Scammers claiming to be from Horizon Capital Management, United Capital Finance, or Premier Group Finance are running a recovery room scam
People who lost money to a carbon credits as investments scam more than a decade ago are still being contacted by scammers
Recently, a reader contacted REDD-Monitor. Let’s call him James. More than a decade ago, a fraudulent company called 360 Invest Group tricked James into buying carbon credits as an investment. The carbon credits were worthless. Carbon credits are a spectacularly bad investment for retail investors. James lost his money.
This is a sad and frustrating story that illustrates just how badly the UK authorities are at stamping out fraud.
This is a serious problem. In October 2022, a House of Commons Committee report stated that, “Fraud has become the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales, now accounting for more than 40% of all recorded crime.” The National Crime Agency estimates that 86% of scams are not reported — meaning that the problem is actually much worse.
Here’s what James told me:
I was cold called by Horizon Capital Management, company no 09235521, offering to rescue the carbon credits I bought from 360 Invest Group. They claim they need my trade reference number 12 digits so that they can pay me in excess of £12,000. I cannot find the trade reference number (I doubt it exists) but in order to circumvent the problem they offer to me a temporary number which will cost me £1,250, this sum is refundable when I am paid. I suspect I will never see that money again.
James asked whether I’d heard of this company and whether I’m aware of this scam.
I replied that I hadn’t heard of the company, but that this is definitely a recovery room scam.
In 1998, the US Federal Trade Commission put out a leaflet explaining how recovery room scams work:
If you’ve been a victim of telemarketing fraud, chance are you’re on a list to be called - and scammed - again. That’s because consumers who have lost money often are placed on “sucker lists,” an index of people who have lost money to bogus telephone solicitations. Sucker lists, which include names, addresses, phone numbers, and other information, are created bought and sold by some fraudulent telemarketers. They’re considered invaluable because dishonest promoters know that consumers who have been tricked once are likely to be tricked again.
The recovery room scammers contact people who have lost money to a scam investment and claim that they can recover to money — for a fee. Anyone paying the fee will have been scammed twice, sometimes by the same bunch of scam artists.
Here are some of the red flags that give away this recovery room scam:
The scammers cold called James. The only way that the scammers could know that he had been scammed into buying carbon credits more than a decade ago is from the information they found on a sucker list.
In May 2023, the UK government announced a Fraud Strategy, which promises a “ban cold calls on all financial products”. The government held a consultation on the proposed ban from 2 August 2023 to 27 September 2023. The government is currently analysing the feedback received.
Back in February 2017, when the government started a consultation about banning cold calling relating to pensions, I made the blatantly obvious comment that the ban should be put in place as quickly as possible and that it should be extended to cover all financial advice.
A ban on cold calling relating to pensions was finally put in place in January 2019.
We are still waiting for the ban to be extended to cover all financial advice.
Perhaps the most obvious red flag is that the scammers have taken the name of a genuine company, presumably to avoid the minimal hassle of registering a company with Companies House.
The real Horizon Capital Management has the following Fraud Alert on its website:
The scammers’ website was only registered 76 days ago. That website is no longer available, but another company called United Capital Finance has the same phone number (0207 088 8471), and exactly the same text on its website.
The scammers’ choice of United Capital Finance as a company name is somewhat odd. In January 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority put out a warning about a company called United Capital Finance:
This may or may not be the same bunch of scammers. Different address. Different phone number. Different website. Same name.
Another website also uses exactly the same text. A company calling itself Premier Group Financial Services is offering exactly the same services as the fake Horizon Capital Management and the fake United Capital Finance.
In June 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority warned that the scammers behind Premier Group Financial Services were cloning a genuine company. Five months later, the clone website is still live.
In addition to the above (as if that wasn’t enough!) the scammers are asking for an advance fee for a temporary trade reference number. There is no such thing. And anyone handing over the money will never see their money again.
If anyone contacts you from Horizon Capital Management, United Capital Finance, or Premier Group Finance (or any other that claims they can recover the money you lost when you were scammed into buying carbon credits as an investment), please just put the phone down.
Then report them to Action Fraud and the Financial Conduct Authority. Do not sent them any money under any circumstances.
