£16,000 recovered for former Deputy Headteacher after falling victim to an investment scam

Dr. Stratford found himself a target of an Authorised Push Payment (APP) investment scam where both his bank and FCA regulated ISA manager failed to notice or provide warnings to Dr. Stratford.

On the 19th April 2021 Dr. Stratford sent £15,000 to a scam investment, Albermarle Capital via his ISA Manager, Northern Provident. He believed at the time that the funds would be used for a genuine investment.

The information provided to him prior to investing was very sophisticated and professional looking and detailed assurances of the security of the investment including substantial asset backing and insurance cover from Allianz and Lloyds.

The instructions to make an investment were to send the funds to Northern Provident, an FCA regulated entity, who will then send the funds onto Albermarle Capital on behalf of investors.

On the 21st April 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a warning against Albermarle Capital stating that they are an unauthorised firm who are believed to be providing financial services or products in the UK without their authorisation.

Recovering the money from the scam

After making a formal complaint to his bank, NatWest, Dr Stratford was told that the fault did not lie with them and there was, in essence, nothing they could or would do to help.

The bank said that the payment was made by the Dr Stratford and there were no concerns from them at the time in relation to the payment.

Our specialist fraud and scams team investigated Dr Stratford’s case and identified alternative routes of being able to recover the money lost to the scam. Oakwood Solicitors were able to recover his full losses in excess of £16,000 on behalf of Dr Stratford.

Dr Stratford is pleased with the outcome Oakwood Solicitors have obtained for him and has now received money he thought he would never see again.

We asked Dr Stratford to comment on his experience of using Oakwood Solicitors, and he said he certainly could not have achieved this without us.

Further reading

Medical misdiagnosis or delay – Oakwood Solicitors

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