques, not sonnets.

But a few days ago, up popped an email on my computer: the society had hired someone to read my poem at a gathering at Disney World in Florida, and I have been awarded a silver trophy and a bronze medal on a satin ribbon.

All I have to do is send hundreds of dollars to pay for them. Now let me think, what rhymes with 'get lost'?

Update 3: Halifax boss appalled by muddle over loan balance.

P.I.R. writes: I paid £2,123 to the Halifax last July after being told it would clear my mortgage, leaving £125 outstanding so the deeds would be held in the Halifax's Deedstore service. I

n September, I was notified by Halifax that I owed £46 and my mortgage still had two years to run. My wife complained.

In October, Halifax said my mortgage had £132 outstanding and offered details of Deedstore. I phoned and complained. One recent letter says that after paying '£21,2388', my mortgage has £125 outstanding. Another says I owe £136. The only 'little extra' Halifax has given us is extra inconvenience.

RED faces at Halifax. But the nice thing about staff there is that they put their hands up when things go wrong and they do put mistakes right.

Senior Halifax man Steve Saunders is 'appalled with the unacceptable level of service'. The idea of leaving £125 owing on your mortgage is for Halifax to pop your title deeds into its Deedstore for safe-keeping.

By the time you read this, you will have received a written apology. Appropriately, Halifax is sending you £125 to make up for the hassle.

Update 4: Prize creeps are cashing in

P.S. writes: My partner was diagnosed with cancer last year and money has been tight. So when a letter arrived from catalogue company TV Direct saying I had won £10,000, we were over the moon. It said the money would arrive faster if I ordered goods, so I did. The goods arrived, but no cheque.

THE TV Direct people are heartless creeps.

When you reminded them about the £10,000, they said they wanted to film a presentation ceremony and asked you to place another order. You did, but there was still no £10,000.

Then another letter arrived, from mail order health firm Biotonic, saying you had won £5,900. You couldn't believe your luck. You even gave them an order, too. And again, the goods arrived but no cheque.

Now both outfits are telling you to buy more goods and your prizes will arrive. Forget it. The firms are linked and the Office of Fair Trading is hard on their heels. Expect action very soon.